On the utility and limitations of fine-needle aspiration of palpable lesions located in the hand.

Various types of superficial and deep-seated lesions may occur in the hand, causing concern to the patient and posing diagnostic dilemmas to the clinician. A study was undertaken to evaluate the utility of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) or scraping for the diagnosis of palpable lesions located in the hand. From a clinico-cytologic point of view, lesions were classified as superficial (n = 41) or deep-seated (n = 66), and aspirates were categorized into five groups: benign without specific cytohistologic diagnosis, benign with specific cytohistologic diagnosis, atypical, malignant without specific cytohistologic diagnosis, and malignant with specific cytohistologic diagnosis.

[Laryngeal fibroendoscopic surgery. Our experience].

Since 1992, when our department acquired a flexible fiberscope with a working channel, we have used it in surgery on the upper respiratory and digestive tract. We call our technique laryngeal fiberscopic surgery. We report the results of four years of experience in this field.

[Prognostic significance of advanced atrioventricular block in patients with acute myocardial infarction].

Background: Advanced atrioventricular block (AB) during acute myocardial infarction (AMI), characterizes a high-risk subgroup of patients. Our aim was to determine the prognostic significance of AB and its possible peculiarities in relation to infarction localization and/or the thrombolytic therapy.

Patients And Methods: The prospective study involved 1,239 patients with AMI.

[Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis and ulcerative colitis].

Hypercoagulability is a extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease, which could provoke thromboembolic phenomena. Central nervous system venous thrombosis is a rare complication and could be unnoticed. We report on a patient with ulcerative colitis who presented cerebral venous sinus thrombosis as the first manifestation of a hypercoagulable state.

Clinical and prognostic characteristics associated with age and gender in acute myocardial infarction: a multihospital perspective in the Murcia region of Spain.

Age and female gender have been associated with poor prognosis in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Data currently available about the prognostic significance of gender in AMI might well have led to inappropriate/incomplete conclusions. A multicenter, prospective study on 1239 patients with AMI was conducted.

Cytologic aspect of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma in fine-needle aspirates.

This is a review of the cytologic and clinicopathological findings seen in a series of six fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinomas (FL-HCC) studied by means of fine-needle aspiration (FNA). A comparison of several cellular measurements (cell, nuclear and nucleolar sizes, and N/C ratios) of FL-HCC, ordinary hepatocellular carcinoma (O-HCC), and normal hepatocytes was also carried out in order to find out if these figures could be of help in the cytologic diagnosis. Aspirates were made up of a rather monotonous population of large discohesive cells resembling the morphology of the oncocytes seen in thyroid aspirates; trabecular arrangement of tumor cells was not observed.

[The incidence, clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of a left bundle-branch block associated with an acute myocardial infarct].

To assess the current incidence and meaning of left bundle-branch block associated with acute myocardial infarction we studied 1,239 patients consecutively admitted in three hospitals. Left bundle branch block was present in 42 cases (3.3%).

[Effect of the location of myocardial infarction on the variability of heart rate: a study during the acute phase].

Objectives: The influence of the location of acute myocardial infarction on the autonomic tone and its evolution during the first hours post-infarct has not been fully evaluated. The aim of this study was to analyze this effect using a spectral analysis of the heart rate variability.

Patients And Methods: Forty-nine consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction (22 anterior and 27 inferior) in sinus rhythm and free of diseases and drugs which could affect heart rate variability were studied.

[Ellis-van Creveld syndrome: an easy early diagnosis?].

Ellis-Van Creveld syndrome is a rare chondroectodermal dysplasia. Congenital heart disease is present in more than one-half of cases. The majority are partial atrioventricular septal defects and affect the atrial septum.

[Cerebral venous thrombosis in the region of Murcia].

Introduction And Objective: Massive usage of new neuroimaging techniques has produced an increase in the number of patients with cerebral venous thrombosis. Our aim has been to evaluate this shift in our county through the clinico-radiologic characteristics of the patients admitted to our unit.

Material And Methods: Over the last 7 years a total of 12 patients suffering from cerebral venous thrombosis were attended in our department.

[Laryngeal sarcomatoid carcinoma: clinical, histological and immunohistochemical study of four cases].

