Dextromethorphan test for evaluation of congenital predisposition to lung cancer.

We report the results of an investigation conducted in 992 healthy control subjects (854 adults and 138 adolescents) and in 116 subjects with lung cancer (LC) for the purpose of detecting those individuals with a possible genetic predisposition to lung cancer. The test consists of the oral administration of 64 mumol of dextromethorphan (DMP) with collection of urine samples over the following 8-h period and urine assay of the drug (DMP) and its main metabolite, dextrorphan (DOP). The ratio of the urinary concentrations of DMP to those of DOP is called the metabolic ratio (DMP/DOP) and is inversely proportional to the DMP demethylation rate. The pattern of the metabolic ratio (Log10 DMP/DOP) allowed, using a maximum likelihood approach, the identification of three subpopulations in the 854 control subjects (adults): (1) probable homozygous extensive metabolizers with Log10 DMP/DOP < -1.74 (73.1 percent); (2) probable heterozygous intermediate metabolizers with Log10 DMP/DOP in the -1.74 to -0.40 range (22.3 percent); and (3) probable homozygous poor metabolizers with Log10 DMP/DOP > -0.4 (4.6 percent). Most of the patients with LC (89 percent) were probable homozygous extensive metabolizers. As the latter have a cancer risk that is 2.54-fold greater than that of intermediate metabolizers (95 percent confidence interval [CI]: 1.37 to 4.73) and 7.43-fold greater than that of poor metabolizers (95 percent CI: 1.01 to 54.5), their identification by means of the DMP test may be particularly useful for subjects exposed to environmental and occupational carcinogens. The phenotype test used is similar to that of the debrisoquin test, but presents the advantage that DMP is a widely used, harmless drug with a faster and simpler urinary assay procedure.

Leiomyomata of the oesophagus: report of four surgically-treated cases.

Four patients with leiomyoma of the upper or middle third of the oesophagus treated by surgical excision are reported. All operations were performed through a right thoracotomy with simple enucleation of the lesion. Two patients were asymptomatic. In one the tumour had a spiral configuration almost completely surrounding the lumen. No complications occurred. Early surgical treatment is advised although the tumour grows slowly.

[Our experience on the use of the antireflux prosthesis by the Angelchik method (personal contribution of 26 cases)]. / La nostra esperienza sull'impiego della protesi antireflusso secondo Angelchik (contributo personale di 26 casi).

The Angelchik prosthesis was used in 26 cases of gastroesophageal reflux disease resistant to medical therapy. The operations were crowned with success in 24 cases out of 26 (92.3%), with complete disappearance of reflux. The procedure failed in two cases: the prosthesis was removed in one case due to postoperative acute haemorrhagic gastritis with a subsequent positive outcome; in this patient the Angelchik ring had been removed as a precaution. Failure in the second case, a patient with oesophageal stenosis and a short oesophagus, was due to mediastinal migration of the prosthesis. In this latter case, a successful duodenal bypass was created with antrectomy and a long Roux-en-Y anastomosis. The only intraoperative complication in the patient sample was a splenectomy for rupture of the splenic capsule. Postoperative complications not directly related to the prosthesis were perforation of a duodenal ulcer not diagnosed preoperatively and treated with raphia without impairing the functional efficacy of the ring, one case of pulmonary embolism and one case of cardiac infarction, all resolved with medical therapy. In all, the prostheses were removed in 3 cases out of 26 (11.5%). In addition to the two cases already described, the prosthesis was removed in one patient one year after the operation at the patient's specific request for "psychological" reasons. Migration of the prosthesis occurred in four cases of severe oesophageal stenosis with a short oesophagus, in three of which the prosthesis functioned perfectly even in the intrathoracic site. At follow-up examinations there was radiological disappearance of the hiatal hernia in 20 cases out of 25. In one case there was no hernia even before the operation, and in four cases there was a short oesophagus with severe oesophagitis. Owing to the very easy performance of the operation together with its unquestionable antireflux efficacy, in our opinion three reliable indications emerge, namely: (i) in elderly patients at high surgical risk; (ii) in obese, brachytypical patients; and (iii) in the presence of severe oesophagitis, even with a short oesophagus.

