Sexual dysfunction following surgery for rectal cancer - a clinical and neurophysiological study.

Background: Sexual dysfunction following surgery for rectal cancer may be frequent and often severe. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the occurrence of this complication from both a clinical point of view and by means of neurophysiological tests.

Methods: We studied a group of 57 patients submitted to rectal resection for adenocarcinoma.

Persistence of high-dose oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy at long-term follow-up.

Oxaliplatin (L-OHP) has become a standard treatment for advanced colorectal cancer and a valid option for patients in the adjuvant setting. Compared with cisplatin, L-OHP has no renal toxicity, only mild hematological and gastrointestinal toxicity, while neurotoxicity is the limiting toxicity. This side effect has been described as a transient distal dysesthesia, enhanced by exposure to cold, and as a dose-related cumulative mild sensitive neuropathy.

Simultaneous occurrence of linear scleroderma and homolateral segmental vitiligo.

Localized scleroderma and vitiligo only rarely have been reported to occur simultaneously. Here we report a case of a 21 year old man affected with both linear scleroderma of the left upper limb and homolateral segmental vitiligo of the trunk. Since the two diseases appeared during the same period, involved the same side of the body and their progression paralleled, a possible non-coincidental association between these two diseases is discussed.

Demyelinating disease in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance.

We describe herein the case of a 57 year old man who, over the last five years, has presented ataxic and spastic gait on the right side, a reduction in fine motor movement of the fingers mainly on the right side, superficial right side brachiocrural hypoesthesia and a marked dysarthria associated with internuclear ophthalmoplegia. The neurological picture, after an initial progressive worsening which lasted some months, remained relatively stable over the years. Repeated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and spinal cord documented the presence of demyelinating plaques spread in the white matter of the periventricular region and the semioval centres, and a right side paramedian plaque at the C4-C5 level, none of which were in the active phase.