Doppler echocardiographic patterns in patients with acromegaly.

Cardiovascular problems have long been recognized as responsible for an increased morbidity and mortality in patients with acromegaly. The aim of the present study was to evaluate echocardiographically the prevalence of cardiomyopathy in a cohort of acromegalic patients and to analyze the results in relation to demographic, clinical and hormonal data. This study, a retrospective controlled clinical trial, was performed in 25 acromegalic patients, 12 men and 13 women aged 26-66 years (mean: 52.

Clinical utility of tissue polypeptide antigen determination in lung cancer management.

In view of the fact that pulmonary malignancies still represent an important cause of tumor death and that the high rate of unsuccessful treatment may be partly due to the late clinical presentation, efforts should be spent not only to develop new and effective treatments but also to improve early diagnosis and to identify prognostic factors and parameters useful for the monitoring of the treatment. Tumor markers, if used properly, can provide a useful support for the management of patients suffering from various malignancies, including lung cancer patients. The clinical significance of one of the most widely used tumor markers, Tissue Polypeptide Antigen (TPA), has been reviewed and showed this marker to be useful to the clinician for the management of patients with pulmonary malignancy, as a complementary tool for diagnosing and staging the tumor as well as for monitoring treatment response or relapse occurrence.

[Measurement of skeletal alkaline phosphatase in prostatic carcinoma. Preliminary report].

Bone metastases frequently occur in prostate carcinoma. Total body radionuclide scan with diphosphonate methylene labelled with 99Tc is commonly used to diagnose such metastases. However this technique is aspecific and frequently unreliable.

CYFRA 21-1 as a tumour marker for bronchogenic carcinoma.

Despite extensive research, the role of the commonly employed tumour markers in the diagnosis of lung carcinoma is yet to be clarified. The utility of a new marker, CYFRA 21-1, in the preoperative evaluation of patients with bronchogenic carcinoma was investigated. CYFRA 21-1 was determined with a radiometric assay in serum of 280 patients with lung cancer and 208 patients with various nonmalignant lung diseases.

Intramuscular calcitriol for uraemic children with severe hyperparathyroidism and hypercalcaemia.

The effect of intramuscular calcitriol was evaluated in five children (aged 1-16 years) with severe chronic renal failure and hyperparathyroidism [range of intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) 400-1,200 pg/ml]. All five children had been on oral calcitriol or 1 alpha-hydroxyvitamin D3 treatment (5-20 ng/kg per day), but an adequate, efficacious dosage could not be achieved since any attempt of increasing the dosage resulted in severe hypercalcaemia (> 2.9 mmol/l).

Disappearance curves of tumor markers after radical surgery.

CEA serum levels were sampled from 15 patients with lung carcinoma, 12 patients with colon carcinoma, and 5 patients with gastric carcinoma before and after radical excision of the malignancy. In addition, TPA serum levels were measured in 7 patients with lung carcinoma and CA 19.9 serum levels in 9 patients with colon carcinoma, before and after curative surgery.

Mitral annulus size in isolated mitral stenosis.

M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiographic images were obtained using the planimeter method in the short axis view and calculated by Doppler-derived pressure half-time in 24 patients with mitral stenosis before and after surgical commissurotomy and posterior annuloplasty. The diameter of the mitral valve annulus was measured in the standard long axis view and in the apical four-chamber view using two-dimensional echocardiography. Preoperatively, the mitral annulus was dilated in all patients as a consequence of left atrial dilation.

Immunohistochemical detection of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in non-neoplastic lung disease.

Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), though typically associated with malignant epithelial neoplasms, is known to be present at elevated levels even in the serum of normal individuals and of patients suffering from interstitial diseases of the lung. Few reports have addressed the question of the possible source of CEA immunoreactivity within the lung parenchyma. Two patients with elevated CEA serum levels were studied by immunohistochemistry on open lung biopsy specimens.

[A cancer marker study in patients with neoplastic pathology of the neck and head area].

