Cytologic follow-up in patients with CIN treated by LLETZ, Cold knife Conization and Semm's cold coagulation.

Management of cervical premalignant lesions starts with abnormal Pap smear. Regular screening of asymptomatic women (the Pap smear) allows us to diagnose and treat preinvasive lesions before they progress to cervical cancer. There is a wide variety of ablative and destructive methods used in treatment of cervical premalignant lesions.

Transcranial Doppler in brain death confirmation in clinical practice.

Purpose: Transcranial Doppler (TCD) can be used as a confirmatory test in brain death. The aim was to present the usefulness of TCD in brain death confirmation.

Materials And Methods: Forty-four patients with severe brain lesions leading to brain death were treated over a 4-year period.

In situ cephalic vein bypasses from axillary to the brachial artery after catheterization injuries.

The need to bypass to the brachial artery is rare. Over a five-year period, 16 patients had suffered iatrogenic post-catheterization injuries of the upper extremity. We have performed 16 bypasses, in 16 patients, mean age was 65 years (range 47-75), to the brachial artery originating from an artery proximal to the shoulder joint.

Prognostic value of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor and tyrosinase as markers for circulating tumor cells detection in patients with melanoma.

The aim of this study was to analyze microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) as a marker for the detection of circulating melanoma cells, determine its prognostic value in melanoma patients, and compare it with tyrosinase. Blood samples from 201 melanoma patients in all stages of the disease and 40 healthy volunteers were analyzed. RNA was isolated from mononuclear cell fraction of the blood and assayed by reverse transcription-PCR for the expression of MITF and tyrosinase.

Obesity treatment using a Bioenterics intragastric balloon (BIB)--preliminary Croatian results.

Aim Of Study: This study aims to assess the effectiveness, tolerance, safety, and patient satisfaction of obesity treatments using the Bioenterics intragastric balloon (BIB).

Methods: Prospective controlled trial of 33 obese patients who were treated with the BIB from March 2008 to March 2009 and who completed the 6 months treatment. Patients were selected on the basis of workup by a multidisciplinary team.

Breath holding index and arterial stiffness as markers of vascular aging.

Background: The aim of the study was to evaluate correlation of breath holding index (BHI) as functional parameter for intracranial subclinical atherosclerotic changes - we have shown in our previous works and arterial stiffness (AS-functional parameter for extracranial subclinical atherosclerotic changes) in normal population.

Patients And Methods: We included 120 healthy volunteers (conventional risk factors for cerebrovascular disease were excluded) who were examined at our Neurology Department. They were divided into 6 age groups-(25-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65, 66-75, 76+ years).

Treatment of migraine and tension-type headache in Croatia.

The aim of this study was to assess the treatment patterns of migraine and tension-type headache in the Croatian population. Analysis included the proportion of patients who were taking specific antimigraine therapy and the number of tablets per attack per month, the proportion of patients who were taking prophylactic therapy or using alternative treatment methods and their satisfaction with the treatment. The design of the study was a cross-sectional survey.

Neurological manifestation of Fabry disease--a case report.

Fabry disease is an X-linked recessive glycolipid storage disease. It is caused by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme alpha-galactosidase A and leads to the accumulation of the enzyme substrate, globotriasylceramide (Gb3) in many tissues including endothelial cells, pericytes and smooth muscle cells of blood vessels, renal epithelial cells, cardiac myocytes and numerous neuronal cells. In this report, we present 20-year-old male patient with ischemic stroke in pons.

Diagnostic approach for precancerous and early invasive cancerous lesions of the uterine cervix.

Invasive cervical cancer is second most common female cancer worldwide with about 493,000 new cases per year. About 273,000 women die from cervical cancer each year, 85% of which take place in developing countries. Cervical cancer has a slow progress, from pre-invasive cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) to invasive phases, meaning that the disease can be diagnosed while in the phase of pre-invasive lesion, and treated successfully thanks to the regular screening of asymptomatic women (the Pap smear).

Symptomatic sacral perineurial (Tarlov) cysts.

Sacral perineurial (Tarlov) cysts are rare lesions. Over a seven year period 4000 patients underwent surgery for lumbar disk herniation. In three patients neurological symptoms were caused by large sacral perineurial cysts.

Visual evoked response in patients with severe carotid disease--functional transcranial doppler study of posterior circulation.

The goal of this study was to evaluate the visual evoked response in posterior cerebral artery (PCA) by means of functional transcranial doppler in patients with severe carotid disease and to determine the hemodynamic effect of severe carotid disease on posterior circulation. Measurements were performed successively in the dark and during the white light stimulation in 49 patients with high-grade (70-99%) internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis or occlusion and compared with 30 healthy age and sex matched subjects. Mean blood flow velocities (MBFV) (cm/s +/- 2SD) and mean reaction time (MRT) (s +/- 2SD) during three consecutive repetitive periods of 1 minute each were analyzed.

Treatment of pineal region lesions: our experience in 39 patients.

The pineal region is the origin of lesions with a highly diverse histopathology. The aim of this study was to present our experience in treating patients with the pineal region lesions. In period between 1990 and 2007, 39 patients with pineal region lesions were operated on at the Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital "Sestre milosrdnice", Zagreb, Croatia.

