Burning mouth syndrome: will better understanding yield better management?

"Burning mouth syndrome" (BMS) refers to a chronic orofacial pain disorder usually unaccompanied by mucosal lesions or other clinical signs of organic disease. BMS is typically characterized by a continuous, spontaneous, and often intense burning sensation as if the mouth or tongue were scalded or on fire. Burning mouth syndrome is a relatively common condition.

Resection and transplantation: evaluation of surgical perspectives in HIV positive patients affected by end-stage liver disease.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the opportunity of surgical treatment in terms of liver resection or liver transplantation in HIV positive patients affected by an end stage liver disease that referred to our liver unit.

Methods: Among 1350 outpatients who referred to our liver unit from January 2002 to September 2003, thirty-two (2,4%) were HIV positive. The routes of transmission of the viral infection, the related co-infections and the underlying liver disease were recorded.

[Acute liver toxicity of antiretroviral therapy (HAART) after liver transplantation in a patient with HIV-HCV coinfection and associated hepatocarcinoma (HCC)].

OLT in HIV infected patients still remains a challenging option requiring a careful monitoring of patients for HCV reinfection, drug interactions and antiretroviral toxicity. Severe adverse events due to HAART have been already reported for post exposure prophylaxis in HIV infected patients. Here we report a case of liver graft toxicity related to HAART in a HIV-HCV co-infected patient (46 yrs-male) with associated a small HCC transplanted with a marginal liver graft.

[Randomized study on the use of propofol for anesthesia in intracranial tumors. Comparison with balanced anesthesia].

There is currently no anesthesiological technique which enables volume, cerebral blood flow and spinal fluid pressure to be kept constant. The aim of the present study was to compare two techniques of anesthesia in patients with cerebral tumours: one of a balanced type (AB) and the other of a continuous ev type (AEC) using propofol in order to assess which guaranteed the greatest cerebral protection. The results of the study have shown that the use of propofol may represent a useful alternative in intracranial tumour surgery since changes in systolic pressure and heart rate observed during AEC anesthesia were statistically lower in comparison to AB anesthesia.

Neuroadenolysis of the pituitary.

The authors describe the neuroadenolysis of the pituitary (NALP), an original antalgic technique consisting in the injection of small amounts of alcohol into the sella turcica. Used for diffuse pain from advanced cancer, NALP determines, in addition to the antalgic effect, a temporary regression in the evolution of the neoplastic disease in approximately 30% of the cases of hormonedependent tumors. The consequences and complications are generally not very serious, allowing the use of this technique in poor-risk patients.