Somatropin treatment of spinal muscular atrophy: a placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover pilot study.

In preclinical studies growth hormone and its primary mediator IGF-1 have shown potential to increase muscle mass and strength. A single patient with spinal muscular atrophy reported benefit after compassionate use of growth hormone. Therefore we evaluated the efficacy and safety of growth hormone treatment for spinal muscular atrophy in a multicenter, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover pilot trial.

Transvaginal color Doppler sonography and conventional sonography in the preoperative assessment of adnexal masses.

Objective: This investigation was undertaken to evaluate the predictive value of the blood flow velocity as measured by transvaginal color Doppler sonography (CDS) and conventional sonographic criteria in the preoperative assessment of ovarian tumors.

Methods: 98 patients who were admitted for surgery with a suspicion of an adnexal mass (69 benign tumors, 4 borderline tumors, and 25 malignant tumors) were prospectively studied with transvaginal sonography (TVS) and CDS. Pulsatility index of blood flow velocity waveforms was evaluated by CDS and compared with established sonographic criteria for discriminating between benign and malignant ovarian tumors.