The purpose of this study was to confirm how the use of immunohistochemical techniques can help to differentiate between tumors with a mixed proliferative pattern (epithelial and mesenchymal). It is fundamental to differentiating tumors of these characteristics in order to determine the prognosis and plan treatment. We used different techniques on tissue samples from four cases diagnosed as laryngeal sarcomatoid carcinoma.

[Heart rate variability during the first 24 hours of acute myocardial infarction].

Background: To evaluate the heart rate variability (HRV) during the first 24 h after a myocardial infarction (MI), and to study its relationship with other clinical variables and in-hospital follow-up.

Patients And Methods: 101 patients (age < 80 years) with MI in sinus rhythm were prospectively studied. A Holter monitoring was performed during the first 24 h.

[Rocuronium].

Rocuronium is a new nondepolarizing neuromuscular blocking agent (NDNMBA) that has recently been introduced for clinical use. Its main advantage over other such agents is its rapid onset of action, which may lead to its use as the relaxant of choice when rapid intubation is required. An additional advantage is that, unlike other amino-steroidal NDNMBAs, rocuronium does not produce active metabolites.

[Echocardiography with dobutamine in hypertensive patients with chest pain].

Introduction: The exercise stress test shows limited diagnostic accuracy for the detection of coronary artery disease in hypertensive patients. Echocardiography with dobutamine is a useful tool in the assessment of coronary artery disease.

Purpose: Our purpose has been to compare dobutamine stress echocardiography and exercise stress test for diagnosing coronary disease in hypertensive patients.

[Hyperprolactinemia associated with acute intermittent porphyria].

Galactorrhea as the result of hyperprolactinemia has been described in very rare cases associated to acute outbreaks of intermittent acute porphyria (IAP). In our country, any of such cases have been published or analytically documented. We present the case of a patient admitted in our hospital for the study of abdominal pain and galactorrhea, with latter diagnosis of IAP, supported by the assessment of the activity of the enzyme showing a deficit in the red blood cells.

[Right endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus aureus in parenteral drug addicts: evaluation of a combined therapeutic scheme for 2 weeks versus conventional treatment].

Background: Intravenous drug addicts (IVDA) are a group of patients in whom it is difficult to complete standard treatment of infectious endocarditis due to frequent antisocial behavior and in whom, once clinical improvement is achieved, voluntary discharge is frequently requested. This is why the evaluation of new treatment schedules tending to decrease the length of the same is of great interest. This non randomized study has the aim of knowing the efficacy of a short treatment with cloxacillin or vancomycin associated to gentamicin in right-sided endocarditis by methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus, comparing this with the standard schedule of 28 days.

[Pyolaryngocele as a focal disease].

Report of one case of Laryngocele in a 49 years old male, without previous anamnestic data, but urticaria and orchitis recurrens till the removal of the pyolaryngocele. The diagnosis was awkward because of its rare behaviour with torpid evolution and distant manifestations. The AA.

[Topical treatment of otorrhea].

A study has been carried out with 167 cases of discharging ears treated topically by means of lavages with a formic solution followed by the instillation of a quantity of boric drops. The material and methods used are exposed, together with the results achieved, taking into account that most the cases had been previously multi-treated with antibiotherapy, with adverse outcome. This procedure is cheap, effective and with scarce side-effects.

[Tuberculosis of the parotid gland].

We present a case of parotid tuberculosis diagnosed through F.N.A.

[Cholelithiasis and cancer: a study using precursor changes in a population with low incidence of cholelithiasis].

In order to assess the role of cholelithiasis in the pathogenesis of gallbladder carcinoma in a low-risk population for cholelithiasis and gallbladder cancer, we have studied the relationship between cholelithiasis and cancer. Our findings suggest that, both the relationship between cancer and cholelithiasis, and the frequency of precursors lesions, are very similar to those obtained in surveys carried out in high-risk populations for both conditions. Our findings bear out our hypothesis that cholelithiasis plays a main role in the pathogenesis of gallbladder carcinoma.

[Cholelithiasis in the region of Cartagena: an approximation to its real incidence based on the study of its symptomatic group].

We have studied the frequency of cholelithiasis in a group of patients who complained of clinical symptoms of cholelithiasis and lived in the region of Cartagena. This group of patients accounts for 40% of all the patients suffering from cholelithiasis this would account for 0.5% of the whole population and 1% of the exposed population over 30 year-of-age.