Hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with autoimmune hepatitis - a systematic review of the literature published between 1989-2016.

Background And Aims: Liver cancer is one of the most common cause of deaths from cancer. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was reported at a frequency of 7% of patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) - related cirrhosis in 1988. We aimed to provide a systematic literature review on the frequency of HCC in patients with AIH, after the discovery of hepatitis C virus (HCV), in order to avoid any possible confounding etiology.

Epidemiological trends in digestive cancers in Romania, 1955-2012, compared to alcohol consumption. Correlation or coincidence?

Background And Aims: Cancer has emerged as the leading cause of death in human populations. The contribution of alcohol has been highly suspected. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the time trend of digestive cancers in Romania, in terms of mortality rates (1955-2012), and incidence rates (2008-2012), and the alcohol consumption data (1961-2010), aiming to find out if there is any association.

Gastrointestinal endoscopy in patients on direct oral anticoagulants. A consensus paper of the Romanian Society of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Management of patients undergoing endoscopy and under treatment with the newer direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) is a common and a complex clinical issue that gastroenterologists have to face more and more often these days. The increasing use of DOACs in patients requiring both short- and long-term anticoagulation is mostly due to the advantages these agents offer, among which the lack of monitoring requirements and the reduced need of dose adjustments are perhaps the most important ones. Managing these patients in the peri-endoscopic period implies balancing the risk for thrombosis that a certain patient carries and the bleeding risk associated with the endoscopic procedure itself.

Ultrasound-guided biopsy of osteolytic metastasis - could be less than three cores enough?

Aims: The purpose of this study was to analyze the diagnostic yield and accuracy of the ultrasound (US) guided core biopsy in a population of patients with osteolytic metastasis.

Materials And Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 16 consecutive cases of US-guided core biopsies of osteolytic lesions performed in our Ultrasound Unit, from January 2006 to May 2017. We used 18G or 16G Tru-cut needles coupled with automated biopsy guns.

Mediastinal masses-transthoracic ultrasonography aspects.

Mediastinal masses are usually assessed by computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Transthoracic ultrasonography (TUS) can also provide useful information concerning prevascular and posterior mediastinal masses abutting the thoracic wall, but is underused for mediastinal pathology. Moreover, it provides a valuable and safe method for guiding interventional procedures in those areas, even in cases when other approaches are difficult or impossible.

Adrenal glands transabdominal ultrasonography - pictorial essay.

Adrenal gland ultrasonography is one of the corner stones of the abdominal ultrasonography examination for many medical specialties. The adrenal areas can be easily overlooked though adrenal gland pathology is diverse. We present the normal aspects and various transabdominal ultrasonography findings of the adrenal glands, both common and rare.

Ultrasound-guided bone lesions biopsies - a systematic review.

Aims: Ultrasound (US) is a highly valuable imagistic tool used to guide numerous interventional procedures. The US guided bone lesions biopsy has not yet received a consensus or a guideline. We aimed to evaluate the evidence to support the US role in guiding bone lesions biopsies.

Unusual Discovery after an Examination for Abdominal Pain: Abernethy 1b Malformation and Liver Adenomatosis. A Case Report.

Congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt (Abernethy malformation) is a rare condition characterized by developmental abnormalities of the portal venous system resulting in the diversion of the portal blood from the liver to the systemic venous system through a complete or partial shunt of the portomesenteric blood. We report the case of an 18 year-old female examined for abdominal pain, presenting cholestasis syndrome and an elevated serum aspartate aminotransferase level. Liver ultrasound examination revealed the absence of the portal vein with a complete extrahepatic shunt of the portal blood, multiple focal liver lesions, and multiple associated vascular anomalies.

Rifaximin modulates 5-fluorouracil-induced gastrointestinal mucositis in rats.

Objective: This study assessed the protective potential of rifaximin in 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) induced intestinal mucositis in the Wistar rats'.

Materials And Methods: Twenty-nine Wistar rats were divided into 4 interventional groups of 6 animals (A, B, C and F) and one control group (M) of 5 animals. Groups A, B and C received for three days consecutively rifaximin orally: 50 mg/kg (group A), 100 mg/kg (group B) and 200 mg/kg (group C).

Mortality in Digestive Cancers, 2012: International Data and Data from Romania.

We aimed to compare the difference in case fatality rate between more developed and very high Human Development Index (HDI) regions, less developed and low HDI regions, and Romania. The incidence and mortality rates for digestive cancers were obtained from the IARC/WHO 2012 database. World mean mortality-to-incidence ratios registered the highest values in pancreatic cancer (0.

