Ultrasound contrast media in the study of salivary gland tumors.

Background: The aims of the present study were: to assess standard ultrasound and color-Doppler patterns for the study and characterization of salivary gland tumors; to define the improvement in the color-Doppler ultrasound image after injection of a signal amplifier (Levovist); to compare morphological and vascular aspects of the neoplasm with data obtained during postoperative histopathological analysis.

Materials And Methods: We used color-Doppler ultrasound before and after injection of the contrast medium to study 56 patients (32 males and 24 females) between the ages of 28 and 77 years old, presenting nodular pathology of the salivary glands. Only patients with less than optimal results of the basic color-Doppler examination (grade of vascularization 0-1) were included in the study.

Iodized salt improves the effectiveness of L-thyroxine therapy after surgery for nontoxic goitre: a prospective and randomized study.

Objective: To investigate whether the addition of iodized salt to daily diet in thyroidectomized patients for nontoxic goitre could influence the effectiveness of nonsuppressive L-thyroxine (L-T4) therapy on thyroid remnant size, during 12 months' follow-up after thyroid surgery.

Design And Patients: A consecutive series of selected 139 patients (26 males, 113 females; median age 45 years, range 30-69 years) living in a moderate iodine-deficient area, and undergoing thyroid surgery for nontoxic multinodular goitre, was enrolled. Patients were assigned randomly to two different therapeutic regimens: 70 patients received L-T4 therapy alone (Gr.

Long-term effects of lanreotide SR and octreotide LAR on tumour shrinkage and GH hypersecretion in patients with previously untreated acromegaly.

Background And Objective: The therapeutic efficacy of lanreotide SR and octreotide LAR has been studied widely in patients treated previously with neurosurgery and/or radiotherapy. These therapies limit the evaluation of the long-term effects of somatostatin analogues on tumour shrinkage. Neurosurgical and radiotherapy treatments cause irreversible anatomical changes in pituitary morphology, which can make accurate evaluation of tumour shrinkage difficult.

Medullary thyroid cancer, papillary thyroid microcarcinoma and Graves' disease: an unusual clinical coexistence.

We describe the unusual case of a Caucasian woman who had a diagnosis of medullary thyroid cancer and papillary microcarcinoma 5 years after a diagnosis of Graves' disease. The patient came to our observation for recurrence of hyperthyroidism. An ultrasound scan revealed diffuse thyroid enlargement with a nodule, recently increased in size.

Long-term outcome of interferon-alpha-induced thyroid autoimmunity and prognostic influence of thyroid autoantibody pattern at the end of treatment.

Thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunction have been widely reported as side effects of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha) treatment, but the literature lacks data regarding the long-term course of these complications, clinical observation being limited to 6-12 months off therapy. Our study is the first that has aimed to evaluate the natural history of IFN-related thyroid autoimmunity during a 6.2-yr follow-up after the IFN-alpha withdrawal as well as to investigate the potential role of the autoantibody pattern at the end of treatment to predict the long-term outcome.

Postintervention serum TSH levels may be useful to differentiate patients who should undergo levothyroxine suppressive therapy after thyroid surgery for multinodular goiter in a region with moderate iodine deficiency.

Recent studies have raised doubts about the efficacy of the postoperative use of levothyroxine (LT4) suppressive doses in patients who underwent thyroid surgery for multinodular goiter. The purpose of this retrospective study was to examine the efficacy of different doses of LT4 in preventing postsurgical recurrences of simple multinodular goiter and to identify a marker that could be useful in discriminating patients with a higher risk of developing recurrence. Two hundred thirty-two patients (57 male, 175 female) operated for nontoxic multinodular goiter were divided into two groups: (I) patients with normal postsurgery thyrotropin (TSH) levels (0.

Long-term treatment with interferon-beta therapy for multiple sclerosis and occurrence of Graves' disease.

Interferon (IFN)-beta has become a widespread therapy for multiple sclerosis. As already reported for IFN-alpha, thyroid autoimmunity and dysfunctions have been observed also in course of IFN-beta therapy. Nevertheless, very few cases of Graves' disease, occurred in such condition, have been reported in literature.

Bioactive parathyroid hormone in pregnant rats and fetuses.

Parathyroid function at the end of gestation (day 21) was investigated by measuring plasma calcium (PCa), immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (iPTH), bioactive parathyroid hormone (bioPTH; cytochemical bioassay), and bone histology in intact and thyroparathyroidectomized (TPTX; day 12, ether anesthesia) rats and their fetuses. In pregnant intact rats, PCa was significantly lower, and iPTH, bioPTH, and osteoclast number were higher than in nonpregnant rats. In fetuses, PCa was higher than maternal PCa and correlated with fetal bioPTH.

Differential diagnosis between undifferentiated tumor and thymoma by electron microscopy and immunohistochemical labelling.

This study of a particular case of tumor posed and resolved problems of differential diagnosis between an undifferentiated tumor and a thymoma by using electron microscopy in association with immunocytochemical methods. The first step was the distinction between an epithelial and a mesenchymal tumor, which was done by electron microscopy and immunofluorescence observation with anti-keratin antibody. The second step, a new approach to this problem, was the distinction between an epithelial tumor of thymic origin and another tumor located in the mediastinal lodge.

Hypocalcaemic effect of WR-2721, S-2 (3-aminopropylamino) ethyl-phosphorothioic acid in an anuric haemodialysis patient.

The radio- and chemoprotective agent, S-2 (3-aminopropylamino) ethyl-phosphorothioic acid (WR-2721) has been reported to lower hypercalcaemia in patients with cancer, probably by increased renal calcium excretion and decreased parathyroid hormone (PTH) secretion and bone calcium resorption. The present study reports the first clinical use of WR-2721 in an anuric haemodialysis patient with severe secondary hyperparathyroidism. The drug was administered intravenously at different doses, i.

Thymoma epithelial cells secrete thymic hormone but do not express class II antigens of the major histocompatibility complex.

17 thymomas were studied by indirect immunofluorescence for the presence of thymic hormones and antigens of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The thymoma epithelial cells (specifically identified by their keratin content) contained thymic hormones (thymulin and thymosin alpha 1), a finding corroborated by the observation of elevated thymulin serum levels. In contrast with normal or hyperplastic thymuses, thymoma epithelial cells did not express HLA-DR and HLA-DC antigens as assessed by immunofluorescence as well as immunoblot analyses.