Improved 5-year survival of patients with immunochemical faecal blood test-screen-detected colorectal cancer versus non-screening cancers in northern Italy.

Background: Colorectal cancer screening may reduce disease-related mortality by early-stage detection of cancers.

Aims: To study the effect of a single immunochemical faecal occult blood test (i-FOBt) screening round on reduction in colorectal cancer-related-mortality among average risk subjects.

Methods: Comparison of 5-year mortality rates in 3 cohorts from a Northern Italian province: (1) colorectal cancers detected at the 1st biennial round of a mass-screening programme targeting 50-69 years old subjects, (2) non-screening cancers symptomatically diagnosed during the same time period, and (3) cancers detected in the pre-screening biennium.

Feasibility and safety of EUS-guided cryothermal ablation in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

Background: New therapies are needed for pancreatic cancer.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and safety of a new endoscopic treatment. Secondary endpoints were to determine effects on tumor growth measured with CT scan and to find the overall survival.

Mucin expression pattern in pancreatic diseases: findings from EUS-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsies.

Objectives: Alterations in mucin (MUC) glycosylation and expression have been described in cancer. Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) can provide material for molecular biology analysis. This study assessed the feasibility of evaluating MUC expression from material obtained by EUS-FNA and studied the profile of MUC expression in benign and malignant pancreatic lesions.

Chronic pancreatitis-like changes detected by endoscopic ultrasound in subjects without signs of pancreatic disease: do these indicate age-related changes, effects of xenobiotics, or early chronic pancreatitis?

Background/aims: The threshold number of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) criteria for diagnosing chronic pancreatitis (CP) is variable. The presence of more than three abnormal ductular or parenchymal features is typically used, but the diagnostic significance of fewer EUS criteria is currently unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of EUS features of CP in patients without pancreaticobiliary disease and to analyze the association with specific factors of interest.

US-guided application of a new hybrid probe in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma: an ex vivo study.

Background: Ablative therapies such as radiofrequency and cryotechnology are widely used in oncological intervention but not in the pancreatic field because of their high operative risks. A new flexible bipolar ablation device (Cryotherm probe [CTP]) was developed combining radiofrequency and cryotechnology.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the CTP in destroying neoplastic tissue of explanted pancreatic tumors of patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration: complication rate and clinical course in a single centre.

Background: Endoscopic Ultrasound-guided Fine Needle Aspiration (EUS-FNA) is effective for obtaining biopsy specimens from pancreatic lesions.

Aim: To determine the frequency and severity of complications after EUS-FNA of solid and cystic pancreatic lesions in a single centre large series of patients.

Patients And Methods: From January 2005 to December 2008, information on all patients referred to our unit for pancreatic EUS was systematically entered in a computer database including clinical and morphologic data.

Could EUS be useful for evaluating right renal vein and inferior vena cava thrombosis due to renal cell carcinoma? Report of 3 cases.

Background: More than 200,000 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed annually. The reported incidence of inferior vena cava (IVC) involvement in patients with renal-cell carcinoma (RCC) ranges from 4% to 10%. Standard imaging modalities are unable to distinguish the inner structure of a thrombus and whether the vessel wall is invaded.