2-Year Results of Paclitaxel-Coated Balloons for Long Femoropopliteal Artery Disease: Evidence From the SFA-Long Study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to appraise 2-year outcomes after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of long femoropopliteal artery disease using paclitaxel-coated balloons (PCBs).

Background: Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with PCBs for TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus types C and D femoropopliteal artery disease has provided favorable results ≤12 months but no prospective studies performed longer term follow-up assessment.

Methods: Consecutive patients with Rutherford class 2 to 4 disease due to femoropopliteal lesions >15 cm long were prospectively enrolled in a multicenter study.

1-Year Results of Paclitaxel-Coated Balloons for Long Femoropopliteal Artery Disease: Evidence From the SFA-Long Study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to appraise 1-year outcomes after percutaneous treatment of long femoropopliteal artery disease using paclitaxel-coated balloons.

Background: Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with paclitaxel-coated balloons for TransAtlantic Inter-Society Consensus types A and B femoropopliteal artery disease has provided favorable results.

Methods: Consecutive patients with Rutherford class 2 to 4 disease due to femoropopliteal lesions >15 cm long and with 4- to 7-mm reference vessel diameter were prospectively enrolled in a multicenter study.

Metabolomic does not predict response to cardiac resynchronization therapy in patients with heart failure.

Aims: Metabolomic, a systematic study of metabolites, may be a useful tool in understanding the pathological processes that underlie the occurrence and progression of a disease. We hypothesized that metabolomic would be helpful in assessing a specific pattern in heart failure patients, also according to the underlining causes and in defining, prior to device implantation, the responder and nonresponder patient to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Methods: In this prospective study, blood and urine samples were collected from 32 heart failure patients who underwent CRT.

2-year results of paclitaxel-eluting balloons for femoropopliteal artery disease: evidence from a multicenter registry.

Objectives: This study aimed to appraise 2-year outcomes after percutaneous treatment of femoropopliteal artery disease with paclitaxel-eluting balloons.

Background: Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty with paclitaxel-eluting balloons for femoropopliteal artery disease has provided favorable 1-year results.

Methods: Consecutive patients with Rutherford class 2 to 4 disease due to femoropopliteal lesions ≤15 mm long and with 3- to 7-mm reference vessel diameter were prospectively enrolled in a multicenter registry.

Clinical evaluation of a paclitaxel-eluting balloon for treatment of femoropopliteal arterial disease: 12-month results from a multicenter Italian registry.

Objectives: This study evaluated the use of a paclitaxel-eluting balloon (PEB) for treatment of femoropopliteal arterial disease.

Background: Conventional balloon angioplasty and stenting in this setting is associated with high restenosis rates within 12 months. Recent data suggest that PEB use may reduce restenosis.

A new paclitaxel-eluting balloon for angioplasty of femoropopliteal obstructions: acute and midterm results.

Aims: To evaluate safety and results of the Freepac drug-eluting balloon (DEB) technology for the treatment of chronic femoropopliteal steno-occlusions.

Methods And Results: In a multicentre registry we enrolled 66 patients with symptomatic femoropopliteal stenosis and/or occlusion <15 cm (Rutherford stages 2 to 4). Patients were treated first with an undersized uncoated balloon and then with an appropriate sized DEB.

Weekly administration of docetaxel and epirubicin as first-line treatment for hormone-refractory prostate carcinoma.

Androgen-independent prostate carcinoma (AICP) is one of the tumors that continue to respond poorly to chemotherapy. Recently, protocols based on the use of docetaxel have significantly improved survival for patients in this disease. In other types of neoplastic disease, combined therapy with taxanes and anthracycline derivatives has been shown to produce additive effects in terms of growth inhibition, and superior tolerability when associated with weekly administration schedules.

Gemcitabine plus irinotecan as first-line weekly therapy in locally advanced and/or metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Single-agent gemcitabine has been established as standard treatment for advanced pancreatic cancer since clinical studies have shown an improvement in overall survival and significant clinical benefit when compared to the best supportive care despite low overall objective response. Several phase II studies have tested other single agents and different gemcitabine-based regimens in pancreatic cancer, but both response and survival rates have remained low. Irinotecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor currently approved for the treatment of metastatic colon cancer, has also demonstrated improved response rate in patients with pancreatic cancer.

[Coronary angioplasty in the real world: the RESTEM registry. Outcome of patients treated with sirolimus-eluting stents].

Background: RESTEM, a prospective multicenter registry collecting all percutaneous coronary interventions made over 20 months and monitored up to 2 years, had been performed to assess, in the real world, the impact of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) versus bare metal stents (BMS) on patients' outcomes.

Methods: The registry includes 5524 consecutive patients treated with BMS (72%), SES (15%), BMS+SES (4%) or other techniques (9%). The combination of death, acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina and revascularization had been chosen as primary endpoint.

RESTEM: a percutaneous coronary intervention 'real world' registry in the drug-eluting stent era.

Sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) reduce the rate of in-stent restenosis in selected cases. Their performance in more complex patients and their impact on the final clinical outcome of these patients, however, remains uncertain. RESTEM Registry (REgistro delle PCI in era di STEnt Medicati), a prospective multicenter registry collecting all percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) performed over 20 months and monitored up to 2 years, includes 5524 consecutive patients treated with bare metal stent (BMS) (72%), sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) (15%), combined BMS+SES (4%), or other techniques (9%).

