Prognostic Factors in Typical and Atypical Pulmonary Carcinoids.

Background: Typical and atypical carcinoids represent approximately 2% of all lung tumors. Survival of patients with typical bronchial carcinoids, unlike the survival of patients with most lung tumors, is generally long but dependent on stage. We report the findings of the Ochsner Medical Center/Louisiana State University (LSU) Health Sciences Center neuroendocrine tumor (NET) program.

Cervical and upper mediastinal lymph node metastasis from gastrointestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: true incidence and management.

Background: The incidence, clinical importance, and optimal management of cervical and upper mediastinal lymph node metastasis from gastrointestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (NETS) are largely unknown. Historically, cervical nodes have been regarded as asymptomatic and ignored. We hypothesized that these lesions have clinical implications and should be removed surgically.

Radioguided exploration facilitates surgical cytoreduction of neuroendocrine tumors.

Introduction: Radioguided exploration (RGS) can be an important tool to direct the cytoreduction of neuroendocrine tumors (NETs). The selection of the proper radiolabeled isotope, the dose, and the time interval between isotope injection and exploration are the major factors that lead to the successful use of this technique.

Methods: Data on 43 patients who underwent RGS of their NET at our facility (Ochsner Medical Center-Kenner) was collected.

Neuroendocrine tumors: current recommendations for diagnosis and surgical management.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are rare neoplasms found in diverse locations within the body. These tumors are commonly classified by the primary tumor's location, further subclassified by their differentiation, and finally segregated by their ability to hypersecrete peptides or amines. A number of groups have summarized their recommendations for diagnosis and therapy; however, the rarity of these lesions makes prospective randomized multiinstitutional trials difficult.

Resolution of pulsatile tinnitus following an upper mediastinal lymph node resection.

External compression of extracranial/mediastinal vessels has not been reported as an etiology of pulsatile tinnitus. We present a case in which compression of extracranial vasculature led to long term pulsatile tinnitus which resolved completely with surgical resection of metastatic lymph nodes. This should be included in the list of differential diagnoses when dealing with any patient with a complaint of pulsatile tinnitus.

Intracoronary administration of autologous adipose tissue-derived stem cells improves left ventricular function, perfusion, and remodelling after acute myocardial infarction.

Aims: This study was designed to assess whether intracoronary application of adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) compared with bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) and control could improve cardiac function after 30 days in a porcine acute myocardial infarction/reperfusion model.

Methods And Results: An acute transmural porcine myocardial infarction was induced by inflating an angioplasty balloon for 180 min in the mid-left anterior descending artery. Two million cultured autologous stem cells were intracoronary injected through the central lumen of the inflated balloon catheter.

Biopsy findings in PET/CT-positive lung lesions in a community hospital.

Unlabelled: An investigation was undertaken to determine the significance of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake in lung abnormalities on positron emission tomography / computed tomography (PET/CT) in our practice. Factors such as lesion size, standard uptake value (SUV), multiplicity of pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities, and the presence of FDG uptake in mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes were analyzed as possible predictors of benign or malignant etiology.

Methods: PET/CT reports from 5/20/02 to 6/1/03 were reviewed, and 263 patients with significant FDG uptake (maximum SUV > or = 2.

Laparoscopic nonanatomic hepatic resection employing the LigaSure device.

Background: Advancements in technology have allowed laparoscopic surgery to expand into advanced procedures such as liver resection; however, the value and safety of laparoscopic liver surgery is still a topic for debate. This study was designed to evaluate the feasibility and outcome of laparoscopic nonanatomic hepatectomy using the LigaSure device in a swine model.

Methods: Nonanatomic hepatic lobe resection was performed in 3 groups comparing the open finger-fracture method, the open method with the LigaSure device, and the laparoscopic method with the LigaSure device.

Pituitary adenoma detected on FDG positron emission tomography in a patient with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma.

A 52-year-old woman with a history of treated non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, B-cell type, was examined for a right eyelid mass proved on excision to be a mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. She was referred for F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of the whole body, including the brain, to identify the possible presence or recurrence of lymphoma. The FDG-PET images revealed focal marked FDG uptake in the pituitary gland but no evidence of abnormal metabolic sites in the rest of the body, including the orbital regions.