Bone health in breast cancer patients: a comprehensive statement by CECOG/SAKK Intergroup.

Bone is the most common site of distant metastases in breast cancer that can cause severe and debilitating skeletal related events (SRE) including hypercalcemia of malignancy, pathologic fracture, spinal cord compression and the need for palliative radiation therapy or surgery to the bone. SRE are associated with substantial pain and morbidity leading to frequent hospitalization, impaired quality of life and poor prognosis. The past 25 years of research on the pathophysiology of bone metastases led to the development of highly effective treatment options to delay or prevent osseous metastases and SRE.

Embolization of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula via the retrocorporeal artery: case report.

Background And Importance: The goal of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) treatment is to permanently occlude the proximal draining vein and the fistula itself, which can be achieved by open surgery or endovascular treatment. The endovascular approach is currently the primary treatment, but it requires the presence of an access as close to the site of the fistula as possible. This case illustrates that the retrocorporeal artery may be an alternative option in case of previous embolization failure with proximal occlusion of the radicular arteries.

The role of allergy in the etiology of Reinke's edema on vocal folds.

Aim: To identify the role of allergy in the occurrence of Reinke's edema on vocal folds.

Methods: This was a prospective study in patients with Reinke's edema on vocal folds (n = 80) and a control group of patients without Reinke's edema (n = 80). All the patients were examined by the same ENT specialist at an ENT outpatient center in the period 2001-2003.

UroVysion FISH test for detecting urothelial cancers: meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy and comparison with urinary cytology testing.

Objectives: Since the introduction of the UroVysion test for detecting urothelial cancers in urine, its reported performance has varied. This article systematically analyzed reported results.

Methods: Articles in English conforming to the Oxford EBM criteria were included, with the evaluation focused on cancers that were histologically confirmed at the time of testing rather than on any cancers that might develop later.

Impact of insulin resistance on the developmental potential of immature oocytes retrieved from human chorionic gonadotropin-primed women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing in vitro maturation.

In a homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)-positive group of women with polycystic ovary syndrome undergoing in vitro maturation (IVM), the maturation rate of immature oocytes was significantly lower compared with a HOMA-IR negative group of women (47% vs. 59%). The results of our study showed that IR and hyperinsulinemia have an adverse effect on the developmental potential of immature oocytes retrieved in the IVM procedure.

Ultrasound screening for developmental dysplasia of the hip in the newborn: a population-based study in the Maribor region, 1997-2005.

Aim: Ultrasound imaging has become an accepted tool for accurate diagnosis of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) and for its management. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the results of the general neonatal hip screening program in Maribor between 1997 and 2005 in comparison with earlier reported results for our region, where this program was introduced in 1985.

Patients And Methods: Of the total number of 17,846 newborns born in our maternity hospital, 17,393 were included in the study during the nine-year period.

Atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients: traditional and nontraditional risk factors.

Aim: To determine the significance of the relationship between some traditional risk factors (age, arterial hypertension, smoking, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides) and some nontraditional risk factors (lipoprotein[a], apolipoprotein A, apolipoprotein B, homocysteine, calcium, phosphorus, parathyroid hormone) and asymptomatic atherosclerosis in hemodialysis patients.

Methods: Ninety-one hemodialysis patients were included in the study. Using B-mode ultrasonography, we measured intima-media thickness and plaque occurrence in the carotid arteries in these patients.

Use of optical dilating trocar for initial access during extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy.

Background And Purpose: For fully extraperitoneal laparoscopic radical prostatectomy, open port placement is standard. This takes quite some time, so with the availability of trocars that combine optical control and radial dilation, an easier and faster technique was tested.

Patients And Methods: In 70 consecutive cases, preperitoneal space creation was attempted with only a 1-cm skin incision, developing further access using an optical dilating trocar with a laparoscope.

Cardiac output measurements with electrical velocimetry in patients undergoing CABG surgery: a comparison with intermittent thermodilution.

Background And Objective: The purpose was to study the agreement between cardiac output measurements with electrical velocimetry vs. intermittent thermodilution before and after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Methods: Cardiac output was measured simultaneously with electrical velocimetry and intermittent thermodilution before and immediately after coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and in the intensive care unit.

Transvaginal ultrasonography with and without saline infusion in assessment of myometrial invasion of endometrial cancer.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of saline infusion ultrasonography (SIUS) compared with transvaginal ultrasonography (TVUS) in the assessment of myometrial invasion of endometrial cancer.

Methods: A total of 53 patients with endometrial cancer were examined preoperatively with TVUS and SIUS with respect to myometrial invasion. All patients were postmenopausal.

Embryo transfer and luteal support in natural cycles.

Embryo transfer policy and luteal supplementation was reviewed, comparing literature data and the results from the Maribor IVF Centre. A retrospective analysis of 1024 cycles in patients undergoing IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) or testicular sperm aspiration in unstimulated cycles was carried out using four different approaches for cycle monitoring. This showed that the most successful protocol for monitoring was administration of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) when serum oestradiol was >0.

How safe is germinal vesicle stage oocyte rescue? Aneuploidy analysis of in vitro matured oocytes.

Objective: To evaluate the rate and type of aneuploidies of chromosomes 13, 16, 18, 21 and 22, with respect to the length of in vitro maturation (IVM) period, and to compare the results to previously published studies on aneuploidy rates of unfertilized, uninseminated mature oocytes and first polar bodies.

Study Design: Two hundred and twelve immature germinal vesicle stage oocytes were assigned to two groups. After successful IVM, depending on their maturational period of 24h (Group A) or 36h (Group B), chromosomal analysis was performed by five color fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

Neural stem cell markers, nestin and musashi proteins, in the progression of human glioma: correlation of nestin with prognosis of patient survival.

