Management of patients with rectus sheath hematoma: Personal experience.

Background/purpose: Rectus sheath hematoma (RSH) is a rare clinical entity. It can be mistaken for other intra-abdominal disorders, which can result in diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties. This study was undertaken to analyze the clinical presentation, diagnostic modalities, and management of patients affected with RSH.

Spontaneous rupture of an umbilical hernia in a cirrhotic patient with ascites A case report and review of the literature.

The authors, report a case of spontaneous rupture of an umbilical hernia in a cirrhotic patient with ascites and perform a literature review. Their results and the published data suggest that it is preferable to perform elective surgery after stabilization of the ascites and the patient's general condition in order to prevent complications and mortality. KEY WORDS: Ascites, Hernioplasty, Spontaneous hernia rupture.

[Radiation exposure and thyroid cancer].

Thyroid cancer is the most common malignant tumor of the endocrine system. The most frequent type of thyroid malignancy is papillary carcinoma. Thyroid cancer's incidence rates have increased over the last three decades throughout the world.

Post-thyroidectomy hypocalcemic syndrome: predictive value of early PTH. Preliminary results.

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine an early measured serous PTH cut-off value below which it's possible to predict post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia outbrake.

Materials Of Study: Ninety-three consecutive patients having a benign thyroid pathology were submitted to total thyroidectomy. In all the patients serous post-surgery intact PTH and total calcium were measured within an hour from weaning.

Simultaneous medullary carcinoma and differentiated thyroid cancer. Case report.

Background: Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is an uncommon and aggressive tumour representing only 5-10% of all thyroid malignancies. MTC arises from parafollicular thyroid cells (C-cells) producing calcitonin hormone. Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is the most frequent thyroid tumour (papillary or follicular), representing 80% of all thyroid cancer.

Losartan vs. amlodipine treatment in elderly oncologic hypertensive patients: a randomized clinical trial.

Elderly neoplastic patients frequently may show hypertension and hyperuricemia, before and after chemotherapeutic treatments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of losartan which is an antihypertensive drug with uricosuric properties vs. amlodipine in hypertensive neoplastic elderly patients.

Cervico-mediastinal goiter: is telescopic exploration of the mediastinum (video mediastinoscopy) useful?

Surgeons are aware that most mediastinal goiters can be excised through a Kocher transverse collar incision, but in rare circumstances a partial-complete median sternotomy or a thoracotomy are mandatory. During an operation to remove a large cervico-mediastinal goiter (CMG) a profound, not massive, bleeding in the anterior mediastinum developed. Bleeding was unsuccessfully treated with packing.

Giant mediastinal parathyroid adenoma: a case report.

A 65 year old female patient suffering from multinodular goitre and from hypercalcaemic syndrome which had been and was being treated with drugs for a number of years. The patient undergoes total thyroidectomy. Surgical neck and anterior mediastinum exploration was negative for sick parathyroids.

[Thyroid diseases in elderly patients].

Aim Of The Study: To evaluate the differences about incidence, kind and clinical features of thyroid diseases in young and elderly patients.

Materials And Methods: Our study has been conducted in Endocrine Surgery Unit, "S. Luigi and S.

Necrotizing fasciitis. Case report.

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is an infection localized at the fascial structures (both the superficial and deep ones) layering the muscles though never affecting them. NF death rate is very high (20-40%). NF can be a post-surgery, traumatic or infective complication and its prognosis quoad vitam is fatal without a timely and correct therapy.

Klebsiella pneumoniae pulmonary infection with thyroid abscess: report of a case.

Thyroid abscess is a rare clinical entity, usually associated with a pyriform sinus fistula. A prompt diagnosis is important because it may progress rapidly into a life-threatening condition. We report a very unusual case of thyroid abscess associated with a lung infection, both caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae.

[Some ecomorphologic aspects of nodular goiter].

Aim Of The Study: Determine microcalcifications' rule in nodular goiter, to classify those calcifications and identify US features suspect for tumoral pathology.

Material And Methods: In Endocrine Surgery Unit we ultrasonographically detected 655 patients in a period of twelve months (Jan to Dec 2005). Patients aged from 22 to 75 years.

[Hashimoto thyroiditis. Possible cause or consequence of a malignant thyroid tumor].

Aim Of The Study: The Authors performed a retrospective study on their case records in order to analyze the epidemiological aspects of association between Hashimoto thyroiditis and differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Materials And Methods: From January 2004 to December 2005 the Authors performed 282 total thyroidectomy for any thyroid pathology. All patients were studied preoperatively even dosing antithyroid antibodies.

