Interstitial laser photocoagulation for benign thyroid nodules: time to treat large nodules.

Background And Objective: Interstitial laser photocoagulation (ILP) is a new therapeutic option for the ablation of non-functioning and hyper-functioning benign thyroid nodules. Amelioration of the ablation procedure currently allows treating large nodules. Aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of ILP, performed according to a modified protocol of ablation, in patients with large functioning and non-functioning thyroid nodules and to identify the best parameters for predicting successful outcome in hyperthyroid patients.

Intracardiac metastasis originated from chondrosarcoma.

Primary cardiac tumors are extremely rare. By comparison, metastatic involvement of the heart is over 20 times more common and has been reported in autopsy series in up to one in five patients dying of cancer. Cardiac metastasis of chondrosarcoma is absolutely not frequent.

Proteomic profiling of medial degeneration in human ascending aorta.

Objective: The objective of this study was the construction of a reference map for aortic medial degeneration by a proteomic approach.

Design And Methods: A proteomic profiling of the media of human ascending aorta was performed by two-dimensional electrophoresis and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry.

Results: A reliable protocol for two-dimensional electrophoresis analysis of human aortic media proteins was developed allowing the selection and identification of 52 spots.

Hypertension induces compensatory arterial remodeling following arteriotomy.

Background: Hypertension has been traditionally considered a risk factor for restenosis following carotid arteriotomy. Genetic and morphological response to carotid arteriotomy in normotensive Wystar-Kyoto (WKY), spontaneously hypertensive (SHR), and Milan hypertensive (MHS) rats were analyzed.

Material And Methods: C-myc, angiotensin II receptor-1 (AT1), angiotensin II receptor-2 (AT2), endothelin-1 receptor A (ET(A)), endothelin-1 receptor B (ET(B)), Bcl-2 family-members (Bcl-2/Bax, Bcl-X(L/S)) were analyzed in surgically injured as well as uninjured carotids of WKY and hypertensive strains (HS).

Ascending aorta dilatation in aortic valve disease: morphological analysis of medial changes.

We investigated whether and how the severity of medial degeneration lesions varies along the circumference of the dilated intrapericardial aorta. Two groups of aortic wall specimens, respectively harvested in the convexity and concavity of ascending aorta in 72 patients undergoing surgery for dilatation of the intrapericardial aorta associated with aortic valve disease, were separately sent for pathology, morphometry, and ultrastructural examination. Cystic medial necrosis, fibrosis, and elastic fiber fragmentation were classified into three degrees of severity; their mean degree and morphometric findings in the convexity and in the concavity specimens were compared by paired t-test.

Morphological and ultrastructural findings of prognostic impact in craniopharyngiomas.

Craniopharyngioma is a slow-growing epithelial tumor with an unpredictable tendency to recur. To verify the reliability in predicting the clinical outcome, some morphological and immunohistochemical findings were analyzed in 37 primitive tumors and in 6 recurrences (one recurred twice). All the tumors were surgically excised and all recurrences exhibited an adamantinomatous pattern; mitotic rate was low (< 5 x 10 HPF) in both recurrent and in nonrecurrent tumors.

c-Myc antisense oligonucleotides preserve smooth muscle differentiation and reduce negative remodelling following rat carotid arteriotomy.

Objectives: The vascular biology of restenosis is complex and not fully understood, thus explaining the lack of effective therapy for its prevention in clinical settings. The role of c-Myc in arteriotomy-induced stenosis, smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation and apoptosis was investigated in rat carotids applying full phosphorothioate antisense (AS) oligonucleotides (ODNs).

Methods: Carotid arteries from WKY rats were submitted to arteriotomy and to local application of ODNs through pluronic gel.

Intramedullary neurenteric cysts of the spine. Report of three cases.

Neurenteric spinal cysts are infrequently occurring dysraphic lesions that are caused by persistent or abnormal communication among neuroectoderm, notochord, and endoderm. They are generally located at the intradural, extramedullary compartment of the low cervical or upper spinal canal. They occur primarily in infants and in young adults in combination with other congenital abnormalities.

Scanning electron microscopy of aortic medial changes in aortic ascending dilatation.

The study of cystic cavities and collagen fibers fragmentation is useful to for a better knowledge of pathogenesis and surgical therapy of medial ascending aortic degeneration. Thus, the aim of this study was to describe by scanning electron microscopy the surfaces and shape of the cysts, measure their area, and identify microcystic spaces related to this degenerative disease. Scanning electron microscopy analysis was performed in 16 out of 36 patients who underwent surgery for ascending aorta dilatation with associated aortic valve disease.

Extensive retroperitoneal fibrosis with duodenal and ureteral obstruction associated with giant inflammatory aneurysm of the abdominal aorta.

We report a case of abdominal aortic aneurysm complicated by retroperitoneal fibrosis with both duodenal and bilateral ureteral obstruction. The patient underwent successful bilateral transurethral ureteral stenting, and then he was referred for surgical treatment of the aneurysm. Massive retroperitoneal fibrosis was found at surgery, and the mass was removed along with the diseased aorta, which was replaced by a bifurcated Dacron prosthesis; duodenolysis and ureterolysis were concomitantly performed.

Stenosis progression after surgical injury in Milan hypertensive rat carotid arteries.

Background: Milan hypertensive rats (MHS) are characterised by an increase in renal sodium reabsorption mainly related to adducin mutations. Interest in this model relies on the genetic link between adducin polymorphisms and primary hypertension, observed also in a subset of patients.

Objectives: To investigate the molecular and morphological events involved in carotid stenosis and triggered by surgery in MHS model.

Aortic valve dysfunction and dilated ascending aorta. A complex and controversial association.

Several pathogenetic mechanisms account for the association of the ascending aorta dilation with aortic valve dysfunction. Functional aortic insufficiency can derive from medial degeneration of the aortic wall and annuloaortic ectasia; leaflet structural disease can determine root dilation by increasing aortic wall stress in case of both regurgitation and stenosis; aortic valve disease and aortic aneurysm can however coexist due to two different intrinsic etiologies. In the attempt to best tailor the surgical correction of such conditions to the underlying causative mechanism, several technical options have already been developed including composite or separate aortic valve and root replacement, valve-sparing operations, and aortoplasty techniques.