Hirayama disease: description of an Italian case.

Hirayama disease is slowly progressive, usually monolateral, distal upper limb amyotrophy occurring mainly in young men. It is usually considered a kind of cervical myelopathy related to flexing movements of the neck. Several patients have been reported in Japan; we describe an Italian case.

Disability in chronic migraine patients with medication overuse: treatment effects at 1-year follow-up.

Objective: To determine (1) the clinical course of a sample of chronic migraine patients with drug overuse 6 and 12 months following in-patient treatment and (2) whether functional impairment, assessed by the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) questionnaire, improved upon treatment.

Background: Patients with chronic migraine and medication overuse are particularly difficult to treat (prophylactic medications that otherwise are effective become ineffective; discontinuation of the offending medication can lead to withdrawal headache; physical and emotional dependence can be present, as well as increased psychological involvement; initial treatment gains can be difficult to maintain).

Methods: Of the 106 patients meeting criteria for chronic migraine with medication overuse, 84 went on to complete a structured in-patient treatment, consisting of medication withdrawal and then prophylactic treatment.

Retinal microvascular surgery: a feasibility study.

Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of microvascular surgery at the level of the retinal vasculature.

Method: Porcine eyes were used, and eyecups were prepared under an operating microscope. Several classic microvascular maneuvers were explored, such as vascular puncturing, catheterization, mobilization, intravascular injections, and various combinations of the same.

Psoas abscess: a rare complication of Crohn's disease.

Unlabelled: Psoas abscess is a rare complication of Crohn's disease.

Methods And Materials: We evaluated the incidence of psoas abscess on 312 patients with Crohn's disease, seen at our institution between 1992-2001.

Results: We encountered three cases of psoas abscess (0.

Growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 axis recovery after liver transplantation: a preliminary prospective study.

Many studies on cirrhotic patients have shown that insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) plasma levels are related to the severity of liver dysfunction. This result suggests that IGF-1 is probably useful for monitoring liver function in the perioperative course of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Growth hormone (GH), IGF-1 plasma levels, and routine liver function tests were measured in 15 adult cirrhotic patients undergoing OLT.

Risk factors for recurrence of stenosis in Crohn's disease.

A major problem in Crohn's disease (CD) surgery is the high frequency of recurrence after bowel resection. Several factors are thought to influence this phenomenon. CD "phenotype" was identified as one of this factors and obstructing CD seems to be a low risk.

Role of CD40 and B7 costimulators in inflammatory bowel diseases.

We analyse the costimulating role of CD40/CD40 ligand and B7/CD28 in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) as a potential target of antibody therapy. CD40, expressed by lamina propria B lymphocytes in gut mucosa, interacts with CD40 ligand on T cell. This interaction is implicated in the pathogenesis of IBD.

Thermal homeostasis and liver transplantation.

Thermal homeostasis represents the major issue during liver transplantation (OLT) since severe hypothermia may have a deleterious effect on both liver recipient organism and postoperative graft functioning. Because of the known negative influence of hypothermia on intraoperative cardiovascular activity and coagulation system, numerous methods have been suggested to reduce intraoperative heat loss and promote active warming (continuous temperature monitoring, external heat sources, improvement in surgical technique and technologies). A good intraoperative OLT course has an obvious influence on post OLT graft function recovery, but thermal homeostasis has also an essential direct effect on the graft as a constitutive component of conventional cold preservation methods.

Cytokines and liver failure: modification of TNF- and IL-6 in patients with acute on chronic liver decompensation treated with Molecular Adsorbent Recycling System (MARS).

Liver transplantation, considered today as the most effective treatment for end-stage liver diseases, can not always be performed on every patient affected with a liver disease. Patients with end-stage liver diseases, usually have high bilirubin, encephalopathy and renal failure. In these situations cytokines play an important role in different processes, from apoptosis to regeneration.

Rare surgical complications of Crohn's disease. Clinical and therapeutic considerations.

We present our clinical experience in the management of rare surgical complications in Crohn's disease. Two hundred and eight patients affected by Crohn's disease were treated surgically between January 1992 and September 2001, at the Department of Surgical and Gastroenterological Sciences of the University of Padua. Rare surgical complications were identified in 17 patients (6.

High-energy laser therapy of Barrett's esophagus: preliminary results.

