Intraoperative Neurovascular Bundle Preservation with Hyaluronic Acid during Radical Brachytherapy for Localized Prostate Cancer: Technique and MicroMosfet In Vivo Dosimetry.

Purpose: To evaluate the reduction in the absorbed dose delivered to the neurovascular bundle (NB) in patients with localized prostate cancer treated with only HDR brachytherapy and NB protection with hyaluronic acid (HA) on the side of the prostate to increase the distance from NB to the radioactive sources.

Methods: This is the first published report in the medical literature that studies a new approach to decrease neurovascular bundle toxicity and improve quality of life for patients with prostate cancer treated with radical brachytherapy as monotherapy. Transperineal HA injection on the side of the prostate into the lateral aspect of the prostate fat was used to consistently displace several autonomic fibers and vessels on the lateral wall of the prostate away from radiation sources.

Aneurysm of the right renal vein arising from an idiopathic arteriovenous fistula.

A renal vein aneurysm is rarely secondary to an arteriovenous fistula. A symptomatic 4.7-cm aneurysm of the right renal vein arising from an idiopathic arteriovenous fistula in a 41-year-old woman is described.

Comparison of MELD, HVPG, and their changes to predict clinically relevant endpoints in cirrhosis.

Aim: Identification of predictors in the natural history of cirrhosis is based on determinations at a fixed time point. However, changes of these predictors may offer more information. To evaluate the predictive value of Model for End Stage Liver Disease (MELD) and hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) and their changes in cirrhosis.

Determinants of resistive index shortly after transplantation: independent relationship with delayed graft function.

Measurement of the vascular resistive index (RI) by Doppler ultrasonography has been proposed as a non-invasive method to evaluate renal allograft dysfunction, but there are conflicting reports about its clinical utility. The aim of our study was to analyse the donor and recipient characteristics related to RI measured at days 2 and 3 after renal transplantation and the relationship between RI and allograft outcome. RI was measured by Doppler ultrasonography in 333 patients at days 2 or 3 post-transplantation.

[Analysis of the literature on the relatives of the critical patient: research in effective care needs to be performed].

Aim: To explore the nature of studies on families and the Intensive Care Unit context and the issues they deal with.

Design And Methods: This is a qualitative, methodological study that makes a documental analysis of 24 articles (between 1993-2004) located by descriptors in journals and databases. A double analysis was conducted: quality assessment and content analysis.

[Emphysematous cystitis in a patient with renal transplant].

We describe a renal transplant patient who developed an abdominal pain in the hypogastrium area and a urinary tract infection. An abdominal RX, and later, a computerized tomography showed an air collection in the bladder wall. Emphysematous cystitis is a rare complication of the urinary tract infection, more frequently in patients with diabetes mellitus.

[Abscess colon diverticular disease produced for Actinomyces israelii in a renal transplant recipient].

We present the case of a 53 years old man with a cadaveric kidney transplant under cyclosporin A and prednisolone therapy. Clinical transplant course was uneventful until 15 years after transplant, when he was admitted in our hospital with fever and a perirenal mass of unknown origin. Cyclosporin A was removed and a left sided colon was carried out and a abscess colon diverticular disease produced for Actinomyces israelii was diagnosed.

Fournier's gangrene: a radiologic emergency.

Fournier's gangrene (FG) is a life-threatening, necrotizing infection involving the soft tissues of the scrotal area. Because of potential severe complications, it is important to diagnose the disease as early as possible. We present the CT findings of FG in a young male that came to the Emergency Department for genital pain and tenderness.

Intralenticular intraocular foreign body after stone impact: CT and US findings.

Introduction: Intraocular foreign body (IOFB) is a relatively common entity in emergency departments worldwide. Appropriate ocular assessment is mandatory if an intraocular foreign body is suspected because it is associated with an increased risk of endophtalmitis and a wide range of complications including hyphaema, cataract, vitreous hemorrhage, and retinal tears and detachment.

Case Report: We present a case of intralenticular intraocular foreign body after stone impact.

The process of giving information to families of critically ill patients: a field of tension.

We conducted research to study nurses' views on factors that influence their relationship with patients' relatives in intensive care units in three hospitals in Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). This article focuses on the findings related to the process of giving information to the family. We used a post-structuralist theoretical framework and data were collected through observations and interviews.

[Risk factors for non communicable diseases: methods and global results of the CARMEN program basal survey].

Background: In the last decades, chronic non communicable diseases are becoming the main cause of disability and mortality among adults. The risk factor surveillance and management is the most efficient mean of reducing the impact of these diseases.

Aim: To report the results of a non communicable disease risk factor surveillance program in Valparaiso, Chile.

[Prevalence of hypertension in Valparaíso. Results of the base survey of the CARMEN project (Set of measures for the multifactorial reduction of non-transmissible diseases)].

Background: There is little information about the real prevalence of hypertension in Chile.

Aim: To assess the adjusted prevalence of hypertension and its main therapeutic measures among adults living in Valparaiso, Chile.

Materials And Methods: A random sample of dwellings in Valparaiso was chosen.

Prevalence of the angiotensin I converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism, plasma angiotensin converting enzyme activity, and left ventricular mass in a normotensive Chilean population.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of the different alleles of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism and associated plasma ACE activity, as well as cardiac echocardiographic structure, in a healthy Chilean population. We selected 117 healthy normotensive subjects (aged 45 to 60 years, middle socioeconomic status, nonobese, and nondiabetic) from a population-based study concerning the prevalence of risk factors for chronic diseases (Conjunto de Acciones Para la Reducción Multifactorial de las Enfermedades no Transmisibles [CARMEN]). The frequencies of the I and D alleles were 0.

Immune-genetic study of the new populations of Sierra Morena (Spain) through HLA polymorphisms of class I.

We have studied the HLA antigenes of class I in 50 families from Andalusia and in 50 families from some towns of Sierra Morena (La Carolina among others), in which an important settlement took place by individuals from Central Europe over 200 years ago, by comparing the allele frequencies with the German population. The obtained results allowed us to conclude that a real mixture of population has occurred. The frequencies of some HLA alleles of class I in the population of Sierra Morena are intermediate to those observed in the original populations, though some phenomena of drifting have been noticed.

[Colorectal tuberculosis].

Intestinal tuberculosis has been a clinical rarity in the western world since the tuberculostatic agents were discovered. The most common location of these lesions is usually the ileocecal region, lesions of the transverse colon being much less frequent and perforation of this viscus being exceptional. The etiological diagnosis is usually difficult because there are no specific radiological signs and false negatives are often found in biopsy material obtained by colonoscopy since the process is mainly submucous.