[Results of cephalic pancreaticoduodenectomy in patients with chronic pancreatitis].

Objective: To analyse the results obtained after cephalic pancreatoduodenectomy in patients with severe chronic pancreatitis.

Design: Retrospective study of indications and results of the intervention.Patients.

Corticosteroid therapy increases HDL-cholesterol concentrations in patients with active sarcoidosis and hypoalphalipoproteinemia.

Background: We have previously reported that the decrease in high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol that is observed in patients with untreated sarcoidosis is limited to those with active disease.

Aim: To determine the effect of corticosteroids, used in the treatment of active sarcoidosis, on the reported lipoprotein metabolism abnormalities.

Methods: We studied 62 patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis, all of them with active disease.

[Domino or sequential liver transplantation. Is it a feasible technique?].

Background: In domino liver transplantation (LT), the explanted liver of a patient with familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is donated to another patient.

Patients And Method: Between February 1999 and March 2001 we performed 131 LT with 121 cadaveric donors in our unit. Ten domino LTs were performed.

Dual-phase helical CT of pancreatic adenocarcinoma: assessment of resectability before surgery.

Objective: The aim of our study was to prospectively evaluate the accuracy of dual-phase helical CT in the preoperative assessment of resectability in patients with suspected pancreatic cancer using surgical and histopathologic correlation.

Subjects And Methods: Between January 1999 and December 2000, 76 patients with suspected pancreatic cancer underwent preoperative evaluation and staging with dual-phase helical CT (3-mm collimation for pancreatic phase, 5-mm collimation for portal phase). Iodinated contrast material was injected IV (170 mL at a rate of 4 mL/sec); acquisition began at 40 sec during the pancreatic phase and at 70 sec during the portal phase.

Serum amyloid A and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol: serum markers of inflammation in sarcoidosis and other systemic disorders.

Hypocholesterolemia has been observed in several inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, myeloproliferative disorders, systemic lupus erythematosus and sarcoidosis. Serum amyloid A is an acute-phase reactant that is related to the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. This review discusses the relationship between the activation of the cells of the monocyte-macrophage system, determined by the serum amyloid A levels, and the lipid metabolism, measured as alterations in plasma lipoprotein concentrations.

[Prostatic brachytherapy indications and technique].

Prostate cancer is an important health problem, mainly in elderly men. It is the second cause of death among men in USA ant the third at the "Registro del Cáncer de Tarragona", behind both the lung and colorectal cancer. About the 58% of the newly diagnosed cancers are localized, therefore, they have to be treated with curative intention.

[Hemodynamics of the cirrhotic patient during liver transplantation. Influence of the preservation of portal and vena cava flow].

Objective: To describe the hemodynamic pattern of patients undergoing liver transplantation with preservation of portocaval flow.

Patients And Methods: A prospective study of 20 cirrhotic patients who had not previously undergone surgery for portal hypertension or had porto-systemic bypass, both of which have hemodynamic effects in the cirrhotic patient. The patients were transplanted with preservation of inferior vena cava flow and temporary portocaval shunt.

Colonization and bacteremia risk factors in parenteral nutrition catheterization.

Aims: 1) To establish the relationship between the kind of microorganism that colonizes parenteral nutrition catheters and several risk factors related to catheterization and patient characteristics. 2) To investigate the risk factors associated to bacteremia episodes originated in these colonized catheters.

Method: An observational, non-controlled, retrospective and cohorts study of the parenteral nutrition catheters implanted between 1988 and 1994 in our hospital.

CT in hepatic cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis.

Cirrhosis is a diffuse liver disease with premalignant potential in which hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently develops. The hemodynamics of contrast material are the key to diagnosis of focal liver lesions with computed tomography (CT). Lesions with arterial-dominant vascularity, such as HCC, show brisk enhancement during the arterial phase, whereas lesions with portal blood supply can appear as hyperenhancing lesions in the portal phase.

Experimental study of the efficacy of vancomycin, rifampicin and dexamethasone in the therapy of pneumococcal meningitis.

