Large goiters and postoperative complications: does it really matter?

Introduction: Thyroidectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures worldwide. Although the mortality rate is currently approaching 0%, the incidence of complications in such a frequent surgery is not insignificant. The most frequent are postoperative hypoparathyroidism, recurrent injury, and asphyxial hematoma.

Concomitant sensitization to inhaled budesonide and oral nystatin presenting as allergic contact stomatitis and systemic allergic contact dermatitis.

Concomitant allergic reactions to multiple drugs are uncommon. We report the case of a 66-year-old woman who presented with concomitant sensitization to inhaled budesonide and oral nystatin presenting as allergic contact stomatitis and systemic allergic contact dermatitis. It is notable that one of the reactions was caused by oral nystatin, which generally is not considered to be allergenic due to its poor intestinal absorption.

Caregivers' experience in patients with chronic diseases.

The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of caregivers of patients with chronic diseases, assess their perceived burden, and investigate factors influencing this burden. Seventy-three patient-attendants (43 men and 30 women) participated in the pilot-research conducted by two clinics. Of them, 68% attended patients with a malignant disease and 32% attended patients in the end stage of renal disease.

Autoantibodies in type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease manifested by an autoimmune attack on the pancreatic beta-islet cells. It is also known that Type 1 diabetes is associated with other autoimmune diseases. The aim of the present study was to seek autoantibodies in the serum of people with Type 1 diabetes.

A comparative study of intravenous ibandronate and pamindronate in patients with bone metastases from breast or lung cancer: effect on metastatic bone pain.

We compared the effects of ibandronate and pamindronate in patients with bone metastases from breast or lung cancer and we found that ibandronate is superior to pamindronate in alleviating pain, improving mobility and quality of life, and reducing bone resorption indices in patients with bone metastases from breast or lung cancer.

Efficacy of ibandronate for the treatment of skeletal events in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Patients with breast carcinoma often develop bone metastases that carry a high risk of complications. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ibandronate in patients with metastatic bone disease following breast cancer. The primary efficacy end point of the study was the proportion of patients who developed skeletal-related events (SREs, defined as pathologic fracture, spinal cord compression, radiation therapy to bone, change in anti-neoplastic therapy and surgery to bone).

Development of three different neoplasias in a patient in an 18-year period of time.

This study presents a rare case of a patient who developed three different types of neoplasia in an 18-year period of time. The case presents a 31-year-old man with a history of treated Hodgkin's lymphoma in the neck region at the age of 13 years. The patient was admitted at the General Hospital of Nafplio for differential diagnosis of pain in the right subcostal region initiated 1 month before his admission and normochromic, normocytic anaemia.

Effect of combined treatment methods on quality of life in patients with pancreatic cancer.

We aimed to analyze the effect of combined treatment methods on quality of life (QoL) in patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Therefore, we prospectively analyzed 30 patients with unresectable, without distant metastases, pancreatic cancer. Patients were randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms: radiotherapy with 5-fluorouracil or radiotherapy with gemcitabine.

Efficacy and safety of capecitabine and oxaliplatin combination as second-line treatment in advanced colorectal cancer.

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy and safety of administering a combination of capecitabine and oxaliplatin in patients with advanced colorectal cancer, resistant to leucovorin/5-fluorouracil and irinotecan. Fifty-four patients with advanced colorectal cancer were prospectively evaluated (mean age 63 years, male/female 2:1) who had been previously treated with schemes containing fluoropyrimidines and irinotecan. All patients received oxaliplatin (130 mg/m2 as 2-hour intravenous infusion) the first day of the cycle and capecitabine (1000 mg/m2) twice daily, days 1-14.

The role of paroxetine in fatigue and depression of patients under chemotherapeutic treatment.

We evaluated paroxetine for the treatment of fatigue and depression in patients with solid tumors after chemotherapy, and we found that paroxetine is effective for the treatment of depression during chemotherapy but has no benefit for the treatment of fatigue.

Could the truncated variant of ERBB2 be present in the squamous carcinomas of the cervix?

ERBB2, a ligand-less membrane receptor, is frequently overexpressed in a number of human tumors, contributing to uncontrolled cell proliferation. In some cases, gene amplification correlates with protein overexpression and predicts response to trastuzumab. We analyzed the expression of ERBB2 in a group of 40 patients diagnosed with infiltrating squamous cervical carcinomas (ISCC) using a microarray.

Once-weekly epoetin beta therapy in patients with solid tumours and chemotherapy-induced anaemia: a randomized, double-blind, dose-finding study.

