Minimally-invasive treatment of early stage breast cancer: a feasibility study using radiofrequency ablation under local anesthesia.

The objective of this study was to assess efficacy and safety of percutaneous ultrasound (US) guided preferential radiofrequency ablation (PRFA) in early breast carcinoma under local anesthesia and to evaluate a new assessment protocol. Eighteen breast cancer patients were enrolled in order to receive PRFA treatment three weeks prior to resection. Pain assessment was performed using the visual analoge scale.

Feasibility study on the treatment of small breast carcinoma using percutaneous US-guided preferential radiofrequency ablation (PRFA).

The purpose of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of percutaneous ultrasound (US) guided preferential radiofrequency ablation (PRFA) of unifocal human invasive breast carcinoma with largest radiological diameters of up to 16 mm. Thirty-three patients were enrolled in a study to be treated prior to scheduled partial mastectomy. A needle-shaped treatment electrode, successively developed in two different sizes, was placed into the center of the lesions using ultrasound guidance.

Evidence of active cytomegalovirus infection and increased production of IL-6 in tissue specimens obtained from patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Recent reports have focused interest on human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Our aim in this study was to examine the frequency of HCMV-infected intestinal cells in tissue sections obtained from patients with IBD, and to investigate if HCMV-infected intestinal cells produce the proinflammatory cytokine IL-6. We studied intestinal tissue sections from 13 patients with ulcerative colitis, 10 with Crohn's disease, 10 cancer patients without intestinal inflammation, and 10 samples from HCMV-infected AIDS patients.