Activated Hepatic Stellate Cells (Ito Cells) - Marker of Advanced Fibrosis in Chronic Viral Hepatitis C: A Pilot Study.

Background And Aims: The aim of this study is to determine whether activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) may represent a prognostic marker of progressive liver fibrosis in chronic viral hepatitis C (VHC) before antiviral therapy. The possible correlation between HSCs immunohistochemical features, histopathological aspects and clinical data before therapy were also studied.

Methods: This retrospective pilot study was conducted on 27 liver biopsies from VHC patients before antiviral therapy.

Endoscopic ultrasonography-fine needle aspiration of solid pancreatic masses: Do we need the fourth pass? A prospective study.

Background: Endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) is important for the differential diagnosis of solid pancreatic lesions. Sample adequacy is related to the number of needle passes, and European guidelines recommend three to four needle passes with a standard EUS-FNA needle. We aimed to evaluate the optimal number of passes with standard EUS-FNA needles in solid pancreatic lesions.

Real-Time Contrast-Enhanced-Guided Biopsy Compared with Conventional Ultrasound-Guided Biopsy in the Diagnosis of Hepatic Tumors on a Background of Advanced Chronic Liver Disease: A Prospective, Randomized, Clinical Trial.

We aimed to compare contrast-enhanced-guided liver biopsy (CEUSLB) and ultrasound-guided liver biopsy (USLB) in the diagnosis of focal liver lesions (FLLs) developed on a background of advanced chronic liver disease (ACLD). Between 2011 and 2019, patients diagnosed with liver tumors on a background of ACLD were evaluated for inclusion in the study. Patients were randomly assigned to the CEUSLB or USLB group.

Fatal Whipple's disease with severe mental manifestations on relapse - case report and brief advances update.

We present the case of a 51-year-old male admitted for asthenia, fatigability, nausea, inappetence, weight loss, watery diarrhea, lower limb paresthesia and diagnosed after further investigations with Whipple's disease (WD). The evolution was favorable under antibiotic therapy but after a period of time the patient was no longer compliant to the treatment and psychotic manifestations, general status alteration and finally the decease occurred. WD is a condition caused by Tropheryma whipplei (TW) bacterium in people with altered macrophage degrading capacity and it is lethal without early treatment.

Microscopically positive (R1) resections do not affect survival in pancreatic head cancer.

Background: Obtaining negative microscopic resection margins (R0) in cephalic duodenopancreatectomy (CDP) is the gold standard. Resection line involvement at microscopic histopathological examination (R1) could change prognostic unfavorable. Regarding R1 resections in CDP (data from the literature show rates between 20-80%), we considered it necessary to perform a study in Regional Institute of Gastroenterology and Hepatology "Prof.

Malignant endometriosis of the abdominal wall.

Unlabelled: Endometriosis is a disease represented by the presence of extra uterine endometrial tissue. It is a rare condition, and malignant transformation is seldom. We report a case with clear cell adenocarcinoma oncogenesis on abdominal wall scar that appeared after years of a caesarian section.

Harmonic Contrast-Enhanced Endoscopic Ultrasonography for the Guidance of Fine-Needle Aspiration in Solid Pancreatic Masses.

 The global accuracy of fine-needle aspiration guided by endoscopic ultrasound (EUS-FNA) for pancreatic adenocarcinoma is about 85 %. The use of contrast agents during EUS to highlight vessels and the necrotic parts of pancreatic masses may improve biopsy guidance. Our aim was to assess whether the guidance of FNA by harmonic contrast-enhanced endoscopic ultrasound (CH-EUS) would increase diagnostic accuracy relative to conventional EUS-FNA in the same pancreatic masses.

Chronic pancreatitis with hemosuccus pancreaticus. The diagnostic contribution of computed tomography and contrast enhanced ultrasonography--case report.

Hemosuccus pancreaticus is defined as upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage from the ampulla of Vater via the pancreatic duct. It is a rare disease, with non-specific presentation, challenging to diagnose and difficult to treat, with high mortality rates in untreated patients with massive bleeding. Given the intermittent nature of the bleeding, delays in diagnosis frequently occur.

Crosstalk between EGFR and p53 in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most frequent cancers worldwide, with a high mortality. Most patients present with late stage disease, when the treatment options are limited to systemic chemotherapy. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the significance of p53 and EGFR expression in HCC, and to determine whether these two markers correlate with conventional parameters of prognosis.

An atypical case of focal nodular hyperplasia. Problems of imagistic diagnosis.

Focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) is a hepatic disease first described in 1958. The existence of an accessible and minimally invasive imagistic investigation to establish the diagnosis in a large number of cases would be desirable, especially because once diagnosed, the disease needs no treatment. We present the case of a young woman with long term use of oral contraceptives in which the diagnosis of FNH was established at a routine ultrasound.

Contrast enhanced ultrasound and computer tomography diagnosis of solid and mixed pancreatic tumors - analysis of confounders.

AIMS. The aim of this study was to evaluate the leading causes of discrepancies between imaging studies [contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and contrast enhanced computer tomography (CECT)] diagnosis and histology in patients presenting to a tertiary referral center with previously detected pancreatic masses by standard abdominal ultrasound. METHODS.

Added value of intravenous contrast-enhanced ultrasound for characterization of cystic pancreatic masses: a prospective study on 37 patients.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to evaluate the added value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the pancreatic cystic mass (PCM) diagnosis by using a qualitative and quantitative analysis in order to make a relevant characterization.

Patients And Method: Between December 2008 and November 2011, 37 patients with PCM discovered at ultrasound examination were prospectively followed. A qualitative and quantitative CEUS analysis was performed in order to differentiate etiologies of the PCM.

Prevalence, histology, endoscopic treatment and long-term follow-up of large colonic polyps and laterally spreading tumors. The Romanian experience.

Aims: We report the prevalence, histological aspect, endoscopic treatment and follow-up of colonic polyps of 2 cm or larger and of laterally spreading tumors (LSTs) in an eastern European country.

Methods: All consecutive colonoscopies carried out over a 1-year period (3,856) in the Endoscopy Department of the 3rd Medical Clinic Cluj-Napoca were evaluated. Fifty-two polyps and 12 LSTs of >=2cm diameter were found.

[Prophylactic CPAP versus therapeutic CPAP in preterm newborns of 28-32 gestational weeks].

Unlabelled: Strategies in ventilation and in exposure to the oxygen that minimise lung injury improved the prognosis of the extremely low weight newborns. Avoiding intubation can prevent the reduction of mucociliary flow, injury of the mucosa and infection. Using early CPAP isn't unanimous; there are differences between studies in what are concerned: the beginning of the treatment, gestational age, methods.

[The significance of neuroimaging in the evaluation of the newborn with neonatal asphyxia].

Unlabelled: This is a retrospective study of 3069 newborns admitted to the Neonatology Department of the 1st Obstetrics and Gynaecology Clinic of Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Material And Method: We considered 38 newborns with the diagnosis of neonatal asphyxia. The neuroimaging performed was transphontanellar ultrasonography, CT-scan, MRI, depending on case.

Multilocular colorectal tuberculosis and hypogammaglobulinemia.

We present the case of a young male patient admitted for weight loss, diarrhea and rectal bleeding. The patient belonged to a low social class and had associated hypogammaglobulinemia. The endoscopy revealed different localized ulcerations of he rectum and a stenosis.

Correlation of sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 level with biochemical, histological and viral findings in chronic hepatitis C after interferon-alpha + ribavirin therapy.

Unlabelled: Intercellular cell adhesion molecules-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecules-1 (VCAM-1) are expressed in a high quantity on hepatocytes and at the level of endothelium cells from sinusoidal vessels in the liver tissue of patients with chronic hepatitis C. The soluble forms of these molecules sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 can be determined in the serum of patients through the immunoenzymatic technique (ELISA).

The Aim: of the study was to analyse the base level of these molecules and the changes induced through the combined treatment of interferon-alpha (IFN- alpha) and ribavirin (Rib).

[Breast tuberculosis--a case report].

The authors report a case of breast tuberculosis in a 58-year-old patient in which the diagnosis was made with difficulty, initially the case being interpreted as a neoplastic process. This diagnosis should be considered in such cases. In our area, in the present tuberculosis endemic, the cases of tuberculosis with extrapulmonary localisation are more and more frequent.

Morphometric investigations on bone giant cell tumors.

The authors have studied 12 cases of bone giant cell tumors and have shown that the increase in aggressiveness is accompanied by higher values of mitotic activity and nuclear features (area, perimeter, long and short axes), which might be useful for grading the bone giant cell tumors.

Morphometric study of cell populations in primary breast tumors and their lymph node metastases.

The study of nuclear parameters (long and short nuclear axes, nuclear axes ratio, nuclear area) revealed differences both between the primary breast tumors and their lymph node metastases and between the lymph nodes isolated from the same axilla. The results are discussed in terms of tumor progression.