Pulmonary arterial hypertension treatment with carvedilol for heart failure: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Right-sided heart failure is the leading cause of death in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Similar to left heart failure, sympathetic overactivation and β-adrenoreceptor (βAR) abnormalities are found in PAH. Based on successful therapy of left heart failure with β-blockade, the safety and benefits of the nonselective β-blocker/vasodilator carvedilol were evaluated in PAH.

Prognostic role of inflammatory biomarkers in metastatic breast cancer.

Purpose: The effects of inflammation on the prognosis, life expectancy and several parameters such as response to treatment of breast cancer have been previously studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of inflammatory markers on prognosis in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Methods: This study was conducted on 81 patients with metastatic breast cancer who have been followed up at the Department of Medical Oncology, Hacettepe University Institute of Oncology, between December, 2009 and March, 2014.

Metabolic and Functional Evaluation of the Heart and Lungs in Pulmonary Hypertension by Gated 2-[18F]-Fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose Positron Emission Tomography.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is associated with a metabolic shift towards glycolysis in both the right ventricle and lung. This results in increased glucose uptake to compensate for the lower energy yield of glycolysis, which creates a potential for 2-[18F] fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) to be a useful tool in the evaluation of participants with PH. We investigated the utility of PET for PH by comparing FDG-PET uptake in the right ventricle and lungs in 30 participants with PH and eight healthy controls and correlating these measurements with echocardiographic (ECHO) measurements and other traditional assessments commonly used in PH.

Endoluminal Bariatric Interventions: Where do we stand? Where are we going?

Background: Obesity is an epidemic leading to high morbidity, mortality, and therefore health-related costs. Thus, there is a huge need for development of safe and effective treatments. Even though success rates of conservative methods are highly limited, the surgical approaches lead to major complications in as many as 25% of the patients.

Endoscopic clips for the closure of acute iatrogenic perforations: Where do we stand?

Background And Aim: Iatrogenic perforation of the gut during endoscopy remains an uncommon but critical complication with significant morbidity and probable mortality than usual surgical treatment. Some authors have adopted a non-surgical closure method in chosen cases and, since 1993, endoclips have been used to close perforation in the stomach. The endoscopic practice of endoclips has been commonly used in the gut for hemostasis.

Air leak syndrome after endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography: a rare and fatal complication.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a state of the art diagnostic and therapeutic procedure for various pancreatic and biliary problems. In spite of the well-established safety of the procedure, there is still a risk of complications such as pancreatitis, cholangitis, bleeding and perforation. Air leak syndrome has rarely been reported in association with ERCP and the optimal management of this serious condition can be difficult to establish.

Skin cancer in immunosuppressed transplant patients: Vigilance matters.

Liver transplantation (LT) is a widely-accepted, definitive therapy of irreversible liver diseases including hepatitis C, alcoholic liver disease and metabolic liver disease. After transplantation, patients generally use a variety of immunosuppressive medications for the rest of their lives to prevent rejection of transplanted liver. Mortality after LT is mainly caused by recurrence of alcoholic hepatitis which is mostly seen in the patients who resume heavy drinking.

Lesser celandine (pilewort) induced acute toxic liver injury: The first case report worldwide.

Lesser celandine, also known as Ranunculus ficaria, is a herbaceous perennial plant that commonly utilizes piles and is taken either internally or used externally. The causality assessment of several reports provided evidence for the existence of Greater Celandine hepatotoxicity. However, there hasn't been any case report published thus far, about lesser celandine induced liver injury.

Impaired right ventricular-pulmonary vascular function in myeloproliferative neoplasms.

Background: Increased bone marrow hemangioblast numbers, alterations in erythroid/myeloid lineages, increased reticulin, and greater circulating bone marrow progenitor cells are present in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The data suggest that myeloid progenitors contribute to the pathogenesis of PAH, but there are little data on the prevalence of pulmonary vascular disease among the different forms of myeloid diseases. We hypothesized that there would be a higher prevalence of pulmonary vascular disease in myeloproliferative neoplasms that have high circulating progenitor cells, such as myelofibrosis and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), compared with those with low circulating progenitors, such as in aplastic anemia.

Impact of inflammatory markers on the prognosis of patients with operable breast cancer.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of inflammatory markers on the prognosis of patients with operable breast cancer.

Methods: This study was conducted on breast cancer patients followed up between December 2009 and December 2012 at the Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, Hacettepe University Medical School. A total of 704 patients with stages I to III disease whose inflammatory markers were assessed at the time of diagnosis were included the study.

The relationship between fibrosis level and blood neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in inactive hepatitis B carriers.

Aim: Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been used as a simple, affordable, and easily accessible marker to predict prognosis in a variety of inflammatory and neoplastic diseases. However, there are few studies investigating their role in patients with hepatitis B. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between NLR and liver fibrosis in patients who were being followed as inactive hepatitis B carriers.

Pregnancy in women with primary biliary cirrhosis.

Background & Aims: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) may present in all decades of life, also in childbearing age. Data on maternal and fetal outcome is limited. We aimed to investigate the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on the disease course and possible effects of PBC on fetal outcome.

Comparison of different autogenous graft materials for reconstruction of large segment vas deferens defect: experimental study in rat.

Purpose: Vasectomy is one of the most common urological operations performed, and provides permanent contraception. Many vasectomized men ultimately seek vasectomy reversal because of unforeseen changes in lifestyle. Vasovasostomy has varying rates of success.

Hemobilia as a result of right hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm rupture: An unusual complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Introduction: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy has many complications which may be seen due to anatomical variations, lack of experience of the surgeon or three dimensional visualization, or insufficient exposure of the surgical field; including vascular injuries. Here we present a case of pseudoaneurysm of the right hepatic artery leading to hemobilia after rupturing into the biliary system.

Presentation Of Case: A 43-year-old male patient presented to our clinic 3 weeks post laparoscopic cholecystectomy with right upper quadrant pain, melena and hematemesis.

Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1) for HER2-positive breast cancer.

Background: Trastuzumab emtansine (T-DM1), a novel drug developed for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer, is a human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER2) targeted antibody drug conjugate, composed of trastuzumab, a stable thioether linker, and the potent cytotoxic agent DM1 (derivative of maytansine). It has been shown that, in preclinical studies, it has anti-tumor activity in trastuzumab refractory cancer cells. In this review, we aim to show the clinical data about trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1) therapy and to discuss the therapy advantages for the management of patients with HER2-positive breast cancer.