Evaluation of complications and results in a contemporary series of 300 consecutive radical retropubic prostatectomies with the anatomic approach at a single institution.

Objectives: To evaluate the complications and results of radical retropubic prostatectomy with the anatomic approach, at our center, to allow a comparison with published studies and precise patient counseling.

Methods: We reviewed the charts and records of the follow-up visits of all patients who consecutively underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy for clinically intracapsular prostate cancer between March 1997 and February 2002.

Results: The pathologic stage was pT0 in 4 patients (1.

[Nephron-sparing surgery. Reproducibility of results, personal cases, and comparison with the international literature].

Purpose: Partial nephrectomy is an effective method of treatment for renal cell carcinoma. The aim of this study is to compare our experience with international literature data

Methods: Between January 1997 and December 2000 a total of 50 renal units in 30 males and 18 women, 27 to 77 years old (mean age 60.6) with renal solid lesion of < 4 cm diameter were treated at our institution with nephron sparing surgery (NSS).

[Recovery of urinary incontinence after retropubic radical prostatectomy. Results in 100 patients].

Aim Of The Study: To shorten the time to recovery of full urinary continence after radical retropubic prostatectomy and to increase the postoperative continence rate.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and five consecutive patients were submitted to radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer, with curative intent, focusing our attention on three steps of the operation. First, to achieve a complete control of bleeding from the dorsal vein complex and to perform a minimal touch dissection of the urethral stump; second, to perform a conservative dissection of the bladder neck, and, third, to implement a vascular type, watertight, vesico urethral anastomosis.

A single injection of lidocaine as local anesthesia for ultrasound guided needle biopsy of the prostate.

Purpose: We evaluated the effectiveness of a single injection of lidocaine on patient tolerance of multiple needle biopsies of the prostate.

Materials And Methods: In 100 consecutive group 1 patients local anesthesia was achieved by a single bolus injection of 10 ml. lidocaine and multiple prostatic needle biopsies was performed under ultrasound guidance.

Quantitative viremia test for early prediction of a biochemical response in patients with chronic hepatitis C treated with interferon.

To evaluate the importance of the changes in viremia as an early predictor of the outcome of interferon (IFN) therapy, we assayed the levels of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-RNA in stored serum samples obtained from 34 patients with chronic hepatitis C who showed different biochemical responses to therapy. Serum samples obtained before the start of therapy and after 1 and 3 months were used, and viremia levels were determined by "branched DNA (bDNA)" technique. Viremia levels at 1 month of therapy were lower than pre-therapy levels in all 19 patients who had shown a persistent normalization of ALT during therapy (responder patients).

[Infectious diseases in the short stories written by Verga and Pirandello].

The author invites to appreciate some short stories by Giovanni Verga and Luigi Pirandello, Italian writers who lived at the turn of the last century. These tales give an interesting description of two infectious diseases (malaria and cholera), and analyze their relationship with the conditions of poverty and ignorance spread across rural areas in Sicily--a region in the South of Italy--at that times.

Thickness and echogenicity of the skin in children as assessed by 20-MHz ultrasound.

Background: Skin anatomy and physiology undergo modifications throughout the whole lifespan. In children the skin appears with structural characteristics, as evaluated by histology, which differ from those of adults, especially in the first years of life.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate skin thickness and echogenicity at different sites in children by 20-MHz ultrasound.

Search for a W' boson via the decay mode W'-->munumu in 1.8 TeV pp collisions.

We report the results of a search for a W' boson produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 1.8 TeV using a 107 pb-1 data sample recorded by the Collider Detector at Fermilab. We consider the decay channel W'-->&munumu and search for anomalous production of high transverse mass munumu lepton pairs.

Surgical procedures as a major risk factor for chronic hepatitis C virus infection in Italy: evidence from a case-control study.

Objectives: The study was carried out to evaluate the risk factors associated with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.

Methods: This case-control study used multiple logistic regression analysis to determine risk factors associated with HCV infection. Study participants were followed at 10 liver or gastroenterologic units and included 294 subjects with chronic HCV infection and 295 age and sex matched anti-HCV-negative controls.

Unilateral laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy for clinical stage I nonseminomatous testicular cancer.

Since June 1993, unilateral laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection (LRPLND) has been performed in six patients with clinical Stage I nonseminomatous germ-cell tumors (NSGCT). All of the patients had undergone prior radical orchiectomy. The testicular cancer was left-sided in three cases and right-sided in three cases.

Adult endopyelotomy: impact of etiology and antegrade versus retrograde approach on outcome.

Purpose: We evaluate our experience with endopyelotomy for ureteropelvic junction obstruction by stratifying the results of an antegrade versus a retrograde approach for primary, secondary, calculi related, high insertion and impaired renal function related obstruction, individually.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed results of 149 nonrandomized patients treated for ureteropelvic junction obstruction, of whom 83 underwent antegrade percutaneous endopyelotomy using a right angle Greenwald electrode and 66 underwent retrograde endopyelotomy using a cutting balloon device. Subjective results were based on an analog pain scale, objective results on renal scan, excretory urography or Whitaker test and cost-effectiveness analysis on total treatment cost.

Endopyelotomy for high-insertion ureteropelvic junction obstruction.

We assessed the results of endourologic treatment of patients with a primary ureteropelvic junction obstruction (UPJO) caused by high insertion of the ureter into the renal pelvis (HIUPJO). A total of 10 patients 15 to 76 years old with preoperatively diagnosed HIUPJO were treated. Acucise retrograde endopyelotomy was performed in eight patients and percutaneous antegrade endopyelotomy in two.

[Laparoscopic unilateral retroperitoneal lymphadenectomy in non-seminomatous neoplasms of the testis in clinical stage I].

Since June 1993, unilateral laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (LRPLND) was performed in 6 patients diagnosed with clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT). All of the patients had undergone prior radical orchiectomy. The testicular cancer was left-sided in three cases and right-sided in three cases.

[Endoscopic treatment of bladder diverticula].

Since February 1993 six patients with bladder diverticula have undergone resection of the diverticular neck and fulguration of the diverticular mucosa at the time of transurethral resection of the prostate in 5 cases and urethral dilation in one case. The mean dimension of the diverticular was 5.2 cm.

Unilateral laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ cell testicular neoplasm.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (LRPLND) in the management of clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT).

Methods: Since June 1993, unilateral LRPLND was performed in 6 patients diagnosed with clinical stage I NSGCT. All patients had undergone prior radical orchiectomy.

Squamous-cell carcinoma developing within anal lichen planus: report of a case.

Aim: We present a case of squamous-cell carcinoma developing within perianal lichen planus. This is a chronic or recurrent cutaneous and/or mucosal dermatosis affecting less than 1 percent of the population. Neoplastic degeneration of cutaneous lichen planus is rare; only one case of squamous-cell carcinoma developing within perianal lichen planus has been described up until now in the international literature.

Scanning electron microscopy of vas deferens epithelium after temporary alteration caused by radiopaque medium.

Nine male rats (Rattus norvegicus albinus) weighing approximately 300 g were divided into 3 groups: a control group (CG), an experimental group of 7 days (EG-7), and an experimental group of 35 days (EG-35). All rats except those in the control group underwent a left vasography. The EG-7 and EG-35 rats were killed on the 7th and 35th days, respectively, after vasography; CG rats were killed on a randomly chosen day.