Publications by authors named "Pietro Cappugi"

Photodynamic Therapy is a procedure based on the interaction between a Photosensitizer, a light source with a specific wavelength and oxygen. The aim of this review is to provide a brief and updated analysis of scientific reports on the use of PDT with topical PS in the management of oncological, infectious, and inflammatory disorders involving mucosal and semimucosal areas, with a specific focus on diseases of dermatologic interest.

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A cohort of 19 patients affected by chronic venous ulcers was recruited from our centre. A 4-mm punch biopsy from wound bed was taken before application of ALA 20% gel and repeated one hour after the first PDT irradiation. We observed a significant and progressive reduction of wounds mean volumes right after three ALA-PDT sessions (once per week; 4479.

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Background: Reactive oxygen species have a major role in the UV-induced short- and long-term damage, thus the exogenous supplementation of antioxidant molecules may allow better skin protection. Despite glutathione has pivotal properties in the complex cytoplasmic antioxidant system, its supplementation is hampered by limited transmembrane absorption. Modification of glutathione pharmacokinetic properties via acetylation with long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid may improve its passage through phospholipidic membranes.

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Background: Actinic Keratoses (AK) are considered a form of in situ Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) arising on chronically photoexposed skin. PDT with ALA or MAL is an effective treatment for multiple AK due its high Overall Response Ratio (ORR) but is burdened by important drawbacks: time-consumption, pain and high costs. Indole-3 acetic acid (IAA) is a newly described photosensitizer with proven clinical efficacy on seborrheic dermatitis and acne vulgaris.

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Some laboratory findings and a few case reports support the treatment of chronic venous ulcers with photodynamic therapy. We treated 19 patients with refractory chronic venous ulcers using photodynamic therapy. The ulcers healed in 15 cases (78.

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Background: This pilot study was aimed to assess the variations of some microscopical parameters in skin ulcers, caused by chronic venous insufficiency of the lower extremities (chronic leg ulcers), in 15 patients refractory to previous conventional treatments during photodynamic therapy (PDT).

Methods: Samples of control, wounded and PDT treated skin were taken and analyzed by immunohistochemistry.

Results: The cellular infiltrate, as well as the thickness of epidermis, vascularization, mast cell and fibroblast numbers, were increased in chronic wounds as compared to healthy skin.

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Background: Efforts have been recently made to investigate simple, objective, accurate, and reproducible methods of clinical/noninvasive assessment of nonsegmental vitiligo. However, studies have mostly considered quantitative or semiquantitative parameters, almost neglecting the purely qualitative appearance of vitiligo lesions at a given moment and over time.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the dynamics of macromorphologic alterations taking place within vitiligo patches.

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) with 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) is an emerging technique for the treatment of genital human papillomavirus (HPV)-induced benign and premalignant lesions. We report herein a case series of anogenital CA successfully treated with ALA-PDT and review the literature available to date on this topic. Thirteen out of 14 cases of anogenital condylomata acuminata were successfully treated with topical PDT.

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Background: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new non-invasive approach for real-time in vivo tissue characterization. A promising use of OCT can be the assessment of the architecture of lesions with some degree of inhomogeneities, such as vascular lesions. Knowledge of the size and depth of the vascular structures can be useful for the diagnosis and for choosing the best treatment.

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Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a treatment based on the accumulation of a photosensitizer in the target cells and their selective destruction by irradiation with visible light. In the past 10 years, several patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma have been successfully treated. The use of PDT in cutaneous B cell lymphoma has not been reported to date.

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Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF), binding to its receptor in endothelial cells, seems to modulate the increased blood flow in the early phase of diabetic renal disease. The aim of the study was to evaluate, in a diabetic milieu, the expression, biological function and modulation of VEGF binding sites in human glomerular endothelial cells (GENC). We demonstrated the presence of VEGF binding sites with high (VEGFR-2) and low (heparan sulfate proteoglycans, HSPG) affinity.

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Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a novel non-invasive imaging technique for in vivo histologic characterization of tissues. Besides pure morphology, additional functional parameters of the tissue investigated can be evaluated at the same time, such as the refractive index and the scattering coefficient. The purpose of our study is to correlate in vivo the dermoscopic structures that first appear in the melanocytic pigmented lesion (pigment network and brown globules) using this new method, with the histopathologic correlates, in order to improve their characterization and achieve easier recognition and inter-observer reproducibility.

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Recently, numerous studies have been reported concerning the treatment of early-stage mycosis fungoides (MF) with narrowband (311-nm) UVB, claiming a beneficial response. We have used for the first time a 308-nm monochromatic excimer light, a new kind of xenon-chloride lamp, in the treatment of patch stage IA MF. We treated 7 patch lesions in 4 patients with unequivocal clinicopathologic diagnosis of MF.

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In human adult kidney angiotensin II (AngII) effects are mediated by the AT1 receptor, while the functions of AT2 receptors are mostly unknown. Since AngII regulates endothelial cell growth by AT1 and AT2 receptors, we analysed their functional aspects at different passages in human glomerular endothelial cells (GENC). Semiquantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction revealed the presence of AT1 and AT2 receptors between 2p and 15p cell passages with different levels of expression.

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Background: Steatocystoma multiplex is an uncommon disorder which usually begins in adolescence or early adult life. The condition can be hereditary, as an autosomal dominant trait, or nonhereditary, as in this case.

Methods: A 40-year-old woman presented with a history of asymptomatic nodules that began around puberty on the face.

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