[Recent aspects of pulmonary tuberculosis in thoracic surgery]. / Recenti aspetti della tubercolosi polmonare in chirurgia toracica.

Pulmonary tuberculosis--although appreciable reduced as regards number of cases--is still far from being wiped out and even today constitutes a real problem in the field of thoracico-pulmonary surgical pathology. Infection with Koch's bacillus can from this point of view arise basically according to two procedures: a) as superimposed element--unexpected guest--on a pulmonary disease of surgical interest, sometimes being mistaken for it (e.g. a tubercular inflammation of slow evolution mistaken for a cancer of the lung) or b) taking the form of pulmonary relics of an earlier and apparently extinguished Kochian infection, the starting point of an always possible revival of the infection during the postoperative period. In the former case the so-called attack therapy must be adopted without delay in accordance with well tested doses and schedules; in the latter case by means of a chemoprophylaxis, carried out in with rifampicin (600/1200 mg/day) in the cases reported and also continued in the postoperative period.

[Bronchogenic cyst of the lung and pulmonary tuberculosis. Presentation of a case]. / Cisti broncogena del polmone e T.B.C. polomonare. Presentazione di un caso.

The paper considers a clinical case of multiple bronchogenic cysts associated with a pneumonitic process of TB character, operated successfully by means of an upper right and middle bilobectomy. No similar case was found in literature. The malformations were of congenital origin, characterised histologically by a cavity, the walls of which contain elements proper to the bronchus: cartilage and ciliate columnar epithelium. The squamous metaplasia is rare, and the neoplastic transformation very rare. From the clinical point of view a distinction is made between asymptomatic cysts, in which the clinical picture is dominated by compressive phenomena affecting the surrounding structures, or sometimes by infection due to supervening bacterial, mycotic or--as in our case--tubercular contamination. The therapeutic indication is exclusively surgical, with methods of exeresis varying according to the extent and location of the morbid process.

[Paraganglioma of the posterior mediastinum (author's transl)]. / Il paraganglioma del mediastino posteriore.

The authors describe one case of paraganglioma of the posterior mediastinum successfully removed after being discovered accidentally in a young male patient who showed no symptoms attributable to the tumor. The latter was a round mass, about 6 cm in diameter, richly vascular, located in the right costomediastinal gutter. Histologically it was a functionally silent paraganglioma originating from the intrathoracic aortosympathetic paraganglia, these being part of the very numerous groups of the paragangliar system distributed segmentally into metamers, particularly in the adrenal medulla. According to the more recent views, chemodectoma or paraganglioma (chromaffine or non-chromaffine, functionally active or silent) and pheochromocytoma (functionally active or silent, adrenal or extra-adrenal) constitute a group of tumors sharing the same tissue matrix, namely paragangliar cells.

[Oncocytoma of the lung: presentation of 1 case (author's transl)]. / L'oncocitoma del polmone: presentazione di un caso clinico.

The Authors describe one case of pulmonary oncocytoma successfully treated by ablative surgery. The patient was a man aged 38 with an asymptomatic nodule, about the size of a walnut, in his right lower lobe. The whole right lower lobe was removes surgically, and histological examination resulted i na diagnosis of pulmonary oncocytoma. In the discussion, the authors point out that this type of malignancy is extremely rare, with only 7 cases reported in the more recent literature to the best of their knowledge.

[Thoracoplasty today. Review of a technique of the past]. / La toracoplastica oggi. Rivisitazione di una tecnica del passato.

Thoracoplastic operations had ruled the field in the past as treatment of choice in the surgical antituberculous collapse therapy; they have had a notable revival during the last years as an efficient therapeutic modality in the treatment of chronic empyemas of the most various etiologies. They are thoracoplasties done with particular modalities, imposing, setting out case by case to suppress the infected pleural space. It is usually joined with a thoracotomy and it permits also the execution of other surgical intrathoracic manoeuvres such as decortications, treatment of fistulas, myoplasties. Situations such as chronic empyemas, without any solution before, have found a brilliant solution by the use of this operation.

