Stereotactic body radiation therapy for a new lung cancer arising after pneumonectomy: dosimetric evaluation and pulmonary toxicity.

Objective: To evaluate the tolerance of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for the treatment of secondary lung tumours in patients who underwent previous pneumonectomy.

Methods: 12 patients were retrospectively analysed. The median maximum tumour diameter was 2.

Follow-up after gastrectomy for cancer: the Charter Scaligero Consensus Conference.

Purpose: Presently, there is no scientific evidence supporting a definite role for follow-up after gastrectomy for cancer, and clinical practices are quite different around the globe. The aim of this consensus conference was to present an ideal prototype of follow-up after gastrectomy for cancer, based on shared experiences and taking into account the need to rationalize the diagnostic course without losing the possibility of detecting local recurrence at a potentially curable stage.

Methods: On June 19-22, 2013 in Verona (Italy), during the 10th International Gastric Cancer Congress (IGCC) of the International Gastric Cancer Association, a consensus meeting was held, concluding a 6-month, Web-based, consensus conference entitled "Rationale of oncological follow-up after gastrectomy for cancer.

The cerebellum and visual perceptual learning: evidence from a motion extrapolation task.

Visual perceptual learning is widely assumed to reflect plastic changes occurring along the cerebro-cortical visual pathways, including at the earliest stages of processing, though increasing evidence indicates that higher-level brain areas are also involved. Here we addressed the possibility that the cerebellum plays an important role in visual perceptual learning. Within the realm of motor control, the cerebellum supports learning of new skills and recalibration of motor commands when movement execution is consistently perturbed (adaptation).

VEGF-A clinical significance in gastric cancers: immunohistochemical analysis of a wide Italian cohort.

Purpose: The clinical significance of VEGF-A expression in gastric cancer (GC) has been reported with contradicting results. We analyzed the expression and clinical significance of VEGF-A in a wide Italian cohort of GC specimens.

Methods: VEGF-A expression was tested by immunohistochemistry in 507 patients with GC of all clinical stages.

The SIC-GIRCG 2013 Consensus Conference on Gastric Cancer.

The topic chosen by the Board of the Italian Society of Surgery for the 2013 annual Consensus Conference was gastric cancer. With this purpose, under the direction of 2 chairmen, 36 experts nominated by the Regional Societies of Surgery and by the Italian Research Group for Gastric Cancer (GIRCG) participated in an experts consensus exercise, preceded by a questionnaire and mainly held by telematic vote, in accordance with the rules of the Delphi method. The results of this Consensus Conference, presented to the 115th National Congress of the Italian Society of Surgery, and approved in plenary session, are reported in the present paper.

Lymphopenia and clinical outcome of elderly patients treated with sunitinib for metastatic renal cell cancer.

Objective: Lymphopenia is associated with toxicity and outcomes in several cancer types. We assessed the association between pre-treatment lymphopenia, toxicity, and clinical outcomes in elderly patients with metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC) treated with first-line sunitinib. Prognostic factors in these patients were also evaluated.

hERG1 channels regulate VEGF-A secretion in human gastric cancer: clinicopathological correlations and therapeutical implications.

Purpose: hERG1 channels are aberrantly expressed in several types of human cancers, where they affect different aspects of cancer cell behavior. A thorough analysis of the functional role and clinical significance of hERG1 channels in gastric cancer is still lacking.

Experimental Design: hERG1 expression was tested in a wide (508 samples) Italian cohort of surgically resected patients with gastric cancer, by immunohistochemistry and real-time quantitative PCR.

Standard vs adapted sunitinib regimen in elderly patients with metastatic renal cell cancer: results from a large retrospective analysis.

Background: There are no data on the patterns of care and outcome of elderly patients with mRCC treated with sunitinib. In a retrospective study, we assessed the routine use of first-line sunitinib in mRCC patients aged ≥ 70 years.

Patients And Methods: We reviewed the clinical files of 185 patients aged ≥ 70 years with mRCC treated with first-line sunitinib in 17 Italian oncology units from February 2006 to September 2011.

Single agent panitumumab in KRAS wild-type metastatic colorectal cancer patients following cetuximab-based regimens: Clinical outcome and biomarkers of efficacy.

