CROATIAN GUIDELINES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF NONALCOHOLIC FATTY LIVER DISEASE.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a term describing excessive accumulation of fat in hepatocytes, and is associated with metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. NAFLD prevalence is on increase and goes in parallel with the increasing prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components. That is why Croatian guidelines have been developed, which cover the screening protocol for patients with NAFLD risk factors, and the recommended diagnostic work-up and treatment of NAFLD patients.

Endovascular treatment of an obstructive membrane between inferior vena cava and right atrium in an unrecognized Budd-Chiari syndrome.

Background: Budd-Chiari syndrome is defined as a hepatic venous outflow track obstruction of various etiology, which appears at different levels. The inferior vena cava outflow membrane is an unusual, but a potentially treatable cause. The percutaneous treatment has emerged as a very promising management mode for such patients.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma Surveillance-Experience from Croatian Referral Centre for Chronic Liver Diseases.

Purpose: For patients at high-risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), biannual ultrasound surveillance has long been recommended, in order to detect the tumor in the early, potentially curative stages. However, globally reported HCC surveillance rates vary greatly, ranging from as low as 1.7 to as high as 80%.

[ABNORMALITIES OF HEMOSTASIS IN PATIENTS WITH LIVER CIRRHOSIS].

Until the beginning of the 90ies, it was believed that patients with liver cirrhosis were auto-anticoagulated and thus protected from thromboembolic events. However, new discoveries have broken the longstanding paradigm. In deranged hepatic function there is a reduced synthesis of procoagulants and endogenous anticoagulants, however, extrahepatally synthesized hemostatic and fibrinolytic factors are disproportionately affected.

The value of immunohistochemical determination of topoisomerase IIα and Ki67 as markers of cell proliferation and malignant transformation in colonic mucosa.

Background: Considering the role of topoisomerase IIα in cell division, and its increased expression in the G2/M phase of cell cycle, immunohistochemical staining for topoisomerase IIα might be used as a marker for cell proliferation or malignant transformation and compared with traditional proliferation marker (Ki67).

Materials And Methods: In this study, 215 consecutive patients, who had undergone colonoscopy with biopsy, were included. The biopsy samples were fixed in formaldehyde, embedded in paraffin, cut into 3- to 4-μm sections, stained with hematoxylin-eosin and analyzed under a light microscope for pathologic diagnosis.

Diagnostic pitfalls in parathyroid gland cytology.

The aim of this study is to establish possibilities of using cytology in the diagnosis of parathyroid gland adenoma. 475 patients, all suspected to have parathyroid gland disease, were examined over a three-year period (from 1 of January 2006 to 31 of December 2008) in the Clinical Department of Nuclear Medicine and Radiation Protection, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia. Ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (UG-FNAB) of suspected occurrences determined by ultrasound was done.

[Cytomorphological characteristics of thyroid papillary carcinoma and their prognostic value].

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine cytomorphological characteristics of classic papillary carcinoma that could point to a higher likelihood of intraglandular or paraglandular dissemination of the disease.

Methods: Morphological characteristics of classic thyroid papillary carcinoma and the size and ultrasonography characteristics of thyroid nodules were semiquantitatively analyzed in 100 patients diagnosed with papillary carcinoma by cytology and verified by histology. Data on the presence of intraglandular and paraglandular dissemination, established by histologic examination of postoperative material, were collected and analyzed.

Imprint cytology of gastric mucosa biopsy--fast, simple and reliable method for detection of Helicobacter pylori infection.

The aim of the study was to determine the value of gastric mucosa imprint cytology in the detection of Helicobacter pylori infection. A total of 182 biopsy specimens, from 182 randomly selected patients undergoing gastroscopy with gastric mucosa biopsy, were analyzed. Specimens were first submitted to slide imprinting and then formalin fixed for further routine histopathology.

[Comparison of cytological and histological analysis of gastric mucosa biopsy in diagnosing malignant diseases].

The aim of this study was to determine the value of cytological analysis of an imprint of gastric mucosa biopsy compared to the histological evaluation, in diagnosing malignant diseases of gastric mucosa. In this study 70 patients, with changes of gastric mucosa endoscopically suspect of malignancy were included. Biopsy and imprint of gastric mucosa were performed in order to obtain morphological diagnosis.