Background: The IF protein nestin and the RNA-binding protein musashi are expressed by neural progenitor cells during CNS development. Their expression in glial tumors was evaluated by immunohistochemistry, and the histopathological scores correlated with levels of cysteine cathepsins that are known prognostic markers in several tumors.

Methods: The levels of nestin, musashi, and cathepsins B and L were assessed by immunohistochemical analysis of biopsies from 87 patients with primary CNS tumors.

Clinicopathological and immunohistochemical markers after radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer.

Background/aims: The aim of the study was to verify the classic clinicopathological prognostic factors of the expected survival, to determine the frequency of immunohistochemical factors (C-erB-2, p53) and to verify these immunohistochemical factors in their function as prognostic factors in gastric cancer patients after a potentially curative gastric resection.

Methodology: In 78 gastric cancer patients after a potentially curative resection the clinicopathological factors (age, general performance of the patient, tumor diameter, TNM stage, stage according to UICC, type of operation and the extent of lymphadenectomy) and immunohistochemical factors (p53 and C-erB-2) were analyzed.

Results: In univariate analysis ASA stage of general performance, size of tumor, TNM stage and stage according to UICC exert significant influence on the median survival.

Adult metachromatic leukodystrophy: a new mutation in the schizophrenia-like phenotype with early neurological signs.

Objectives: The adult type of metachromatic leukodystrophy can manifest itself as motor or as psycho-cognitive form, the latter is very similar to schizophrenia. We report on two sisters with adult metachromatic leukodystrophy who display symptoms of both forms.

Methods: Presented are genotype analyses and 4-year follow-up data regarding clinical manifestations as well as neurocognitive and neuroimaging results for two adult sisters with metachromatic leukodystrophy.

Subtelomeric chromosome rearrangements in children with idiopathic mental retardation: applicability of three molecular-cytogenetic methods.

Aim: To identify cryptic subtelomeric rearrangement, a possible cause of idiopathic mental retardation by means of multiprobe telomere fluorescent in situ hybridization (T-FISH).

Methods: Hundred patients (median age 3.0 years) with mental retardation and dysmorphic features were screened using specific T-FISH probes.

Phacoemulsification in isolated endogenous Candida albicans anterior uveitis with lens abscess in an intravenous methadone user.

We report the clinical course of a 31-year-old former intravenous drug user on methadone substitution therapy who injected methadone mixed with orange juice. She developed isolated metastatic Candida albicans anterior uveitis, which was treated with adequate systemic and local antifungal therapy. The uveitis regressed, but despite adequate local and systemic treatment, a lens abscess developed.

Experimental model and immunohistochemical analyses of U87 human glioblastoma cell xenografts in immunosuppressed rat brains.

Background: To study the neuropathology and selected tumour markers of malignant gliomas, an animal glioma model was developed using the implantation of human glioblastoma clone U87 into rat brains.

Materials And Methods: The U87 cell suspension, or precultured U87 tumour spheroids, were inoculated into the brain of 4-week-old cyclosporin A immunosuppressed Wistar rats. The resulting first generation tumours were then transferred, through serial transplantations to rats, to obtain second and third generation tumours.

Different approaches to surgical treatment of arachnoid cysts.

Although most arachnoid cysts remain static fluid-filled compartments throughout life, some become enlarged, exerting a mass effect on adjacent neural structures. The decision-making process for patients with arachnoid cysts still represents a challenge for the neurosurgeon. We report three cases of intracranial arachnoid cysts treated with different surgical approaches: (i) endoscopic fenestration of the cyst into the lateral ventricle; (ii) a cystoperitoneal shunt; (iii) a cystoperitoneal shunt and establishment of communication between the cyst and the fourth ventricle with the help of an endoscope.

Endovascular treatment of a direct post-traumatic carotid-cavernous fistula with electrolytically detachable coils.

Carotid-cavernous fistulae are abnormal communications between the internal carotid artery and venous compartments of the cavernous sinus. Fistulae are uncommon but well-documented sequelae of craniofacial trauma. The characteristic clinical presentation includes ocular pain, chemosis, exophthalmus and visual disturbances.

Use of mesh cerclage in prevention of early preterm delivery: a promising new surgical method for women with dilated cervix and membrane herniation?

Objective: To present our innovative surgical method for prevention of early preterm delivery in women with cervical dilatation and membrane herniation.

Study Design: A woman in the 24th gestational week, with membrane herniation due to a 2-3 cm dilatation of the cervix, is presented. The surgical technique for occlusion and reinforcement of the dilated cervix with circular suture and polypropylene mesh is described.

Infected femoral pseudoaneurysms from intravenous drug abuse in young adults.

Intravenous or parenteral drug abuse is the most common cause of infected femoral artery pseudoaneurysms (IFAP). This complication of intravenous drug abuse is not only limb threatening but can also be life threatening. The management of IFAP is difficult and controversial.

Cystatin C versus creatinine as a marker of glomerular filtration rate in the newborn.

Aim: Serum cystatin C (cysC) has been proposed as a promising endogenous marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in adults and children. The aim of this study was to determine the reference values of cysC at birth and three days later in comparison with creatinine (Cr) and Schwartz's estimated clearance.

Patients And Methods: 75 newborns (42 boys, 33 girls) were enrolled in the study.

Serum CA 125 levels and lymph node metastasis in patients with endometrial cancer.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of preoperative serum CA 125 levels and lymph node metastasis in patients with endometrial cancer. Preoperative levels of serum CA 125 were determined in 64 patients with endometrial cancer treated with total abdominal hysterectomy with a lymph node dissection as initial therapy. Lymph node status, determined by histopathology, was correlated with both normal and elevated CA 125 levels, determined preoperatively.