RESUMEN
Drowning is an acute respiratory failure as a result from immersion or submersion of the airways in a liquid medium (predominantly water). Inhalation of water causes severe lung damage due to the destruction of pulmonary surfactant, resulting in decreased lung elasticity, alveolar collapse, alteration of ventilation-perfusion ratio, intrapulmonary blood shunting, hypoxia, acute lung injury, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). Poractant alfa (Curosurf®), a natural surfactant effective in the treatment of newborn respiratory distress, has been used in various forms of ARDS, but in drowning syndromes, experience is still poor. We describe a series of nine clinical cases of drowning, six adults and three children, treated in our Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with endobronchial administration of poractant alfa. After 24 and 48 hours of administration in all cases, there was an improvement in arterial blood gas analysis (ABG) parameters and imaging. All patients were discharged without clinical consequences.
RESUMEN
The synthesis of a novel functional biomaterial for wound healing treatment was carried out by adopting a free-radical grafting procedure in aqueous media. With this aim, ciprofloxacin (CFX) was covalently incorporated into collagen (T1C) chains employing an ascorbic acid/hydrogen peroxide redox pair as biocompatible initiator system. The covalent insertion of CFX in the polymeric chains was confirmed by FT-IR and UV analyses, while an antibacterial assay demonstrated the activity of the synthesized conjugate against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, microorganisms that commonly infect wounds. A catechin blended conjugate was also tested in order to evaluate the ability to influence fibroblast cell growth. The observed antibacterial activity and stimulation of fibroblast growth support the applicability of CFX-T1C conjugate in wound treatment encouraging the healing process.
Asunto(s)
Adenocarcinoma/patología , Fístula Bronquial/diagnóstico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patología , Invasividad Neoplásica/patología , Adenocarcinoma/diagnóstico , Adenocarcinoma/cirugía , Biopsia con Aguja , Fístula Bronquial/cirugía , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Femenino , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Inmunohistoquímica , Neoplasias Pulmonares/diagnóstico , Neoplasias Pulmonares/cirugía , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estadificación de Neoplasias , Neumotórax/diagnóstico , Neumotórax/etiología , Medición de Riesgo , Cirugía Torácica Asistida por Video/métodos , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X , Resultado del TratamientoAsunto(s)
Lipoma/cirugía , Procedimientos Quirúrgicos Mínimamente Invasivos , Cavidad Torácica , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Humanos , Lipoma/diagnóstico , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Cirugía Torácica Asistida por Video , Tomografía Computarizada de Emisión , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos XRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Since 1989 we have enrolled patients with clinical-radiological stage III-IVA thymomas, independent of the surgeon's judgment of resectability, into a prospective study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy-surgery and postoperative radiotherapy. In this article, we review our long-term experience of neoadjuvant chemotherapy of advanced stage (III-IVA) thymomas. METHODS: From 1989 to 2004, 30 patients with Masaoka stage III and IVA thymomas underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, and postoperative radiotherapy. The neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy consisted of three courses of cisplatin, epidoxorubicin, and etoposide every 3 weeks. Adjuvant radiotherapy consisted of 45 Gy for complete resections or 60 Gy for incomplete resections. RESULTS: The preoperative diagnosis of invasive thymomas was obtained for 16 patients: five by mediastinotomy, seven by video-assisted thoracic surgery, and four by fine needle aspiration. For 14 patients, no histological diagnosis was available, but a thymus-related syndrome was present in all.Twenty-seven patients are still alive (25 disease-free) and three have died (one disease-free). The 10-year survival rates were 85.7% and 76.1% for stage III and IVA thymomas, respectively (difference not significant). Only the World Health Organization pathological diagnosis significantly affected the survival, with type B3 having a worse prognosis than type AB, B1, and B2 thymomas (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The multimodality treatment of stage III and IVA thymomas by means of neoadjuvant chemotherapy provides good long-term outcomes in both stages of the disease.
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Timoma/tratamiento farmacológico , Neoplasias del Timo/tratamiento farmacológico , Adulto , Anciano , Quimioterapia Adyuvante , Femenino , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Terapia Neoadyuvante , Estadificación de Neoplasias , Estudios Prospectivos , Tasa de Supervivencia , Timoma/mortalidad , Timoma/patología , Neoplasias del Timo/mortalidad , Neoplasias del Timo/patologíaAsunto(s)
Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/patología , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/cirugía , Neoplasias Pulmonares/cirugía , Neumocéfalo/etiología , Neumonectomía/efectos adversos , Anciano , Estudios de Seguimiento , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/patología , Masculino , Neumocéfalo/diagnóstico por imagen , Neumoencefalografía/métodos , Neumonectomía/métodos , Complicaciones Posoperatorias/diagnóstico por imagen , Complicaciones Posoperatorias/terapia , Medición de Riesgo , Índice de Severidad de la Enfermedad , Factores de Tiempo , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X , Resultado del TratamientoRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and the role of the sentinel lymph node (SLN) technique in patients with early non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: This study was carried out on 29 consecutive patients (M/F = 24:5, mean age 65.9 +/- 7.1 years) with resectable NSCLC (Stage IA-IB). Intraoperative injection with a (99m)Tc-nanocolloid suspension was performed in the first ten patients; the following patients were injected under computed tomography scan guidance. A total dose of 37 MBq (1 ml) was administered in two to four divided aliquots (depending on the size), injected in the periphery of the tumour. Intraoperative radioactivity counting started a mean of 1 h (range 50-70 min) after the injection. The SLN was defined as the node with the highest count rate using a handheld gamma probe counter. Resection with mediastinal node dissection was performed and findings were correlated with histologic and immunohistochemistry (IHC) examination. RESULTS: Three of the 29 patients did not have NSCLC (two benign lesions, and one metastatic breast tumour) and were excluded. The SLN was identified in 25/26 (96.1%) patients (a total of 31 SLNs); 7/31 (22.5%) of the SLNs were positive for metastatic involvement after histologic and IHC examination. One inaccurately identified SLN was encountered (3.8%). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of this procedure in identifying the first site of potential nodal metastases of NSCLC. The actual clinical impact of this procedure remains to be elucidated by further investigation in larger groups of patients.