Ventilatory adequacy and respiratory mechanics with laryngeal mask versus tracheal intubation during positive pressure ventilation.

The ventilatory adequacy and respiratory mechanics during positive pressure ventilation (PPV) via the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) are compared with the respiratory mechanics via the tracheal tube (TT). Thirty patients undergoing breast surgery were studied. After induction of anesthesia and muscle relaxation an LMA was inserted.

Predictive value of c-erbB-2 and cathepsin-D for Greek breast cancer patients using univariate and multivariate analysis.

The value of various prognostic factors in breast cancer patients has been determined in a number of studies. One hundred thirty-eight Greek women were followed up over a 5-year period after surgery for breast cancer. Amplification and overexpression of c-erbB-2 was found in 22.

The anti-emetic efficacy of tropisetron plus dexamethasone in patients treated with high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation.

Among the most distressing symptoms experienced by patients who have undergone high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplantation are nausea and vomiting. The chemotherapy regimens used in high-dose conditioning protocols are highly emetogenic. The 5HT3 receptor antagonists are very effective in the prevention and abolition of nausea and vomiting resulting from chemotherapeutic drugs.

Skin application of isoflurane attenuates the responses to a mechanical and an electrical stimulation.

Purpose: This prospective randomized crossover study was performed to test the potential of an analgesic effect of isoflurane after its local application to the skin.

Methods: We evaluated the local analgesic effect of isoflurane solution in 31 healthy volunteers. The right or left forearm of each subject was exposed to isoflurane and the contralateral forearm to water for 30 min.

Assessment of the level of sensory block after subarachnoid anesthesia using a pressure palpator.

Unlabelled: In a cross-over study, we compared two methods of assessing the level of sensory block during subarachnoid anesthesia: the traditional pinprick sensation or a novel pressure palpator exerting a pressure of 650 g. Fifty patients scheduled for transurethral surgery under subarachnoid anesthesia were randomly assigned to be tested for spread of sensory block. In Group 1, the pressure palpator was followed by pinprick; in Group 2, the reverse sequence was used.

Effect of nimodipine on regression of spinal analgesia.

We have investigated the effect of infusion of nimodipine on the spread of spinal anaesthesia in 50 patients undergoing transurethral procedures. Patients were allocated randomly to receive during operation continuous infusion of nimodipine 10 ml h-1 (group N, n = 25) or normal saline (group C, n = 25) in a double-blind manner. All patients received hyperbaric lidocaine 100 mg (5% in 8% dextrose) intrathecally and were then placed in the lithotomy position.

Cytologically interesting cases of primary skin tumors and tumor-like conditions identified by fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

The aims of this study are to depict the special but constant cytomorphologic features which allow a distinction among grossly similar skin tumors and to show that cytological assessment of many uncommon skin lesions is possible. The fine-needle aspiration findings of 181 cytologically interesting cases of primary skin tumors selected from 2,301 primary skin lesions examined in our department from 1990-1995 are described. Seventy-five cases were cytologically reported as benign and 89 as malignant.

Physostigmine increases the dose of propofol required to induce anaesthesia.

Purpose: This prospective, randomized, double-blind study was performed to determine the effect of administration of physostigmine on the dose of propofol required to produce loss of consciousness.

Methods: Forty female unpremedicated patients were assigned in a random blind design to receive either 2 mg physostigmine or equal volume of normal saline i.v.

Nitrous oxide enhances the level of sensory block produced by intrathecal lidocaine.

Unlabelled: We examined the effect of nitrous oxide (N2O) administration on the level of sensory block produced by intrathecal lidocaine in patients undergoing transurethral procedures. Twenty minutes after subarachnoid injection of 100 mg (5%) hyperbaric lidocaine, the level of block to pressure sensation was assessed. After establishing the baseline sensory block, patients were randomly assigned to receive either 50% nitrogen (control group) or 50% N2O in oxygen for 10 min, and the sensory level was reassessed.

Malignant ovarian neoplasms. The place of conservative surgery.

Even though radical surgery is the treatment of choice in malignant neoplasms, a conservative approach may be considered in young patients who wish to preserve fertility, provided well-defined criteria are met and survival is not jeopardized. Unilateral, stage I, borderline (BT), germ cell (OGCT), sex cord stromal tumors, and grade I epithelial cancer can be treated with unilateral salpingoophorectomy (USO). If bilateral ovarian involvement is present, bilateral salpingoophorectomy (BSO) and preservation of the uterus can be considered.

Ovarian malignancies in adolescence.

Ovarian malignancies, although rare during adolescence, constitute the most common genital neoplasms in this age group. Germ cell tumors account for the majority of cases (61.5%), whereas 20% belong to the common epithelial group and 9.

Tenoxicam does not enhance the spread of sensory block produced by intrathecal lidocaine.

Systemic opioids enhance the spread of spinal analgesia. This study was designed to determine whether i.v.

Human papillomaviruses in cervical cancer: II. Application of PCR and in situ hybridization and HPV significance.

Human papillomaviruses especially type 16 and 18 are associated with cervical cancer. These viruses encode transforming proteins which are capable of binding and form complexes with p53 protein. Tumour-tissue samples from women with cervical cancer as well as normal controls were analysed for the presence of HPV and the expression of p53 by in situ hybridization and PCR analysis.

Human papillomaviruses in cervical cancer I. HPV-16 and 18 predominate in the Greek population.