Background: Few data are available outlining outcomes of panitumumab in advanced colorectal cancer patients benefiting from prior cetuximab-based regimens.

Patients And Methods: Thirty patients with KRAS wild type metastatic colorectal cancer with clinical benefit from prior cetuximab-based regimens between May 2004 and October 2011 were reviewed at nine Italian Institutions. Inclusion key criteria included interruption of cetuximab for reasons other than progressive disease.

Endoscopic submucosal dissection in the treatment of gastric submucosal tumors: results from a retrospective cohort study.

Background: A submucosal tumor (SMT) of the stomach, which is an occasional finding during routine upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, may pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges.

Methods: To assess whether endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a feasible approach to definitively cure SMTs, the authors performed a retrospective cohort study with two endoscopic italian centers.

Results: The study consisted of 20 patients with SMTs who underwent ESD.

Post-streptococcal 'complex' movement disorders: unusual concurrence of psychogenic and organic symptoms.

Post-streptococcal neuropsychiatric disorders encompass a broad spectrum of movement disorders, including tics, stereotypies, dystonia and tremor. We report the case of a 15-year-old boy who presented with a relapsing-remitting combination of psychogenic and organic movement disorders. Both relapses occurred after an episode of streptococcal pharyngitis and consisted in motor and phonic tics, an atypical gait disorder, and severe worsening of a pre-existing psychogenic tremor of the right hand.

Gas tamponade and cyclocryotherapy of a chronic cyclodialysis cleft.

Aims: To describe a minimally invasive technique to treat a chronic large cyclodialysis cleft that had failed to respond to medical therapy.

Methods: A 51-year-old man with a history of blunt trauma developed a unilateral chronic ocular hypotony. He was treated with topical atropine 1% for 3 months.

Impaired body movement representation in DYT1 mutation carriers.

Objective: The only known genetic cause of early-onset primary torsion dystonia is the GAG deletion in the DYT1 gene. Due to the reduced penetrance, many mutation carriers remain clinically asymptomatic, despite the presence of subclinical abnormalities, mainly in the motor control circuitry. Our aim was to investigate whether the DYT1 mutation impairs the inner simulation of movements, a fundamental function for motor planning and execution, which relies upon cortical and subcortical systems, dysfunctional in dystonia.

Comparison of dynamic contour tonometry and goldmann applanation tonometry in deep lamellar and penetrating keratoplasties.

Purpose: To compare the measurements of intraocular pressure (IOP) with dynamic contour tonometry (DCT) and Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT) in eyes with corneal graft and to evaluate the influence of corneal thickness (CCT), corneal curvature (CC), and astigmatism on these methods.

Design: Prospective, observational cross-sectional study.

Methods: Eighteen eyes of 18 patients after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) and 14 eyes of 14 patients after deep lamellar keratoplasty (DLKP) underwent IOP evaluation with DCT and GAT, and measurements of CCT, CC, and astigmatism.

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy for severe acute cholecystitis. A meta-analysis of results.

Objective: The aim of this review was to evaluate surgical outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy for gangrenous and empyematous acute cholecystitis defined as severe acute cholecystitis.

Background: It is not known to what extent surgical outcomes of laparoscopic cholecystectomy for severe acute cholecystitis differ from those for the nonsevere acute form, making it questionable whether urgent laparoscopic cholecystectomy is the best approach even in severe acute cases.

Methods: Literature searches were conducted to identify: (1) comparative studies which reported laparoscopic surgical outcomes separately for severe acute and nonsevere acute cholecystitis; (2) studies comparing such an approach with open cholecystectomy, subtotal laparoscopic cholecystectomy or cholecystostomy in severe acute cholecystitis.

The role of constitutive and inducible nitric oxide synthase in the human brain after subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Aim: Results of prior experimental studies show that nitric oxide (NO) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of vasospasm. In the present study, the expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), neuronal NO synthase (nNOS) and of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in the human brain after subarachnoid haemorrhage were studied.

Methods: Twenty-three samples of gyrus rectus or temporal operculum that were obtained during a surgical approach to anterior circulation aneurysms were used for this study.