Specific markers able to detect either the presence of tumours or to identify the histological type of tumour are not currently available. Previous work yields an inconsistent picture of actual effectiveness of oncological markers, we therefore carried out a study on the cancer patients in our clinic. The present paper considered five markers (CEA, SCC, ca 19-9, TPA and Ferritin) and tested their effectiveness in diagnosing and following patients with head and neck neoplasias.

Atrial natriuretic peptide and bronchial hyperresponsiveness in patients with mitral stenosis.

Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) has been reported to have protective effects against methacholine-induced bronchoconstriction in asthmatics. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between plasma ANP levels and bronchial responsiveness to methacholine in patients with mitral stenosis. In 12 patients with moderate mitral stenosis, age 35-58 years, 9 female, 8 in NYHA class 2, 4 in NYHA class 3 for symptoms, plasma ANP and bronchial threshold to methacholine (PD20FEV1) were determined.

Effect of testosterone on bone in hypogonadal males.

Bone mineral content (BMC) and testosterone levels were evaluated and compared in 10 hypogonadal males and 10 normal, age-matched controls. In 6 of the subjects an investigation was also carried out into the effects of testosterone administration on lumbar BMC, calcitonin (CT) response to hypercalcaemia, osteocalcin (BGP) and the fasting urinary calcium/creatinine and hydroxyproline/creatinine ratios. Our results confirm that male hypogonadism is characterized by a low BMC and that testosterone administration is able to improve this parameter and to increase both basal BGP and CT response to hypercalcaemia.

Clinical significance of tumor necrosis factor in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma and benign lung diseases: a comparative study.

Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) was determined in the serum of 72 lung carcinoma patients. Twenty-four healthy subjects younger than 50 years and 10 healthy subjects older than 70 years were considered as control group. TNF was also measured in 20 patients with stage I sarcoidosis and in 15 patients with pulmonary fibrosis.

Value of exercise stress test, radionuclide angiography and coronary angiography in predicting new coronary events in asymptomatic patients after a first episode of myocardial infarction.

One-hundred-and-fifty-five consecutive symptom-free patients underwent maximal treadmill exercise testing, rest and stress radionuclide angiography at least two months after an uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction; of these, 90 underwent coronary angiography. All patients were followed-up for a mean of 32 +/- 13 months regarding the prediction of hard (death and reinfarction) and soft (angina and coronary surgery) coronary events. The specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative predictive value of exercise stress test were 47%, 76% and 41% for any coronary events; none of the patients who incurred a hard coronary event showed ischemia during electrocardiographic exercise tests.

TAF test in primary esophageal carcinoma: comparison with other tumor markers.

An ELISA method for the determination of circulating specific HSV-TAA antibodies has recently become available (TAF test). The presence of TAF was tested in serum of 154 patients with primary esophageal carcinoma, collected in three institutions. The overall TAF-test positivity rate was 57.

[Immunological variations after thymic stimulation with special reference to IL2-RS in patients operated for neoplasms].

The paper reports a study which was carried out to assess immunological function by assaying IL2 in cancer-operated patients treated with thymostimulin. The results of the study show that, used in normally fed, immunodepressed patients, this immunomodulator is able to normalise levels of lymphocyte subpopulations and to bring serum concentrations of IL2-RS to the levels of normoergic patients.

Tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) in bone diseases.

The casual observation of high serum levels in (TATI) of tumor associated trypsin inhibitor in patients with osteosarcoma inspired us to evaluate the use of this peptide in the diagnosis of various bone diseases. We determined the serum concentrations of TATI in 35 patients with various bone diseases, i.e.

Tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) in the diagnosis of lung cancer.

To evaluate the usefulness of tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) as a marker for the diagnosis of lung cancer we determined serum levels of this peptide in 255 patients with lung cancer and in 74 patients with chronic obstructive lung disease. A reference population consisting of 151 healthy volunteers was also studied. TATI concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay.

Tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) in pleural effusions.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of tumor-associated trypsin inhibitor (TATI) determination in serum and pleural fluid for differential diagnosis of relapsing pleural effusions. The concentrations of TATI were determined in samples of serum and pleural fluid from 51 patients with pleural effusions comprising 20 benign exudates, 5 transudates and 26 malignant effusions. TATI levels overlapped in benign and malignant fluids.