Human papillomaviruses (HPV) and their role in carcinogenesis have been the subject of extensive investigation Specific types of HPV have been associated with cervical carcinoma HPV 16 and 18 are mainly associated with malignant progression and considered "high risk" viruses Using Southern blot analysis and in situ hybridization we investigated the presence of papilloma viruses in cervical carcinoma patients as well as appropriate controls. The results presented here support the aetiological role of HPV 16 and 18 in cervical carcinoma and demonstrate the prevalence of these viruses in Greek women. The role of viruses in carcinogenesis in well established in almost all species from fishes, to birds, to mammals.

Sufentanil does not preempt pain after abdominal hysterectomy.

We compared the effect of intravenous (i.v.) sufentanil on postoperative pain and analgesic requirements, when given before or after abdominal hysterectomy.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Epstein-Barr Virus significance.

Thirty-one cases of NPC were investigated by in situ hybridization, PCR analysis and serology to assess the presence of EBV and to interrelate these findings. Statistical analysis showed a significant correlation between the probability of detecting EBV and NPC. There was no significant association between in situ hybridization, PCR and serology.

Combined transarterial targeting locoregional immunotherapy-chemotherapy for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma: a new alternative for an old problem.

The prognosis for patients with advanced (stage III and IV) hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poor. Liver resection and liver transplantation have limited effects on overall survival. Our study was carried out to assess a novel therapeutic approach, which includes transarterial locoregional chemotherapy and in vivo locoregional dual immunostimulation, in patients with unresectable HCC.

Resection versus resection combined with adjuvant pre- and post-operative chemotherapy--immunotherapy for metastatic colorectal liver cancer. A new look at an old problem.

Forty patients with metastatic liver disease from colorectal carcinoma are presented in this study. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups: Group A (20 patients) who had liver resection and Group B (20 patients) who had liver resection combined with post-operative locoregional immuno- therapy + chemotherapy. Thus, during the first year following surgery, they have four courses of targeted locoregional transarterial chemotherapy-immunotherapy, two courses during the second year and one course during the third year.

Hepatocellular carcinoma: surgical resection versus surgical resection combined with pre- and post-operative locoregional immunotherapy-chemotherapy. A prospective randomized study.

Hepatocellular carcinoma remains a disease with poor prognosis. Liver resection, although the optimal method of management, is associated with a high incidence of intrahepatic tumour recurrence ranging between 50-70%, 12 to 18 months following surgery. This study assesses prospectively the results of liver resection as compared to liver resection combined with pre- and post-operative locoregional chemotherapy-immunotherapy in 40 patients suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma.

Preemptive opioid analgesia does not influence pain after abdominal hysterectomy.

Opioid administration before surgical stimulus may reduce or prevent subsequent pain. We studied the effect of timing of opioid administration on the pain-related behaviour after abdominal hysterectomy. Eighty-five patients scheduled for abdominal hysterectomy were blindly randomized to receive fentanyl 10 micrograms.

Performance of the anesthesiologists in 12 Departments of Anesthesia in Greece.

To assess the performance of anesthesiologists in 12 Departments of Anesthesia a questionnaire was completed by 132 anesthesiologists. The questionnaire included preoperative visit, preoxygenation, the anaesthetic record, time of stay in the operating room, management of apnea at the end of surgery and rapid sequence induction. Anesthesiologists were also asked if they keep update and how.

Accuracy of subject and author indexes in five anaesthesia journals.

To determine the accuracy of subject and author indexes in five anaesthesia journals we examined all 1989 and 1991 volumes of Anesthesia and Analgesia, Anesthesiology, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Canadian Journal of Anaesthesia and European Journal of Anaesthesiology, and counted the number of entries and the number of errors in both indexes. The number of errors was expressed as a percentage of the number of entries, and the incidences of errors were compared by chi-square contingency table tests. The overall error rate in both indexes and for both years (1989 and 1991) differed significantly among the five journals (P < 0.

Central venous catheter-related infections after bone marrow transplantation in patients with malignancies: a prospective study with short-course vancomycin prophylaxis.

Infections associated with double-lumen central venous catheters (CVCs) in patients undergoing BMT are presented. We prospectively studied infections occurring with 46 CVCs in 40 patients with malignancies during and up to 30 days after BMT. We randomised patients with insertions of CVCs to receive either a short course of vancomycin 500 mg x 3 peri-operatively (16 CVCs) or no VCM (11 CVCs).

Systemic opioids enhance the spread of sensory analgesia produced by intrathecal lidocaine.

The effect of different doses of fentanyl and nalbuphine on the spread of spinal analgesia produced by lidocaine was studied in 68 patients undergoing transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) under spinal anesthesia. Patients were randomly assigned to six groups: fentanyl A, B, or C (FA, FB, FC) or nalbuphine A, B, or C (NA, NB, NC), which received intravenous (i.v.

Pre- and post- operative adjuvant targeting locoregional chemotherapy combined with locoregional targeting immunostimulation and surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma. A new promising alternative.

Hepatocellular carcinoma remains a challenging disease with a poor prognosis in terms of outcome and overall survival. Although resectional liver surgery remains the optimal treatment option, it is associated with a high incidence of intrahepatic recurrence. We present our experience of a new multimodality treatment approach for the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), consisting of liver resection in combination with induced targeting locoregional, pre- and post-operative, chemotherapy and immunotherapy in 20 patients with HCC.