The object of the study was to assess the efficacy of rifampicin and the combination of rifampicin plus vancomycin in a rabbit model of experimental penicillin-resistant pneumococcal meningitis. We also studied the effect of concomitant dexamethasone on the CSF antibiotic levels and inflammatory parameters. The rabbit model of pneumococcal meningitis was used.

Spontaneous pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis in nondrug users.

Objective: To analyze the clinical, microbiological, and radiologic features of patients without drug addiction suffering from spontaneous pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis.

Methods: We collected all microbiologically proved cases of pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis seen between January 1980 and December 1999 in a teaching hospital. Patients with prior spinal instrumentation or surgery and injection drug users were excluded.

Relationship between penicillin and cephalosporin resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains and its inflammatory activity in the experimental model of meningitis.

Using a rabbit model of meningitis, we sought to compare the inflammatory activity induced by three pneumococcal strains with different susceptibilities to penicillin and cephalosporins, belonging to the serotypes 3, 6B and 23F at different inoculum sizes. These serotypes are prevalent in Western Europe and are believed to produce a moderate-to-severe cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflammatory response. Only minor differences were observed in the inflammatory activity evoked by the three strains in the subarachnoid space, and most were probably related to differences in bacterial counts.

[Isotopic renal study in diabetic nephropathy].

Unlabelled: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of the kidney split function (KSF), the effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) and glomerular filtration rate (GF) in the evolution of diabetic nephropathy.

Material And Methods: 125 patients (IDDM:10, NIDDM:115), including 62 men, ages 18-84 years, were studied. In all cases GF (Cr 51 EDTA), ERPF (131I-hippuran), kidney split function (obtained from the 99mTc-MAG3 renogram) and basal serum creatinine (SC) were evaluated at the beginning of the study and patients were clinically followed up for 5 years by SC.

[Results of Iodine-125 radiotherapy in the treatment of uveal melanoma].

Purpose: To evaluate our experience in the treatment of uveal melanoma by means of Iodine-125 brachytherapy. A reprospective case series study.

Material And Method: Patients diagnosed of uveal melanoma and treated with Iodine-125 brachytherapy in the Ciudad Sanitaria y Universitaria de Bellvitge (CDUV), from September 1996 to December 2000 and follow up of more than one year.

[Penile and urethral lesion caused by metallic ring. Reconstruction with radial free flap].

We report a case of a man with a severe penile injure caused by a metallic ring placed in the penile shaft for 48 hours, it coursed with partial urethral section and ischemia of the whole penile skin and dartos. It was solved with surgical excision of all death tissue and posterior reconstruction using a forearm free flap, the vascular supply came from epigastric vessels, we used hair-free skin from forearm for the urethroplasty. Ethetic and functional results obtained are successful.

Pacemaker endocarditis: approach for lead extraction in endocarditis with large vegetations.

We present the case of a patient with vegetations on a pacing lead from a pacemaker implanted 13 years previously. A new surgical technique for removal of infected leads was developed to avoid the increased risk of septic pulmonary embolism. The electrode with vegetations was removed without cardiopulmonary bypass using the direct surgical approach described.

Usefulness of bone densitometry in postmenopausal women with clinically diagnosed vertebral fractures.

Objective: To analyse whether bone mineral density (BMD) assessment is required in postmenopausal women presenting with low trauma vertebral fracture.

Methods: Women with vertebral fracture diagnosed over a 10 year period were recruited from our database. The following were excluded: (a) patients with high energy trauma; (b) patients with malignancies; (c) patients with a metabolic bone disease other than osteoporosis.

Complications of thoracentesis in cirrhotic patients with pleural effusion.

Objective: To study the complications of thoracentesis, either diagnostic or therapeutic, in cirrhotic patients with pleural effusion.

Experimental Design: A cohort prospective study. A diagnostic thoracentesis was performed at admission or when spontaneous bacterial empyema was suspected; a therapeutic thoracentesis was conducted in patients with dyspnea that did not improve with medical treatment.