Is there a correlation between peripheral blood expression of angiogenic transcriptional factors/receptors and colorectal cancer?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether there is a correlation between peripheral blood expression of angiogenic transcriptional factors/receptors and colorectal cancer (CRC).

Methods: Eighty six blood samples collected from patients with CRC (N=42), adenomas and/or hyperplastic polyps(AP, N=30) and individuals without colon pathology (control group/CTR, N=14) were used for this study. Twelve transcription factors and receptors were assessed by qRT-PCR in a case-control study.

Value of hepatic elastography and Doppler indexes for predictions of esophageal varices in liver cirrhosis.

Aims: Non-invasive methods are required to diagnose presence and grading of esophageal varices in patients with hepatic cirrhosis and in this respect we have evaluated the role of transient elastography and abdominal ultrasound parameters.

Material And Methods: Cirrhotic patients were prospectively evaluated by transient elastography and Doppler ultrasound for diagnosis of presence and grading of esophageal varices, the results being compared with the findings of the esophagogastroduodenoscopy.

Results: Sixty patients with hepatic cirrhosis were analysed.

Technical performance of colonoscopy -- multicenter study in university and non-university centers of Romania.

Unlabelled: The aim of the paper was to evaluate the national availability of colonoscopy and the quality parameters of this procedure in our country.

Material And Method: During a 6 months period (01.07- 31.

Posttraumatic gastric wall hematoma in a patient under anticoagulant therapy. Case report and literature review.

We report the clinical observation of a 58-year old patient who presented with upper abdominal pain and a small ecchymosis located in the umbilical area. Personal history of the patient revealed ischemic heart disease and chronic atrial fibrillation. He was under treatment with oral anticoagulants (coumarins).

The long-term evolution of chronic hepatitis B acquired in childhood.

Unlabelled: The AIM of this study was to assess the long-term evolution of chronic hepatitis B acquired in childhood.

Methods: The study was carried out in 2007 - 2008 on a group of 77 adult patients who were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B in childhood. The actual assessment included epidemiological, clinical, biological and virological data, ultrasound examination in all patients and liver histology in 3 patients.

Cancer mortality in Romania, 1955-2004. Digestive sites: esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum, pancreas, liver, gallbladder and biliary tree.

Aim: Until recently, gastric cancer was the most frequent digestive neoplasia in our country. Our study presents the first synthesis of data regarding mortality rates from digestive cancers, for a period covering 50 years, in Romania.

Methods: Age-standardized mortality rates /100,000 population, general and/or per gender, concerning six digestive cancers, were identified from the statistics of IARC/OMS (Lyon, France) (years 1955-2002) and of the Ministry of Public Health (Bucharest, Romania) (year 2004).

Trends of mortality rates from gastric cancer and colorectal cancer in Romania, 1955-2003.

Background: Steady and persisting falls in gastric cancer (GC) mortality rates have been observed worldwide in the last 50 years, and in Romania too. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is presently the most frequent digestive neoplasia in the Western countries. An increase of CRC incidence and mortality rates has been reported recently in Eastern European countries, including Romania.

Pill esophagitis.

Pill esophagitis is a rare clinical diagnosis. We report a series of two patients who experienced ulcerative esophagitis while taking doxycycline (patient 1) and alendronate (patient 2). Both patients presented with retrosternal pain, odynophagia and dysphagia.

"Ulcosilvanil"--an inhibitor of carbonic anhydrase--associated with adrenergic beta-blockers in the treatment of duodenal ulcers.

Knowing the in vivo inhibitory effect of the beta-adrenoreceptor antagonists on gastric mucosa carbonic anhydrase and the high clinical efficacy of "Ulcosilvanil" in the healing of gastric and duodenal ulcers, the authors combined propranolol with smaller doses of "Ulcosilvanil" in 925 active duodenal ulcer patients, divided into four groups. The first 236 patients were treated with small doses of "Ulcosilvanil" (20 mg/kg b.w.

Effect of verapamil on purified bovine carbonic anhydrase. An in vitro study.

Relying on previous data which prove the activation of purified and gastric mucosa carbonic anhydrase by interaction of histamine with calcium ions, the present paper investigates the effect of verapamil, a specific antagonist of calcium transport, on purified bovine red cell carbonic anhydrase. In vitro determination of enzymatic activity according to Maren's micromethod showed that verapamil, in concentrations ranging from 10(-8)-10(-3) mol/l inhibits carbonic anhydrase basal activity in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, at 10(-3) mol/l verapamil concentration - representing its maximal effect - carbonic anhydrase basal activity drops from 2114 +/- 244 IU to 1100 +/- 86 IU (p less than 0.