Giant recurrent fibromatosis of the breast: a case report. Clinical features and implications for treatment.

Fibromatosis of the breast is a benign but locally aggressive neoplasm, which has been described under various names including extra-abdominal desmoid tumour and aggressive fibromatosis. It is a rare condition, accounting for approximately 0.2% of all solid tumours of the breast.

Decrease of serum carnitine levels in patients with or without gastrointestinal cancer cachexia.

Aim: To evaluate the levels of serum carnitine in patients with cancer in digestive organs and to compare them with other cancers in order to provide new insights into the mechanisms of cachexia.

Methods: Fifty-five cachectic patients with or without gastrointestinal cancer were enrolled in the present study. They underwent routine laboratory investigations, including examination of the levels of various forms of carnitine present in serum (i.

Hepatitis C virus in elderly cancer patients.

Background: There are few studies about the relationship between HCV and the development of other tumors. We consider the prevalence of HCV infection in elderly cancer patients who have tumors different from that in hepatocellular carcinoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Methods: We evaluated the prevalence of HCV infection in 236 elderly cancer patients in comparison with 300 elderly volunteers.

[Papillary carcinoma in an isthmic thyroglossal duct cyst: clinical considerations].

Cancer in a thyroglossal duct cyst is uncommon (incidence: approximately 1%). There are about 250 reported cases in the literature, most of which are papillary cancers or, less frequently, squamous or follicular carcinomas. The preoperative diagnosis of thyroglossal duct cyst carcinoma may be facilitated by an ultrasound neck examination or fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAc).

[The lobe of Zuckerkandl: an important sign of recurrent laryngeal nerve].

Introduction: The accurate acquaintance of the anatomy of the thyroid gland allows reduction of complications to interventions of thyroidectomy, where for the existing topography, the nervous and vascular structures could result vulnerable. The identification of Zuckerkandl's tuberculum could reduce the lesions to the recurrent laryngeal nerve, for constant relationship between the recurrent laryngeal nerve and tuberculum.

Materials And Methods: The Authors have studied 605 patients underwent to thyroid surgery for benign or malignant thyroid diseases.

[Thyroid microcarcinoma in benign thyroid diseases].

Introduction: Thyroid microcarcinoma is a malignant thyroid tumor with potential multifocality and a maximum of 1 cm of diameter. This carcinoma has been discovered more frequently like incidentaloma.

Aim Of The Study: To appraise the incidence of MCT in the benign thyroid diseases and the advantages offered from the total thyroidectomy, performed for benign diffused thyroid diseases, which surgical treatment "therapeutic" performed for these malignant tumors.

[Zuckerkandl's tuberculum: could it be useful in thyroid surgery?].

A thorough knowledge of thyroid anatomy could reduce the incidence of lesions to the inferior laryngeal nerve. In view of its relationship with the recurrent laryngeal nerve and the parathyroid gland, Zuckerkandl's tuberculum should be considered an anatomical landmark for the recurrent laryngeal nerve in thyroid surgery. The aim of the study was to verify whether the identification of Zuckerkandl's tuberculum could be useful to reduce the incidence of recurrent laryngeal nerve lesions.

[A case of pleomorphic liposarcoma involving a parahypopharyngeal site].

Soft tissue sarcomas are uncommon, accounting for fewer than 1% of malignant neoplasms of the head and neck. The most frequent histotype is malignant fibrohistiocytoma (29%), while the least common is liposarcoma (1%). We report the case of a 20-year-old man with a malignant hypopharyngeal pleomorphic liposarcoma, successfully treated with surgery and adjuvant radio- and chemotherapy.

The DNA repair protein ku is involved in gp130-mediated signal transduction events in PBMC from young but not from elderly subjects.

Ku, composed of 70kDa (ku 70) and 86kDa (ku 80) proteins, is the DNA-targeting subunit of the DNA-dependent serine/threonine kinase (DNA-PK), which plays a crucial role in DNA double strand break recognition and repair in mammalian cells. We have investigated the effects of an IL-6-type cytokine (K-7/D-6), known to trigger gp130, on the expression and function of the ku protein in cytoplasmic and nuclear extracts of freshly isolated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from subjects of different ages. DNA-binding of nuclear ku was found to be increased by cytokine treatment of cells from young donors but only to a negligible extent from elderly subjects.