Clinical validation of a prognostic tool in a population of outpatients treated for incurable cancer undergoing anticancer therapy: PRONOPALL study.

Background: In 2008, a study of the characteristics of hospitalised patients led to the development of a prognostic tool that distinguished three populations with significantly different 2-month survival rates. The goal of our study aimed at validating prospectively this prognostic tool in outpatients treated for cancer in terminal stage, based on four factors: performance status (ECOG) (PS), number of metastatic sites, serum albumin and lactate dehydrogenase.

Patients And Methods: PRONOPALL is a multicentre study of current care.

Prevention of 5-fluorouracil-induced early severe toxicity by pre-therapeutic dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase deficiency screening: Assessment of a multiparametric approach.

5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)-based treatments can lead to early-onset severe (4%-5%) even fatal (0.3%) toxicities in patients with dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency. This multicenter prospective cohort study aimed to assess the clinical benefit of pretherapeutic screening for DPD deficiency using a multiparametric approach.

The Periscreen Strip Is Highly Efficient for the Exclusion of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis in Cirrhotic Outpatients.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the performance of a new strip (Periscreen) for the rapid diagnosis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP).

Methods: Ascitic fluid (AF) of cirrhotic patients hospitalized between March 2014 and August 2015 was independently tested by two readers using the new strip, which has four colorimetric graduations (negative, trace, small, and large). SBP was diagnosed on neutrophils in ascites>250/mm.

Plastic or metal stents for malignant stricture of the common bile duct? Results of a randomized prospective study.

Background: The systematic use of metal stents to treat biliary obstruction is restricted by high cost compared with plastic stents. The aims of this study were to compare cost and efficacy of plastic stents and metal stents in the treatment of patients with malignant common bile duct strictures and to define factors that predict survival of these patients.

Methods: One hundred eighteen patients (mean age 75 years) with malignant strictures of the common bile duct were randomized to placement of a plastic stent or metal stent.

New method of cardiac output measurement using ultrasound velocity dilution in rats.

The aim of this study was to validate a new technique for the measurement of cardiac output (CO) based on ultrasound and dilution (COUD) in anesthetized rats. A transit time ultrasound (TTU) probe was placed around the rat carotid artery, and ultrasound velocity dilution curves were generated on intravenous injections of saline. CO by COUD were calculated from the dilution curves for normal and portal hypertensive rats in which CO was known to be increased.

Argon plasma coagulation for the treatment of hemorrhagic radiation proctitis.

Background And Study Aims: Chronic radiation proctitis is a complication of radiotherapy for malignant pelvic diseases. Rectal bleeding caused by radiation proctitis is difficult to manage. Argon plasma coagulation (APC) is an electrocoagulation technique that appears to be an effective and low-cost alternative to the use of lasers in gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Spleno-renal shunt blood flow is an accurate index of collateral circulation in different models of portal hypertension and after pharmacological changes in rats.

Background/aims: Recently, we developed a new method to measure collateral blood flow in rats: splenorenal shunt (SRS) blood flow (BF). The aims were to evaluate the reproducibility of SRSBF measurement in different models of portal hypertension, and to investigate the ability of SRSBF to disclose pharmacological changes.

Methods: Hemodynamics were determined in anesthetized rats with secondary biliary, CCl4 or DMNA cirrhosis and portal vein ligation (PVL) under baseline and pharmacological (octreotide, vapreotide) conditions.

Measurement of collateral circulation blood flow in anesthetized portal hypertensive rats.

Aims: The aim of this study was to develop a technique to measure collateral blood flow in portal hypertensive rats.

Methods: Morphological techniques included inspection, casts and angiographies of portosystemic shunts. The main hemodynamic measurements were splenorenal shunt blood flow (transit time ultrasound method), percentage of portosystemic shunts and regional blood flows (microsphere method).

Splenorenal shunt blood flow by transit-time ultrasound as an index of collateral circulation in portal hypertensive rats.

The aim of this study was to develop a technique that could serve as an index of portosystemic shunt (PSS) blood flow in portal hypertensive rats whose main shunt is the splenorenal shunt (SRS). The main hemodynamic measurements performed were: SRS blood flow by the transit-time ultrasound (TTU) method, percentage of PSS, and regional blood flows by the microsphere method. We determined the accuracy and reproducibility of SRS blood flow measurements under baseline and pharmacological (octreotide) conditions.

Hemodynamic effects of terlipressin and octreotide administration alone or in combination in portal hypertensive rats.

Background/aims: The action sites and kinetic effects of octreotide and terlipressin may be different. Therefore, we studied the hemodynamic effects of acute administration of these drugs alone or in combination in rats with portal hypertension due to portal vein ligation.

Methods: In a first study performed in anesthetized rats, hemodynamics were measured before and after drug administration (placebo, octreotide: 8 microg x kg(-1) x h(-1) for 30 min, terlipressin: 50 microg/kg bolus, terlipressin + octreotide at the same doses).

Interobserver agreement on endoscopic diagnosis of bleeding peptic ulcers.

Background: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate the interobserver agreement of stigmata of recent hemorrhage of bleeding peptic ulcers.

Methods: Sixty-one consecutive adult patients were enrolled in the study and nine (three junior and six senior) endoscopists reviewed standardized video recordings of endoscopic examinations. Interobserver agreement was evaluated using the kappa (kappa) index, intraclass correlation coefficient, and proportion of agreement.

A case of colonic pseudolipomatosis: a rare complication of colonoscopy?

Mucosal pseudolipomatosis of the colon is a rare complication of colonoscopy. It is a benign lesion, and the etiology and pathogenesis of the disorder remain controversial. We report here a case of pseudolipomatosis of the colon discovered during investigation of rectal bleeding.

[Echoendoscopy and cancer of the esophagus].

Endoscopic ultrasonography is a major procedure for the staging of esophageal cancer. The staging given by the examination leads the treatment. We detail advantages and drawbacks of this technic.

[Occlusive pneumatosis cystoides intestinalis of the left colon. Which therapeutic approach to choose?].

A rare case of colonic occlusion due to cystic pneumatosis required surgical cure. The problems related to the pathogenesis and, especially, the therapeutic approach to this disease were emphasized.