A reliable way to predict intraabdominal adhesions at repeat cesarean delivery: scar characteristics.

Objective: To evaluate association between scar characteristics and intraabdominal adhesions at repeat cesarean delivery.

Design: A prospective, cross-sectional study.

Setting: Tertiary Government Maternity Training Hospital in Ankara, Turkey.

Comparison of C-reactive protein levels in pregnancies with retained and removed intrauterine device.

Objective: We aimed to investigate possible alterations in circulating levels of the high sensitivity (hs)-C-reactive protein (CRP) reflecting tissue inflammation in patients who conceived with an intrauterine device (IUD) and in pregnancies after IUD removal in early pregnancy.

Methods: Serum hs-CRP levels were measured in 30 pregnant women with retained IUD and 18 pregnancies after IUD removal in early pregnancy. Rates of total miscarriage, premature rupture of membranes (PROMs), low birth weight, placental abruption, and preterm delivery were also documented.

The relationships of serum prealbumin levels with parameters that indicate severity of disease and emphysema pattern in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Malnutrition, which is a complication frequently observed in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and negatively affects prognosis, has become a parameter that must be monitored. Even though various methods are applied to assess malnutrition, biochemical parameters, especially serum prealbumin levels, are useful.

Materials And Methods: The relationships between serum prealbumin levels, which we used as an indicator of malnutrition, with the severity of disease and the parameters predicting emphysema in stable COPD patients with no additional health problems were determined in this prospective study.

Electric-field induced strain in biological tissues.

This paper reports a new effect whereby a physiological-level direct-current electrical field (at 1.4 V/cm) can induce time-varying mechanical strain in various types of biological tissues and gel phantoms. This effect cannot be explained by the piezoelectric effect, tissue contraction, temperature changes, and electrorestriction.

Poland syndrome: rare presentation in two cases.

Poland syndrome was first described in 1840 by Alfred Poland while still a medical student and the other components of the syndrome were described at London Guy's Hospital following the dissection of a cadaver's hand, which had hypoplasia and syndactyly. The incidence of Poland syndrome has been reported to be 1 in 30,000 live births. In the present case report, two Poland syndrome patients with ipsilateral hypomastia and a reduction in the axillary/pectoral hairs diagnosed during adulthood are presented; one patient was affected on the left side and had widespread cafe au lait spots, and the other patient had respiratory dysfunction due to multiple rib anomalies.

A review of cutaneous anthrax and its outcome.

Anthrax is still an endemic disease in some countries in the world and has become a re-emerging disease in western countries with recent intentional outbreak. The aim of this study was to review our clinical experience with cutaneous anthrax cases. From the patient's files, transmission of the diseases, clinical findings and severity of infection, treatment and outcome of patients were recorded.

Diagnostic performance of diffusion-weighted MRI in the detection of nonpalpable undescended testes: comparison with conventional MRI and surgical findings.

Objective: The aim of this feasibility study was to evaluate the role of diffusion-weighted MRI in the evaluation of nonpalpable undescended testes.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-six boys with undescended testes underwent preoperative abdominal and pelvic MRI to identify the location of the testes. MRI included free-breathing diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with b values of 50, 400, and 800 s/mm(2), a T1-weighted turbo spin-echo sequence, and a T2-weighted fat-suppressed turbo spin-echo sequence.

Abdominal, vaginal and total laparoscopic hysterectomy: perioperative morbidity.

Purpose: The aim of our retrospective study was to assess and to compare the surgical complications of hysterectomy regarding the choice of procedure [abdominal (AH), vaginal (VH), and total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH)].

Methods: A total of 6,480 patient charts undergone hysterectomy were retrospectively analyzed. Data including transfusion, bladder, ureteral and bowel injury, cuff dehiscence, pulmoner embolus, febrile morbidity, hematoma, reoperation, pelvic wall problems were gathered.

Effects of method of uterine repair on surgical outcome of cesarean delivery.

Objective: To compare the rates of intraoperative and postoperative complications of uterine repair when performed in situ or extra-abdominally following cesarean delivery.

Methods: In this prospective randomized study 4925 women who underwent cesarean delivery were randomly assigned to in situ (n = 2462) or extra-abdominal (n = 2463) uterine repair (group 1 and group 2, respectively). The study compares drop in hemoglobin concentration (as a measure of intraoperative blood loss).

