Ultrasound contrast media in the study of salivary gland tumors.

Background: The aims of the present study were: to assess standard ultrasound and color-Doppler patterns for the study and characterization of salivary gland tumors; to define the improvement in the color-Doppler ultrasound image after injection of a signal amplifier (Levovist); to compare morphological and vascular aspects of the neoplasm with data obtained during postoperative histopathological analysis.

Materials And Methods: We used color-Doppler ultrasound before and after injection of the contrast medium to study 56 patients (32 males and 24 females) between the ages of 28 and 77 years old, presenting nodular pathology of the salivary glands. Only patients with less than optimal results of the basic color-Doppler examination (grade of vascularization 0-1) were included in the study.

Iodized salt improves the effectiveness of L-thyroxine therapy after surgery for nontoxic goitre: a prospective and randomized study.

Objective: To investigate whether the addition of iodized salt to daily diet in thyroidectomized patients for nontoxic goitre could influence the effectiveness of nonsuppressive L-thyroxine (L-T4) therapy on thyroid remnant size, during 12 months' follow-up after thyroid surgery.

Design And Patients: A consecutive series of selected 139 patients (26 males, 113 females; median age 45 years, range 30-69 years) living in a moderate iodine-deficient area, and undergoing thyroid surgery for nontoxic multinodular goitre, was enrolled. Patients were assigned randomly to two different therapeutic regimens: 70 patients received L-T4 therapy alone (Gr.

Long-term effects of lanreotide SR and octreotide LAR on tumour shrinkage and GH hypersecretion in patients with previously untreated acromegaly.

Background And Objective: The therapeutic efficacy of lanreotide SR and octreotide LAR has been studied widely in patients treated previously with neurosurgery and/or radiotherapy. These therapies limit the evaluation of the long-term effects of somatostatin analogues on tumour shrinkage. Neurosurgical and radiotherapy treatments cause irreversible anatomical changes in pituitary morphology, which can make accurate evaluation of tumour shrinkage difficult.