Mycobacterium infection directly observed in a surgical outpatient centre.

Background: This study aims to check the presence and the role of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, in an Ambulatory and Day Surgery Out-Patient Centre.

Methods: Two periods of activity in this Centre are evaluated corresponding separately to the years 1989-1993 and 1994-1998 and the total number of patients, coming for examination, ambulatory or day surgery, hospitalization, postoperative follow-up, is considered, in order to identify the number of cases and the clinical signs of this disease. All cases were examined by the same team and the checks were completed, in the selected cases in which it was advisable, with radiological, bacteriological, bioptical, radiometrical exams and with the Elisa test (after informed consent).

[An occult pancreatic insulinoma: radio-guided surgery with 111-In-octreotide. A case report and review of the literature on pre- and intraoperative diagnosis].

Introduction: Pancreatic insulinoma is a small, rare neoplasm; its radical therapy is surgical enucleation or resection. Although clinical diagnosis is simple, instrumental and radiological localization is still difficult (occult insulinoma: 10-20%).

Material And Methods: The authors present the case of a 71-year-old patient suffering from relapsing vertigo syndrome, derangement and transient lypothymia after strong physical activity.

Successful therapy of Niemann-Pick disease by implantation of human amniotic membrane.

In a patient with a lysosomal storage disorder, not involving the CNS, repeated implantations of human amniotic sheets have proved to provide a successful approach to enzyme replacement therapy. Implantation of pure epithelial cells, separated from the other cell types of the amnion, might markedly improve the procedure, avoiding some risks of host-versus-graft rejection.