A comparison of the effects of three different luteal phase support protocols on in vitro fertilization outcomes: a randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of three different luteal phase support protocols on pregnancy and implantation rates, as well as luteal phase hormone profile in intracytoplasmic sperm injection-ET cycles.

Design: A prospective, randomized study.

Setting: A tertiary teaching and research hospital.

A Rare Presentation of an Entrapment in a Liver Transplant Candidate Depicted by MDCT Angiography.

Hypertrophic caudate lobe veins can mimic a normal venous configuration. In cases of multiple vascular collaterals, Doppler evaluations must be conducted, and the flow direction of these veins as well as the IVC should be evaluated. If the flow in the IVC is reversed, Budd-Chiari syndrome should be suspected; moreover, at the supra diaphragmatic level, which may be considered a blind spot, particularly for radiologists, a web should be searched for in the area where the IVC opens into the right atrium.

Nontraumatic hepatic hematoma caused by Wegener's granulomatosis: an unusual cause of abdominal pain.

Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) is a vasculitis of unknown origin characterised by prominent involvement of upper and lower respiratory tract and kidney. There are only a handful of reported cases in the literature about hepatic involvement of WG. This report shows a patient with WG whose main complaint was severe abdominal pain due to nontraumatic subcapsular hepatic hematoma.

Clinical determinants of suppurative cholangitis in malignant biliary tract obstruction.

Background: The purpose of this study was to find the factors predicting the supurative cholangitis in malignant biliary tract obstruction.

Methods: During the period of 1992-2003, 107 patients were operated on for malignant obstruction of the biliary tract. Obstructions were due to gall bladder cancer (n = 4), cholangiocarcinoma (n = 21) or periampullary tumor (n = 82).

Comparison of peritoneal tumor imaging using conventional MR imaging and diffusion-weighted MR imaging with different b values.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of DW MRI with two different b values in identifying peritoneal tumors in oncology patients.

Materials And Methods: Nineteen patients with known malignancy underwent abdominal and pelvic MRI before surgery. MRI included free-breathing DWI with b values of 400 and 800 s/mm2, T1-weighted fat-suppressed spoiled gradient-echo, T2-weighted fat-saturated turbo spin-echo, and 5-min delayed gadolinium-enhanced imaging.

A scoring system for preoperative assessment of resectability in periampullary neoplasms.

Background: To identify the preoperative factors predicting resectability in periampullary neoplasms.

Methods: Twenty-three different parameters representing the clinical, laboratory and radiological data of 65 patients, who were operated for periampullary neoplasms, were analyzed to determine their value in assessing neoplasm resectability. Coefficients were calculated by Cox regression analysis for significant factors.

Magnetic resonance imaging of childhood Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Objective: To describe the spinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features in children with Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and to investigate the correlation with the clinical/laboratory findings.

Material And Methods: Clinical/laboratory findings of 40 children (mean age 5.7 years; range, 3 months-15 years) who had a final diagnosis of GBS were retrospectively reviewed.

The characteristics and clinical outcome of drug-induced liver injury: a single-center experience.

Background And Goals: The aim of this cohort study was to determine the characteristics and clinical outcome of 170 patients with drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in a single center.

Study: Between January 2001 and June 2007, a total of 170 individuals who were diagnosed with DILI were retrospectively analyzed. The median follow-up period was 110.

Iris abscess as an unusual presentation of endogenous endophthalmitis after intramuscular injection.

Purpose: To report a case of iris abscess due to endogenous endophthalmitis after an intramuscular injection complicated with gluteal abcess.

Method: A 65-year-old female presented with decreased vision and burning pain in her right eye, 2 weeks after an intramuscular injection.

Results: Iris abscess and hypopyon with a fibrinous exudate was noted in the anterior chamber of the right eye.

Silicosis due to Denim Sandblasting in Young People: MDCT Findings.

Objective: Occupational lung disease due to silica dust is one of the most common work-related injuries. In denim sandblasting, workers are exposed to silica that may cause immediate mortality, especially in young people. The aim of this study was to assess the multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) findings of silicosis in denim sandblasters and to better define the role of MDCT in the early detection of silicosis.