Endoscopic ultrasound staging and guided fine needle aspiration biopsy in patients with resectable pancreatic malignancies: a single-center prospective experience.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasound staging and guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNA) is a highly accurate diagnostic method, useful in characterizing pancreatic lesions, obtaining definitive tissue diagnosis in patients with suspected pancreatic lesions, and providing accurate locoregional staging that enhances diagnostic certainty and evaluation of appropriateness of surgical intervention. The aims of this study were to evaluate the preoperative contribution of EUS staging and EUS-FNA in patients with suspected resectable pancreatic malignancies.

Patients And Methods: A prospective study was conducted in a tertiary referral center.

Endoscopic treatment for high-risk bleeding peptic ulcers: a comparison of epinephrine alone with epinephrine plus ethanolamine.

Background: Among the various methods of combined endoscopic therapy for high-risk bleeding peptic ulcers the use of adrenaline followed by injection of ethanolamine is minimally demanding in terms of the endoscopic skills and instrumentation but has not been adequately studied. The aim of the present study is to determine whether the injection of ethanolamine in combination with epinephrine compared to injection of epinephrine alone reduces rebleeding rates, need for surgery and overall mortality of patients with bleeding ulcers.

Methods: Patients with ulcers and endoscopic features indicative of a high risk for spontaneous recurrent bleeding were included.

The syndrome of gastric carcinoid and hyperparathyroidism: a family study and literature review.

Objective: To present evidence supporting the hypothesis that the coexistence of gastric carcinoids (GCs) and hyperparathyroidism may represent a distinct clinical entity, not related to multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1).

Methods: We studied a cohort of five young siblings (age range 26-42 years), one of whom had been found to have GC and hyperparathyroidism. All siblings underwent serial gastroscopies for the assessment of gastric neuroendocrine cell proliferations over a mean follow-up period of 31.

Retinol-binding protein, acute phase reactants and Helicobacter pylori infection in patients with gastric adenocarcinoma.

Aim: To determine the serum levels of c-reactive protein (CRP), transferrin (TRF), a2-macroglobulin (A2M), ceruloplasmin (CER), a1-acid glycoprotein (AAG), pre-albumin (P-ALB) and retinol-binding protein (RBP) in gastric carcinoma patients and to explore their possible correlation with underlying Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection.

Methods: We measured the serum levels of CRP, TRF, A2M, CER, AAG, P-ALB, and RBP in 153 preoperative patients (93 males; mean age: 63.1+/-11.

Endoscopic management and long-term follow-up of Dieulafoy's lesions in the upper GI tract.

Background: The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the short-and long-term effectiveness of different methods of endoscopic treatment for bleeding Dieulafoy's lesions.

Methods: Patients were allocated into 2 groups according to the hemostatic method applied: (1) injection group (epinephrine and/or ethanolamine oleate), and (2) thermal coagulation group (heat probe), either alone or combined with epinephrine injection. The combination of epinephrine and ethanolamine oleate was used in 5 patients, epinephrine alone in 3, ethanolamine oleate alone in one, heat probe and epinephrine in 8, and heat probe alone in 1 patient.