Physical exercise does not favour adverse reactions to allergen immunotherapy by the sublingual route.

It is generally recommended in consensus documents on allergen immunotherapy to avoid any kind of physical exercise in the 24 hours following the administration of the allergen extract but such recommendation is not supported by scientific evidence. We evaluated the risk of developing adverse reactions in a group of patients submitted to sublingual immunotherapy by performing a controlled exercise test. Eleven patients were included in the study, 8 treated with grass pollen and 3 with Parietaria pollen extract by Staloral300 (Stallergénes, Antony, France), with the build-up phase in 11 days suggested by the manufacturer and a top dose of 300 IR.

Transhepatic fibrinolysis of mesenteric and portal vein thrombosis in a patient with ulcerative colitis: a case report.

Aim: To present a case of acute mesenteric and portal vein thrombosis treated with thrombolytic therapy in a patient with ulcerative colitis in acute phase and to review the literature on thrombolytic therapy of mesenteric-portal system. Treatment of acute portal vein thrombosis has ranged from conservative treatment with thrombolysis and anticoagulation therapy to surgical treatment with thrombectomy and/or intestinal resection.

Methods: We treated our patient with intraportal infusion of plasminogen activator and then heparin through a percutaneous transhepatic catheter.

Ophthalmologic follow-up of premature twins and triplets.

Purpose: To assess the influence of multiple gestation on the visual apparatus and on the general state of health of premature infants and to investigate the condition of the twin or triplet with the lowest birth weight compared to multiple gestation siblings.

Methods: Seventy-seven premature twins or triplets (8 to 54 months of age) were monitored at the Verona University Ophthalmology Department from November 1995 to November 1999. In another 12 subjects (younger than 8 months), only the neonatal disease records were examined; these subjects were excluded from the ophthalmologic follow-up because they were too young to be tested reliably.

Reactivation of replication of hepatitis B and C viruses after immunosuppressive therapy: an unresolved issue.

The liver is susceptible to the toxic effects of many cytotoxic or immunosuppressive treatments. However, in carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and, less frequently, of hepatitis C virus, liver damage due to reactivation of viral replication can occur after withdrawal of immunosuppressive drugs. These reactivations, which are associated with fulminant forms of hepatitis in up to 25% of cases, are observed both in symptom-free chronic carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen and in patients who have chronic hepatitis B or C and concurrent haematological tumours or solid neoplasms or who have received transplants.

Contained rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm presenting as obstructive jaundice: report of a case.

Chronic rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a rare occurrence, the presentation of which is unusual, often mimicking other conditions such as femoral neuropathy or radicular compression syndrome. We report herein the case of an 87-year-old woman found to have a contained rupture of an AAA after presenting with back pain and obstructive jaundice. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed the contained rupture of the aneurysm with a large hematoma compressing the common bile duct.

Does nerve fiber layer thickness correlate with visual field defects in glaucoma? A study with the nerve fiber analyzer.

The Nerve Fiber Analyzer, a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope, was used to measure the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (NFL) in a glaucoma population. The authors studied the correlation between NFL thickness and the perimetric defects. The NFL was found to be statistically thinner in comparison to a normal control group of subjects.

Epstein-Barr virus as a trigger for autoimmune hepatitis in susceptible individuals.

During follow-up of healthy relatives of 13 patients with autoimmune hepatitis, seven cases of infectious mononucleosis due to Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) occurred. In two of these seven, before EBV infection, there was a defect in suppressor-inducer T lymphocytes specifically controlling immune responses to the asialoglycoprotein receptor, an antigen expressed on the hepatocyte surface. In these two, antibodies to this autoantigen persisted and increased after infectious mononucleosis, and autoimmune hepatitis developed within 4 months.

The value of in vitro ultrasonography in the intraoperative staging of gastric cancer. Blind study of 93 cases.

The correct staging is of crucial importance in the choice of surgical treatment in patients affected by stomach carcinoma. In an attempt to achieve a greater accuracy in the diagnosis of depth of tumor invasion, we propose to perform ultrasonography of the gastric wall during surgery (in vitro ultrasonography). Immediately after removal by the surgeon, the portion of the stomach containing the tumor is submitted to ultrasonography with a linear 7.