Anaemia is common in patients receiving chemotherapy, causing symptoms that have a major impact on quality of life (QoL). Epoetin beta rapidly increases haemoglobin (Hb) levels and improves QoL in anaemic patients with a variety of tumours. This was a randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, dose-finding study assessing the efficacy and safety of once-weekly epoetin beta in patients with solid tumours receiving chemotherapy.

Smoking among high school students.

Introduction: There are no recent data on smoking habits of high-school students in Greece. The primary objective of the study was to determine these epidemiological factors.

Methods: The smoking habits of 927 high-school students (471 boys and 456 girls), aged between 15-18 years, in four regions of a Greek area (the island of Cos), were examined.

Radiologic evaluation of breast disorders related to pregnancy and lactation.

During pregnancy and lactation, the breast can be affected by a variety of specific and unique disorders, including benign disorders closely related to physiologic changes, inflammatory and infectious diseases, juvenile papillomatosis, and benign and malignant tumors. Patients with pregnancy-associated breast carcinoma tend to have more advanced neoplasms at diagnosis and a poorer prognosis due to delayed diagnosis and a more aggressive biologic pattern. Pregnancy-related Burkitt lymphoma characteristically manifests with bilateral and diffuse involvement of the breasts.

Ibandronate is effective in preventing skeletal events in patients with bone metastases from colorectal cancer.

Patients with metastatic colorectal carcinoma (CRC) often develop bone metastases with a high risk of complications. Ibandronate is a novel single-nitrogen bisphosphonate that has been shown to be effective for treating bone metastases from breast cancer. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ibandronate in patients with bone metastases from CRC.

Headache characteristics and brain metastases prediction in cancer patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the headache and other neurological symptoms and signs as guide predictors for the occurrence of brain metastases in cancer patients. We prospectively studied 54 cancer patients with newly appeared headache or with a change in the pattern of an existing headache during the recent months. All patients completed a questionnaire regarding headache's clinical characteristics and existence of accompanying symptoms.

[Contribution of positron emission tomography to the detection and staging of breast cancer].

Introduction: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) is a diagnostic imaging tool with multiple applications in oncology. One of the more promising applications in breast cancer is noninvasive lymph node staging and detection of distant metastases, which may provide useful information about prognosis and treatment response.

Material And Method: Published studies on FDG-PET applications in breast cancer detection and staging were reviewed.

The impact of weekly dosing of epoetin alfa on the haematological parameters and on the quality of life of anaemic cancer patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and the impact of once-weekly administration of epoetin alfa (Ea) on the management of anaemia and on the quality of life (QOL) of cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. Eighty cancer patients with life expectancy > or = 24 weeks and haemoglobin (Hb) levels < 10.5 g/dL were studied.

Radiologic evaluation of uncommon inflammatory and reactive breast disorders.

The radiologic features of breast lesions caused by immunologic, reactive, and noncurrent infectious diseases often mimic those of malignancy, frequently constituting a diagnostic challenge even if the underlying disease is known. Churg-Strauss syndrome mimics carcinomatous mastitis. Amyloidosis usually manifests as a suspicious mass, often accompanied by microcalcifications.

Spontaneous acute subdural haematoma caused by tension pneumocephalus.

We describe the first case of spontaneous acute subdural haematoma (SASH) caused by tension pneumocephalus in a patient who had undergone surgery for sinusitis followed by meningitis many years previously. The patient presented with a seizure and epistaxis. The haematoma was caused by a torn bridging vein.

Psychosocial effects and evaluation of the health-related quality of life in patients suffering from well-controlled epilepsy.

Purpose: To record the impact of epilepsy on the psychological health and HRQOL of patients suffering from mild epilepsy in a rural area of southeastern Greece.

Patients And Methods: We studied fifty outpatients suffering from well-controlled uncomplicated epilepsy who experienced from none up to four seizures per year and had the ability to sustain a regular job. We tried to record the psychosocial effects resulting from epilepsy and to evaluate their HRQOL, comparing them to 50 healthy controls with similar demographic characteristics.

Structural cost of shoot modules and its implications on plant potential fitness in a Mediterranean perennial shrub, Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss.

This paper introduces a methodology to analyse the structural costs on plant potential fitness, empirically exemplified in the hierarchical shoot system of a Mediterranean perennial plant, Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss. During growing season every year (March-August), the terminal shoot (which is the basic unit of growth) develops inflorescences, flowers and fruits, as well as new shoots (first-, second- and third-order branching shoots) which have the potential to "behave" as terminal shoots in the following year.