Comparative effect of immunotherapy and standard therapy in patients with high grade glioma: a meta-analysis of published clinical trials.

Immunotherapy holds great promise in the treatment of high grade glioma (HGG). We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis of clinical trials involving dendritic cell (DC) therapy and viral therapy (VT) for the treatment of HGG, in order to assess their clinical impact in comparison to standard treatments in terms of overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS). To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to evaluate VT for the treatment of HGG, allowing comparison of different immunotherapeutic approaches.

Romanian Registry of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy - overview of general characteristics and therapeutic choices at a national level.

Introduction: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease with increased left ventricular (LV) wall thickness not solely explained by abnormal loading conditions, with great heterogeneity regarding clinical expression and prognosis. The aim of the present study was to collect data on HCM patients from different centres across the country, in order to assess the general characteristics and therapeutic choices in this population.

Methods: Between December 2014 and April 2017, 210 patients from 11 Romanian Cardiology centres were enrolled in the National Registry of HCM.

The prevalence of long-term oral anticoagulation therapy in a cardiology center in Bucharest, Romania.

Background And Aims: Few studies discuss the prevalence of oral anticoagulation therapy (OAT) in clinical practice, despite their increasing use worldwide. In America, studies established that 20% to 80% of the patients with indication benefit from OAT. In Romania, there is no data regarding the utilization of oral anticoagulants.

Echocardiographic Parameters in Acute Pulmonary Edema.

Purpose: The present study proposes the comprehensive ultrasound evaluation of a consecutive batch of patients with acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema.

Method: The registry included all patients with acute pulmonary edema from 2 emergency hospitals between February and May 2016. During the first 3 days of admission, a transthoracic ultrasound was performed which included the parameters of systolic and diastolic function of the left ventricle, right ventricular systolic function, heart cavity dimensions, estimated pulmonary pressure, and the presence and severity of valvular disease.

Our initial experience with ventriculo-epiplooic shunt in treatment of hydrocephalus in two centers.

Introduction: Hydrocephalus represents impairment in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics. If the treatment of hydrocephalus is considered difficult, the repeated revisions of ventriculo-peritoneal (VP) shunts are even more challenging.

Objective: The aim of this article is to evaluate the efficiency of ventriculo-epiplooic (VEp) shunt as a feasible alternative in hydrocephalic patients.

Ventriculoportal Shunt, a New Transomphalic Extraperitoneal Surgical Technique in Treatment of Hydrocephalus.

Aim: The aim of this article was to report a new transomphalic extraperitoneal surgical technique for treatment of hydrocephalus, called ventriculoportal shunt.

Materials And Methods: We performed ventriculoportal shunt on an experimental animal (pig). The particularity of ventriculoportal shunt consists in the fact that the distal end of the catheter is inserted transomphalic extraperitoneally in the portal system through reopened umbilical vein.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: one entity, multiple impacts on liver health.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is very prevalent and now considered the most common cause of chronic liver disease. Staging the severity of liver damage is very important because the prognosis of NAFLD is highly variable. The long-term prognosis of patients with NAFLD remains incompletely elucidated.

The role of ankle-brachial index for predicting peripheral arterial disease.

The presence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is associated with higher cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, regardless of gender or its clinical form of presentation (symptomatic or asymptomatic). PAD is considered an independent predictor for cardiovascular mortality, more important for survival than clinical history of coronary artery disease. The ankle brachial index (ABI) is a sensitive and cost-effective screening tool for PAD.

Effect of intraperitoneal administration of sterile human cerebrospinal fluid in rats.

Introduction: Distal ventriculoperitoneal shunt failure can be attributed to unabsorbed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from peritoneum. The objective of the experiment was to determine peritoneal reaction in rats after intraperitoneal administration of human CSF and evolution of local inflammatory response.

Materials And Methods: Wistar rats were used divided into four groups: three groups in which intraperitoneal injection of 3 mL, 2 mL and 0.

Prostate cancer - peculiarities of the process of adaptation to the disease.

Aim: Psycho-social adaptation to the diagnosis of cancer is a dynamic process, different from one patient to another, depending on many factors (location, stage, treatment, personality of each individual, environment - family, professional background, social-economic-cultural status). The aim of this study is to analyze the process of adaptation of patients with prostate cancer.

Patients And Method: Thirty six patients diagnosed with prostate cancer, admitted in the Department of Oncology, Palliative Care for Chronic Patients within Chronic Disease Hospital "St.

Olfactory groove meningiomas: a retrospective study on 59 surgical cases.

We report here a retrospective study of 59 consecutive patients with olfactory groove meningiomas admitted and operated on between 1991 and 2008. Our goal was to characterize clinical features, treatment strategies, and outcome of these lesions. The surgical resection grade, the histological type and the presence of recurrences in the follow-up period were analyzed.

Perioperative management of patients with lung carcinoma and cerebral metastases.

Objective: The present study proposes to present the importance of perioperative therapeutic management in survival prolongation and the quality of life for patients that have undergone surgery for cerebral metastases secondary to pulmonary tumors.

Method: During 2001-2009, 40 patients with ages between 43-74 years have been diagnosed in our clinic with pulmonary tumor and cerebral metastases. The patients presented single cerebral lesion (excepting one patient with 2 cerebral metastases) and pulmonary tumor.

Isolation and partial characterization of a new human glioblastoma cell line.

Although significant progresses were made in the field of molecular biology of malignant cerebral gliomas, the prognostic of these tumors continues to be reserved. One of the therapeutic failure reasons is the incomplete knowledge regarding the origin of these tumors and cells features, which in fact represent an obstacle in developing a cell and molecular therapy guided against malignant cells responsible for the tumor development and for the therapeutic resistance. Initiation and characterization of glioblastoma cell lines represents an essential step in order to obtain a better in vitro and in vivo experimental model for glioblastoma.

Neurotrauma pediatric scales.

Cranial traumas have different particularities in infants, toddlers, preschool child, school child and teenagers. The assessment of these cases must be individualized according to age. It is completely different in children that in adults.

The development of xenograft glioblastoma implants in nude mice brain.

The inefficacity of the actual therapies for glioblastoma multiformis stimulates the researchers to search for new and innovative therapies. Therefore, the development of in vivo model for glioblastoma is an essential step during these researches, being a link between cells cultures studies and the first phases of clinical trials. In this paper, we present several procedures which have been performed for the first time in our country, such as: the cultivation and manipulation of U87MG line, the manipulation of athymic knock-out mice (NUDE Crl: CD-1 Foxn 1), the stereotactic inoculation of glioblastoma cells and finally the development of glioblastoma xenograft in the brain of inoculated nude mice.