The evaluation of the stroke unit in Croatia at the University Hospital Sestre milosrdnice, Zagreb: 1995-2006 experience.

This study evaluate the effects of the Stroke Unit (SU) in Croatia by comparing the in-hospital case fatality rate in the period before (1995-2000) and after (2001-2006) the implementation of SU and to compare the prevalence of risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus (DM), atrial fibrillation (AF) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) among the patients who died. The study was conducted in twelve-year period during which 10,901 stroke patients were admitted to hospital and 1818 of them died. The endpoints were in-hospital case fatality rate and prevalence of risk factors among the patients who died.

Influence of ATII blockers and calcium channel blockers on renal vascular resistance in patients with essential hypertension.

Doppler can evaluate renal vascular resistance, and resistance index (RI) highly correlates with blood pressure and renal function in various pathological conditions. Purpose of the study was to measure and compare renal Doppler indices in patients with newly-diagnosed essential hypertension (EH) and in healthy subjects; to determine changes of Doppler indices in patients after six-months monotherapy with either the AT II blocker (valsartane) or calcium channel blocker (niphedipine); to determine which drug has better renoprotective effect. 65 healthy controls were examined, as well as 69 patients with the newly-diagnosed EH, without signs of the target organ damage.

IL-2 -330 T/G SNP and serum values-potential new tumor markers in neuroendocrine tumors of the gastrointestinal tract and pancreas (GEP-NETs).

Cytokines participate in tumorigenesis of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs). Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in cytokine genes influence expression of proteins and are evaluated in cancer susceptibility. The aim of this study was to evaluate IL-2 -330 T/G SNP and susceptibility to GEP-NETs, and analyze the correlation between G-allele and IL-2 serum values in GEP-NET patients.

Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia caused by anti-HLA-A24 alloantibodies.

Unlabelled: Neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (NAIT) occurs as a result of maternal alloimmunization against paternally inherited antigens on foetal platelets. Platelets express platelet specific antigens (HPA) along with human leucocyte antigens (HLA) class I. Although anti-HLA class I antibodies are often detectable in pregnant women, their role in NAIT is considered controversial.

Women and stroke: how much do women and men differ? A review--diagnostics, clinical differences, therapy and outcome.

In this article, the authors have gathered data from epidemiological, observational, case-control and cohort studies to evaluate the differences between men and women in terms of ischemic events, mainly stroke. The authors are highlighting the differences that exist between men and women and play a role in terms of social diversities, and the pathophysiological differences that may be responsible at least in part for ischemic events. Studies show that male stroke patients are more likely to have a history of ischemic heart disease, smoking and alcohol consumption, whereas female stroke patients suffer from ischemic events at an older age, are more likely to have hypertension and atrial fibrillation.

After 40 years gossypiboma caused spleen abscess.

We report a case of spleen abscess cased by foreign body (gossypiboma) after 40 years. After physical examination, laboratory, ultrasonography and CT findings with diagnosis of acute abdomen, 73 years old woman had undergone laparatomy. Operation revealed intraabdominal spleen abscess.

Comparison of visual vs. automated detection of lipemic, icteric and hemolyzed specimens: can we rely on a human eye?

Background: Results from hemolyzed, icteric, and lipemic samples may be inaccurate and can lead to medical errors. These preanalytical interferences may be detected using visual or automated assessment. Visual inspection is time consuming, highly subjective and not standardized.

Efficiency of test report delivery to the requesting physician in an outpatient setting: an observational study.

Background: Clinical laboratories accredited according to ISO 15189 quality standards are obliged to implement and continuously monitor quality indicators for evaluation of the laboratory's contribution to patient care. Reporting laboratory results to the requesting physician is one important phase of the clinical laboratory testing process. Failure to report results may indicate the ineffectiveness of the laboratory service.

Quality management: patients reflections on health care at outpatient clinic of internal medicine department.

Middle and older age group relative share in the community permanently grows. Those are commonly burdened with several chronic health conditions or elevated incidence of acute ones and in more frequent need for consulting health services. In the era of modern technical medicine, it is important to increase quality of services particularly patients orientated.

Spectrum of phenomena of multiple myocardial contractions during each single cardiac cycle.

The phenomenon of multiple myocardial contractions during each single cardiac cycle, triggered by a single sinus node impulse, is the most intriguing echocardiographical topic among detectible modalities of irregular kinetics of interventricular septum. Tissue Doppler imaging based methods gave proofs of active contractions in cases presented herein. Broad spectrum of this phenomenon, which can be found both in healthy subjects and in patients is presented.

Bacterial colonization and granulocyte activation in chronic maxillary sinusitis in asthmatics and non-asthmatics.

The impact of bacterial colonization on the severity and pattern of chronic inflammation in rhinosinusitis is not clear. In this study, it was hypothesized that bacterial colonization of the sinus mucosa would have a greater impact on inflammatory response modulation in asthmatic patients than in non-asthmatic patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. In order to test this hypothesis, granulocyte activation was measured and related to bacteria identified in the sinus lavage.