We present the preliminary results obtained by our research group utilizing Nd:YAG and diode lasers to treat Barrett's esophagus (BE). A total of 15 patients with BE (mean age 58 years) underwent endoscopic laser therapy: 11 with intestinal metaplasia, 2 with low-grade dysplasia, and 2 with high-grade dysplasia. The mean length of BE was 4 cm (range 1-12 cm).

In vivo rabbit eyecup preparation for use in retinal research.

Purpose: To develop an in vivo rabbit eyecup preparation that preserves neuronal and vascular connections with normal posterior segment contour, permitting direct access to the retina and facilitating retinal microsurgical and neuroscience research.

Methods: Cyanoacrylate glue was applied to the anterior sclera of six Dutch-belted rabbits before open-sky vitrectomy. The glue was used to harden the compliant scleral wall and to fix it to the surrounding periorbital tissues.

Acute hepatic failure in pregnancy.

Severe liver dysfunction in late pregnancy is an unusual but dramatic event because it can progress very rapidly to fulminating disease and also because two lives, that of the mother and foetus, are involved. We report a descriptive study of a pregnant woman presenting with severe liver dysfunction.

Liver transplantation for the treatment of moderately or well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective: To determine the long-term results of liver transplantation for well- or moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Summary Background Data: HCC patient selection for liver transplantation remains controversial, and deciding exclusively on the strength of criteria such as number and size of nodules appears prognostically inaccurate.

Methods: Since 1991, preoperative tumor grading has been used at our center to establish whether a patient with HCC is fit for transplantation.

Health-related quality of life after restorative proctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis: long-term results.

Restorative proctocolectomy (RPC) is the favorite operation for ulcerative colitis, but it may influence health-related quality of life (HRQL). Our aims were to determine the long-term HRQL of patients and its modifications after a 5-year follow-up and to identify any risk factor for a worse outcome. We enrolled 36 patients submitted to RPC (mean follow-up 8.

Adjuvant chemotherapy for transplanted hepatocellular carcinoma patients: impact on survival or HCV recurrence timing.

Introduction: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common tumors worldwide. In the Western world the current epidemic of cirrhosis due to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is increasing the number of new cases. Liver transplantation (OLTx) represents a radical treatment for HCC and the underlying cirrhosis.

Liver transplantation for the management of hepatoblastoma.

Introduction: Hepatoblastoma (HEP) is the most frequent liver malignancy occurring in childhood. Surgical resection currently represents the gold standard for treatment. In patients with initially unresectable tumors, chemotherapy may induce remarkable reductions in size.

The critical issue of hepatocellular carcinoma prognostic classification: which is the best tool available?

Background/aims: Prognosis assessment in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains controversial. The most widely used HCC prognostic tool is the Okuda classification, but new staging systems (Cancer of the Liver Italian Program score, Chinese University Prognostic Index, French classification and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer, BCLC, staging) have been recently described. We investigated the value of known prognostic systems in the particular setting of a surgically oriented Liver Unit where 187 HCC Italian patients were mainly treated with radical therapies (resection and percutaneous ablation).

Multimodal approach and its impact on survival for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: There are few studies evaluating the prognostic impact on survival of treatment strategy in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The aim of this study was to analyse whether a multimodal approach, that represents a synergic association of different therapeutic procedures, may improve survival of patients with HCC.

Patients And Methods: Two hundred and fourteen patients with HCC were enrolled in the study.

Cataract surgery as a risk factor for retinal detachment in very highly myopic eyes.

Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of retinal detachment (RD) after cataract surgery performed by phacoemulsification in very highly myopic eyes.

Design: Retrospective, paired-eye, case-control trial.

Participants And Intervention: We assessed the development of RD in 930 eyes from 930 subjects (mean age = 62.

Anecortave acetate as monotherapy for treatment of subfoveal neovascularization in age-related macular degeneration: twelve-month clinical outcomes.

Purpose: To evaluate safety and efficacy of the angiostatic agent anecortave acetate, compared with a placebo, for treatment of subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Design: Ongoing masked, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel evaluation of anecortave acetate (30 mg, 15 mg, and 3 mg) versus a placebo.

Participants: There were 128 eyes of 128 patients with subfoveal CNV secondary to age-related macular degeneration who were enrolled and treated, with 80% (102/128) of eyes presenting with predominantly classic lesions at baseline.