Genetic Variants in the Manganese Superoxide Dismutase 2 Gene and in the Catalase Gene are not Associated With Alcoholic Chronic Pancreatitis.

Aims: Oxidative stress may contribute to the development of chronic pancreatitis (CP). The enzymes manganese superoxide dismutase 2 (MnSOD, SOD2) and catalase (CAT) counteract free radical activity within the mitochondria and the cytosol. Moreover, CAT activity contributes to the transformation of ethanol to acetaldehyde, a toxic intermediate product of ethanol metabolism, which has been associated with pancreatic damage.

Non-Invasive Assessment of Inflammation and Treatment Response in Patients with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis using Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography Quantification.

Background And Aim: Novel biological therapies in Crohn's disease (CD) or Ulcerative colitis (UC) require a proper follow-up for the assessment of bowel inflammation. While endoscopy is the standard method, the imaging techniques using contrast, particularly contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), are better tolerated by the patients and can be used more frequently. Our aim was to find the usefulness of dynamic CEUS quantification as compared to endoscopy in the assessment of disease activity and in the follow-up under therapy of the patients suffering from either CD or UC.

Bleeding Dieulafoy's-like lesions of the gut identified by capsule endoscopy.

Dieulafoy's-like lesions (DLs-like) represent a cause of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, enteroscopy being the main diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. Frequently, more than one enteroscopy is needed to identify the bleeding vessel. In our practice, video capsule endoscopy (VCE) identified and guided therapy in four cases of DLs-like; three of them were localized on the small bowel.

B-mode and contrast enhanced ultrasound guided biopsy of portal vein thrombosis. Value in the diagnosis of occult hepatocellular carcinoma in liver cirrhosis.

Aim: The ultrasonographic (US) detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with liver cirrhosis is based on the visualization of focal lesions. However, in some cases HCC cannot be clearly identified at US, the only sign being a portal vein thrombosis (PVT). Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an excellent method to characterise focal lesions and portal thrombosis in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Quantitative analysis of tissue perfusion using contrast-enhanced transabdominal ultrasound (CEUS) in the evaluation of the severity of acute pancreatitis.

Introduction: contrast enhanced ultrasound provides information on the vascularization of the pancreatic parenchyma, detecting areas of inflammation, necrosis, as well as the residual parenchyma in acute pancreatitis. The AIM of our study was to assess the role of contrast enhanced ultrasound in appreciating the severity of acute pancreatitis by quantitative analysis of the degree of vascularization and the areas of pancreatic parenchymal necrosis.

Material And Methods: The study was prospective (December 2008 - April 2010) and included 25 patients with acute pancreatitis.

Survival and quality of life of cholangiocarcinoma patients: a prospective study over a 4 year period.

Background And Aims: Cholangiocarcinomas (CCAs) are tumors with a poor prognosis and a lower quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to evaluate the survival rate and quality of life in CCA patients.

Method: We prospectively enrolled 133 patients diagnosed with CCA in the 3rd Medical Clinic, Cluj Napoca, over a 4-year period (2005-2009).

Risk factors in chronic pancreatitis.

Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease followed by structural alterations--inflammation, fibrosis and acinar atrophy--pain emergence, exocrine and endocrine pancreatic insufficiency, severe alteration of quality of life. The pathogenetic mechanisms characteristic to this disease are not thoroughly known, but the identification of some genetic and autoimmune factors in certain entities has elucidated several pathogenetic links. The etiologic risk factors for chronic pancreatitis may associate each other and may cause different evolutions to the disease.

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of the pancreas--a method beyond its potential or a new diagnostic standard?

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound is a relatively new technique, currently used for liver tumors diagnosis. Newer contrast agents are composed of stabilized micro-bubbles capable of traversing the capillary circulation. Lately, the method has also been used in the assessment of pancreatic disorders.

Investigation of the SPINK1 N34S mutation in Romanian patients with alcoholic chronic pancreatitis. A clinical analysis based on the criteria of the M-ANNHEIM classification.

Background And Aims: The N34S mutation in the serine protease inhibitor Kazal type I (SPINK1) gene has been associated with chronic pancreatitis. Clinical data about the phenotypic expression of alcoholic chronic pancreatitis with the N34S variant are limited. The prevalence of the N34S mutation in patients with chronic pancreatitis and healthy individuals from Eastern Europe is unknown.

Risk factors in patients with chronic pancreatitis in Romania.

Unlabelled: Chronic pancreatitis is due mostly to alcohol consumption in industrialized countries. However, beside alcohol consumption there are other known etiologic risk factors, some patients combining more of them. The aim of our study was to assess the different etiologic risk factors in patients with chronic pancreatitis in Romania.

Contribution of ultrasound to the diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis and to evaluating its main complications.

Chronic pancreatitis is a disease with a potentially severe evolution due to the pain altering life quality and to the possibility of causing exocrine and endocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Ultrasound represents the main imaging technique to be used in this disease since the identification of pancreatic calcifications has diagnostic significance. Endoscopic ultrasound may sometimes identify parenchymal changes facilitating diagnosis in the early stages of chronic pancreatitis when transabdominal ultrasound and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography show normal situations or non-characteristic changes.