Procalcitonin in patients with colorectal cancer.

Purpose: Bacterial translocation (BT) is common in colon cancer patients and may be associated with increased occurrence of septic complications as well as with adverse oncologic outcomes. The aim of the present study was to correlate the BT detectable through peritoneal lavage culture or identified by abnormal inflammatory parameters with the clinicopathologic parameters and the short-term prognosis in a prospective series of patients.

Methods: Fifty-four consecutive patients with histologically proven colorectal cancer were included in this prospective study.

Comparative approach to non-traumatic acute abdominal pain between elderly and non-elderly in the emergency department: a study in rural Greece.

Background: Acute abdominal pain is one of the most common symptoms that emergency department physicians encounter during their practice. The difficult task of early diagnosis and management of abdominal pain becomes more complicated when it involves elderly patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of age based differences regarding the management of acute non-traumatic abdominal pain in the Emergency Department.

Association of helicobacter pylori infection and colon cancer.

Background: Gastrin has been shown to exert carcinogenic effect to the epithelium of the colon. This study examines whether hypergastrinemia and H. pylori infection -especially infection by the CagA+ strain- are statistically associated with colorectal cancer and examine possible correlations with the colorectal cancer stage and lymph node metastasis.

The last place you would expect to find a gallstone.

The increasing use of laparoscopic cholecystectomy has led to an increased frequency of gallbladder perforation and subsequent gallstone spillage in the abdominal cavity. Occasionally unretrieved gallstones can cause infection, adhesions, and obstruction. Furthermore, spilt stones can cause erosion into adjacent organs and can migrate to distant sites, causing a variety of complications.

Differences in colorectal cancer patterns between right and left sided colorectal cancer lesions.

Purpose: Colorectal carcinomas that arise proximal (right) or distal (left) to the splenic flexure exhibit different clinical and biological characteristics. Although various hypotheses have been proposed to explain these differences, their origin remains unclear. In this study we investigated the clinicopathologic differences between left and right colon tumors and comment on the possible explanatory theories behind them.