Hepatocyte Turnover in Chronic HCV-Induced Liver Injury and Cirrhosis.

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection may eventually lead to progressive liver fibrosis and cirrhosis through a complex, multistep process involving hepatocyte death and regeneration. Despite common pathogenetic pathways present in all forms of liver cirrhosis irrespective of etiology, hepatocyte turnover and related molecular events in HCV-induced cirrhosis are increasingly being distinguished from even "similar" causes, such as hepatitis B virus- (HBV-) related cirrhosis. New insights in HCV-induced hepatocellular injury, differential gene expression, and regenerative pathways have recently revealed a different pattern of progression to irreversible parenchymal liver damage.

Proteasome inhibitors: possible novel therapeutic strategy for ischemia-reperfusion injury?

Introduction: The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is responsible for the degradation of misfolded or damaged proteins, regulating inflammatory processes and cell cycle progression. The aim of this article is to summarize the currently available data regarding the possible utility of proteasome inhibitors (PIs) in the treatment of ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI).

Areas Covered: Data were reviewed from the published literature using the Medline database.

Co-existence of hepatocellular adenoma and focal nodular hyperplasia in a young female.

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) and hepatocellular adenoma (HA) are both benign hepatocellular lesions, presenting mainly in women of childbearing age in non-cirrhotic, non-fibrotic livers. Simultaneous occurrence of these two lesions is extremely rare. We herein report a case of a young female without any predisposing risk factors who presented to our emergency department complaining of acute abdominal pain.

Surgical control of life-threatening post-ERCP bleeding with a gelatin matrix-thrombin hemostatic agent.

Introduction: Several conventional techniques have been developed in order to control surgical bleeding. Their greatest disadvantage, though, is their inability to control bleeding in areas where access is very difficult. In such cases the application of topical hemostatic agents may prove particularly useful.

Synchronous primary epithelial tumors of the pancreas.

Introduction: Pancreatic incidentalomas are diagnosed at increased rates due to advanced pancreatic imaging. Coexistence of such lesions with another pancreatic pathology, however, is uncommon and their management might be perplexed by the anatomical location and the histological features of the lesion.

Presentation Of Case: A patient with obstructive jaundice was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head and underwent routine pancreatic imaging (CT) which revealed the coexistence of a small cystic lesion at the pancreatic body.

Barrett's esophagus with high-grade dysplasia: focus on current treatment options.

High-grade dysplasia (HGD) in Barrett's esophagus (BE) is the critical step before invasive esophageal adenocarcinoma. Although its natural history remains unclear, an aggressive therapeutic approach is usually indicated. Esophagectomy represents the only treatment able to reliably eradicate the neoplastic epithelium.

Current treatment for colorectal liver metastases.

Surgical resection offers the best opportunity for survival in patients with colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver, with five-year survival rates up to 58% in selected cases. However, only a minority are resectable at the time of diagnosis. Continuous research in this field aims at increasing the percentage of patients eligible for resection, refining the indications and contraindications for surgery, and improving overall survival.

Global financial crisis and surgical practice: the Greek paradigm.

Apart from the significant implications of recent financial crisis in overall health indices and mortality rates, the direct effect of health resources redistribution in everyday clinical practice is barely recognized. In the case of Greece, health sector reform and health spending cuts have already had a major impact on costly interventions, particularly in surgical practice. An increase in utilization of public health resources, lack of basic and advanced surgical supplies, salary deductions, and emerging issues in patient management have contributed to serious dysfunction of a public health system unable to sustain current needs.

Eph-A2 and Eph-A4 expression in human benign and malignant thyroid lesions: an immunohistochemical study.

Background: Ephrin receptors (Ephs) are frequently overexpressed in a wide variety of human malignant tumors, being associated with tumor growth, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical significance of Eph-A2 and Eph-A4 expression in human benign and malignant thyroid lesions.

Material/methods: Eph-A2 and Eph-A4 protein expression was assessed immunohistochemically on paraffin-embedded thyroid tissues from 131 patients with benign and malignant lesions.

Nonmelanoma skin cancer after renal transplantation: a single-center experience in 1736 transplantations.

Background: Renal transplantation is associated with an increased incidence of nonmela-noma skin cancer (NMSC) caused by immunosuppression. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the two major histological types of NMSC, exhibit more aggressive biological and clinical courses in renal transplant recipients (RTRs), with higher rates of recurrence and mortality than in the general population.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed our experience of NMSC in 1736 renal transplantations performed over a 25-year period.