Gemcitabine plus docetaxel as first-line biweekly therapy in locally advanced and/or metastatic urothelial carcinoma: a phase II study.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate objective response rate, survival and toxicity of the combination of gemcitabine-docetaxel administered on a biweekly schedule as first-line treatment in advanced/relapsed or metastatic urothelial carcinoma. Treatment consisted of the sequenced administration of gemcitabine 1500 mg/m(2) and docetaxel 60 mg/m(2) (2 h intravenous infusion) on days 1, 14 of a 28-day cycle for 6 months. A total of 33 patients, 22 men and 11 women, were enrolled, aged 41-75 years (median 64 years).

Ruptured aortic arch aneurysm: transposition of aortic arch branches after insertion of thoracic endovascular stent with extra-anatomic brain perfusion.

Conventional surgical treatment of a ruptured aortic arch aneurysm is a challenging approach with a high rate of adverse outcomes. The midsternotomy can be complicated by total aortic disruption with often fatal massive hemorrhage. A preliminary cardiopulmonary bypass with peripheral cannulation and cooling is often preferred.

Oxaliplatin, 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin and epirubicin as first-line treatment in advanced gastric carcinoma: a phase II study.

The association between oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been extensively reported to improve prognosis of gastric cancer patients. The present study is aimed at evaluating response rate and the toxicity profile of the association with oxaliplatin, 5-FU/lecovorin and epirubicin in gastric cancer patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease. Thirty-six patients have been enrolled and 35 evaluated.

Long-term survival in metastatic melanoma patients treated with sequential biochemotherapy: report of a Phase II study.

The overall survival for patients with metastatic melanoma is very poor, with a median survival of 8.5 months. In this Phase II trial, we assessed the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of a sequential biochemotherapy schedule, using dacarbazine as antiblastic agent and immunomodulant doses of interleukin-2 and interferon-alfa.

Unusual gastric and pancreatic metastatic renal cell carcinoma presentation 10 years after surgery and immunotherapy: A case report and a review of literature.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common renal tumor, accounting for 2%-3% of all malignancies. Though RCC is known to spread hematogenously, isolated RCC metastasis to the stomach is a rare event. In this article, we describe the clinical course of a patient who developed a pancreatic recurrence of RCC and 1 year later a gastric recurrence of RCC treated 10 years ago with a resection and interleukin-2 (IL-2).

Differential expression proteomics of human colon cancer.

The focus of this study was to use differential protein expression to investigate operative pathways in early stages of human colon cancer. Colorectal cancer represents an ideal model system to study the development and progression of human tumors, and the proteomic approach avoids overlooking posttranslational modifications not detected by microarray analyses and the limited correlation between transcript and protein levels. Colon cancer samples, confined to the intestinal wall, were analyzed by expression proteomics and compared with matched samples from normal colon tissue.

[Infective endocarditis with para-aortic abscess in mechanical aortic prosthesis].

Infective endocarditis (the infection of heart valves or, in generally, of endocardium) is a serious disease that requires a fast diagnosis, an aggressive and appropriate therapy and, if necessary, a collaboration between internist and surgeon. In this article we report a clinical case of an infective endocarditis in an old female patient, yet treated for aortic valve stenosis with replacement with mechanical prosthesis complicated by paravalvular abscess.

Farnesyltransferase inhibitor, ABT-100, is a potent liver cancer chemopreventive agent.

Purpose: Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma raised on cirrhotic liver represents a major endeavor because surgery and chemotherapeutic management fail to improve the clinical course of the disease. Chemoprevention could represent an important means to inhibit the process of hepatocarcinogenesis. Farnesyltransferase inhibitors are a class of drugs blocking the growth of tumor cells with minimal toxicity towards normal cells.

An uncommon clinical presentation of retroperitoneal non-Hodgkin lymphoma successfully treated with chemotherapy: a case report.

We report the case of a patient affected by an extra-nodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma presenting as a unique, large retroperitoneal mass with an unusual clinical presentation mimicking gastric peptic or neoplastic disease. The patient was successfully treated with a first generation therapy, CHOP modified regimen (cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 intravenously on d 1, epirubicin 55 mg/m2 intravenously on d 1, vincristine 1.2 mg/m2 intravenously on d 1, prednisone 60 mg/m2 on d 1-5), and a complete response was achieved.

Survival and prognostic factors in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma treated by percutaneous ethanol injection: a 10-year experience.

The treatment of early and intermediate stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still debated. Surgical treatments are considered to be the only curative procedures available, and only for a minority of patients. Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) is an established technique for the ablation of HCC nodules, and shows survival rates similar to those of resection.

Vitamin E protects DNA from oxidative damage in human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines.

Expression of multiple drug resistant (MDR) phenotype and over-expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) in the human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell clone P1(0.5), derived from the PLC/PRF/5 cell line (P5), are associated with strong resistance to oxidative stress and a significant (p < 0.01) increase in intracellular vitamin E content as compared with the parental cell line.