Risk factors for development of coronary heart disease in patients with acromegaly: a five-year prospective study.

Background: Data on coronary heart disease (CHD) are scanty and matter of argument in acromegalic patients.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate risk factors for development of CHD and the occurrence of cardiac events in acromegalic patients during a 5-yr prospective study.

Design: Ten-year likelihood for CHD development was estimated by the Framingham scoring system (FS); patients were stratified as having low (FS < 10), intermediate (>or= 10 FS < 20), or high (FS >or= 20) risk.

Comparison of spirometric-gated and -ungated HRCT in COPD.

Purpose: The purpose of this work was to evaluate feasibility of spirometric-gated high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to compare the lung density CT measurements obtained with and without spirometric control of lung volume.

Method: Twenty-nine patients with COPD underwent pulmonary function tests and spirometric-gated (3 slices at 10% and 90% of vital capacity) and -ungated (12 slices at maximum expiration and inspiration) HRCT in the same day. Four lung density measurements (inspiratory pixel index, expiratory pixel index, inspiratory and expiratory mean lung density) derived from gated and ungated acquisitions were compared using the nonparametric Wilcoxon test, the line of equality, and the Bland and Altman test.

Colorectal cancer: role of CT colonography in preoperative evaluation after incomplete colonoscopy.

Purpose: To evaluate computed tomographic (CT) colonography in patients with clinical suspicion of colorectal cancer and in whom colonoscopy was incomplete.

Materials And Methods: After incomplete colonoscopy, 34 patients underwent CT colonography before and after intravenous injection of iodinated contrast agent, in supine and prone positions. Twenty patients with no evidence of colon cancer after complete colonoscopy were included as a control group.

Urinary desmosine excretion is inversely correlated with the extent of emphysema in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

An enhanced proteolysis of lung interstitium is key event in the pathogenesis of emphysema, a major constituent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. To assess whether urinary desmosine and/or hydroxyproline may be used as a marker of lung destruction we studied urinary excretions of these products in 20 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and in 19 appropriate controls in 24h urine collection samples. For desmosine measurements, we developed a new indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.