Is There a Role for Color Doppler Ultrasonography in Acute Cholecystitis?

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of the Pulsatility Index (PI) of the right hepatic artery, measured by color Doppler sonography, in the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis.

Methods: Seventy-five subjects were included in this study and divided into three groups, each consisting of 25 subjects: the cholecystitis group, the asymptomatic cholelithiasis group, and normal controls. Patients with acute cholecystitis fulfilled all the diagnostic criteria as stated in the latest Tokyo Guidelines.

Degloving Injury of the Lower Extremity: Report of Two Cases.

Objective: The aim of our article is to highlight the importance of the immediate treatment of lower extremity degloving injuries, in order to prevent complications.

Cases Presentation: Here we present two cases of degloving injury of the lower extremity, both resulting from motorway accidents. The first one concerned a 65-year-old man suffering from multiple limb fractures and a degloving injury of the right thigh, which was immediately treated with extensive debridement and primary full-thickness skin graft re-approximation.

The role of demographic characteristics and comorbidities in hemodialysis patients' health-related quality of life.

Background: The assessment of health-related quality of life (HRQL) is a valid tool, which can measure the degree that a chronic condition and its treatment, can affect patients' quality of life (QOL).

Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented at three hemodialysis units. One hundred fifteen patients were included in the study and 107 participated (response rate 93 %).

Parecoxib sodium in the treatment of postoperative pain after Lichtenstein tension-free mesh inguinal hernia repair.

Purpose: This prospective, randomized, double-blind study compared the analgesic efficacy and safety of parecoxib sodium versus lornoxicam and diclofenac, after Lichtenstein tension-free mesh inguinal hernia repair.

Methods: Patients were randomly assigned to receive parecoxib 80 mg daily i.v.

Increased self-report of obsessive-compulsive behaviors among hemodialysis patients: a case-control study.

Background: Patients with end-stage renal insufficiency undergoing hemodialysis show important psychiatric morbidity, particularly increased depression and anxiety. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms, however, are much less frequently investigated. The purpose of the present study was thus to assess obsessive-compulsive symptoms in hemodialysis patients.

The effectiveness of reinfusion after total knee replacement. A prospective randomised controlled study.

The purpose of our study was to determine the effectiveness of a postoperative autologous blood reinfusion system as an alternative to homologous, banked blood transfusions in total knee arthroplasty. We carried out a prospective randomised controlled study on 60 patients having unilateral total knee replacements. In all these patients, the same surgical team applied the same surgical technique, and all patients followed the same rehabilitation program.

Pulsatility index of temporal and renal arteries as an early finding of arteriopathy in diabetic patients.

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between alterations in the elasticity of the temporal and the renal arteries and the grade of arteriopathy, using the pulsatility index in type II diabetic patients and healthy volunteers. All individuals were divided into groups. Group A consisted of 15 patients without risk factors (hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obesity, and smoking) and had well-controlled diabetes mellitus as demonstrated by normal values of HbA1c.

Diameter of mammary terminal ducts as an additional tool in evaluation of women with polycystic ovarium disease.

Objective: Aim of this study was to show the change of diameter of mammary ducts in relation to polycystic ovaries disease.

Design: Women who took part were divided into two groups- the first with polycystic ovaries disease and another second group with no such disease.

Method: To both groups a series of laboratory, clinical and ultrasound (u/s) exams were used to diagnose polycystic ovaries disease.