Contrast-enhanced ultrasound using real-time contrast harmonic imaging in invasive breast cancer: comparison of enhancement dynamics with three different doses of contrast agent.

Background: In the last few years new potential applications have been developed for contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and the management of breast diseases, but there is still some debate concerning the optimal dose to evaluate breast lesions, especially as a diagnostic tool.

Purpose: To compare different CEUS doses of injected contrast agent in order to establish an optimal dose for the diagnosis of invasive breast cancer.

Material And Methods: In Group A we compared the bolus dose of 1.

Necrotizing fasciitis following transobturator tape treated by extensive surgery and hyperbaric oxygen.

The transobturator sling procedure (TVT-O) was developed to minimize surgical risks involved in treating genuine stress incontinence. All data suggest that most risks associated with the retropubic route such as injuries to the bladder, intestines or vessels are practically obsolete with the obturator route. However, severe soft-tissue infections have been reported with this new technique.

Stereotactic core needle biopsy in non-palpable breast lesions. What number is needed?

Purpose: To investigate whether three stereotactic core needle biopsies (S-CNB) in non-palpable breast lesion are enough for accurate preoperative diagnosis.

Material And Methods: Between September 1994 and December 2000, 523 patients with mammographically detected breast lesions and who proceeded to surgery were preoperatively stereotactically biopsied with an automated 14-gauge biopsy device. Three samples were taken from each lesion irrespective of whether the lesion presented as "microcalcifications only", "microcalcifications and a mass", or a "mass, architectural distorsion, or stellate lesion without microcalcifications".

Apolipoprotein B and A-I values in 147576 Swedish males and females, standardized according to the World Health Organization-International Federation of Clinical Chemistry First International Reference Materials.

Serum concentrations of apolipoprotein (apo) B and apo A-I were measured from 1985-1996 in a Swedish population sample of 83 112 males and 64 464 females, ages <20 to >80 years, using an automated immunoturbidimetric method calibrated against fresh pools of human serum and commercial calibrators. All values were recalculated in 1997 after calibration against the WHO-IFCC First International Reference Materials. The recalculation factor was 1.

Pathogenic mechanisms of the acute porphyric attack: speculative roles of manganese associated enzymes.

The significantly increased concentrations of granulocyte manganese in subjects with AIP may be an indication of overexpression of manganese-associated enzymes. In this study we present further observations related to this phenomenon and speculate that this may provide a rational basis for hypotheses attempting to explain the pathogenesis of the acute attack of porphyria. Such hypotheses are advanced with regard to pyruvate carboxylase, mitochondrial superoxide dismutase and glutamine synthetase, three manganese-dependent enzymes associated with either ALA-generating or ALA-dependent processes.

Internal fixation with biodegradable rods in pediatric fractures: one-year follow-up of fifty patients.

Fifty children with transphyseal or osteochondral fractures were treated with biodegradable osteosynthesis material and followed for at least 1 year. All 50 fractures healed, and there were no major complications; 11 of them were fractures of the radial humeral condyle. In a prospective randomized study, they were compared with metal pin fixation of the same fracture (eight cases).

Shiga-like toxin production and connective tissue protein binding of Escherichia coli isolated from a patient with ulcerative colitis.

A 15-year-old girl with her first relapse of ulcerative colitis was treated with salicylazosulfapyridine, steroids, metronidazole and parenteral nutrition for 4 weeks without significant improvement. Her faecal specimens were negative for established intestinal pathogens, but strains of Escherichia coli producing Shiga-like toxin and expressing binding of fibronectin and collagen were repeatedly isolated. Neutralizing antibodies to Shiga-like toxin were detected in serum samples.