[Long-term survival of patients operated on for carcinoma of the lung (author's transl)]. / La sopravvivenza a lungo termine degli operati per carcinoma del polmone.

The long-term fate of patients treated surgically for carcinoma of the lung is not well known. In a careful review of the literature the authors found only nine papers with a postoperative followup of at least 10 years; the mean survival was 16,3% of patients so treated. Factors making for a good long-term prognosis include small initial tumor size, absence of mediastinal lymph node invasion, a favorable histologica type, and the type of surgery performed (partial exeresis). Translated into TNM code, this means that the best candidates for prolonged survival are patients with lung carcinoma of the squamous cell type, stage I, treated by limited lung exeresis.

[Our experience wit congenital anomalies of the bile ducts (with presentation of 13 clinical cases)]. / La nosta esperienza in tema di anomalie congenite delle vie biliari.

Thirteen cases of congenital anomalies of the bile passages are described, as observed in the Verona Surgical Clinic during the period 1970-75, out of a total of 908 operations on the biliary passages and hence with a frequency of about 1.6%. They consisted of one case each of agenesis of the gall-bladder, septal gall-bladder, clepsydra gall-bladder, Hartmann's sac, diverticulum of the gall-bladder, outlet of the right hepatic in gall-bladder, outlet of cystic duct in third duodenal portion, accessory cholecystobiliary ducts, three cases of outlet of cystic duct in right hepatic duct, and two cases of common choledocho-wirsunghian canal. After a brief description of the individual types of anomaly, the main data in the relevant literature are considered, with a review of the semeiological and therapeutic aspects of the most frequent anomalies.

[Complications of lung surgery in the aged: relapsing postresection atelectasis (author's transl)]. / Complicanze della chirurgia polmonare nell'anziano: l'atelettasia recidivante postresezionale.

The authors describe one case of relapsing postoperative atelectasis occurring with considerable severity after an upper left lobectomy for malignancy in a man of 68. Said complication recurred no fewer than six times during a hospital stay of 44 days and constituted a major threat to the good outcome of surgery. The patient was finally discharged in good conditions, and a later recheck revealed no important alterations in the surviving lower left lobe.

[Iatrogenic rupture of the esophagus: presentation of several cases]. / Le rotture iatrogeniche dell'esofago: presentazione di alcuni casi.

Four cases of iatrogenic rupture of the oesophagus are presented. The site of the lesion was in the cervical tract in 1 case and in the thoracic tract in the other 3 cases. Their etiology was pneumatic endoscopic dilatation for achalasia in 2 cases, endoscopic insertion of a Celestin tube for carcinoma of the thoracic tract of the oesophagus in 1 case, and diagnostic endoscopy in the last one. Instrumental findings were relevant in all cases. All patients underwent surgery. In the patients suffering from achalasia, the rupture was repaired by a patch of the gastric fundus. The patient suffering from carcinoma underwent an oesophageal resection, the one with cervical perforation underwent a mediastinal drainage. There were no deaths or considerable post operating complications. In a patient suffering from achalasia gastro-oesophageal reflux was demonstrated after some months following the operation.

[Palliative treatment of esophageal cancer]. / Trattamento palliativo del cancro dell'esofago.

The AA. describe the indications, the technique and the complications of application of oesophageal endoprosthesis (Celestin or Haring) for palliative treatment of oesophageal cancer and they value the results of 34 applications of these prosthesis that were executed about Surgical Clinic in Verona with satisfactory results during the period 1974-77. They show the improvement of survival conditions in these patients, the rareness of complications, the absence of absolute contra-indications.

[Lipoid pulmonary granuloma in Parkinson's disease. Presentation of clinical case]. / Il granuloma polmonare lipoideo nel morbo di Parkinson. Presentazione di un caso clinico.

The authors describe one case of lipoid granuloma of the lung in a patient with PARKINSON'S disease. The cause of this pulmonary sequel is probably to be found in the alteration of the mechanism of deglutition, typical of PARKINSON'S disease, with aspiration bronchopneumonia and subsequent evolution to granuloma formation. In the case presented (a man of 64) the X-ray picture resembled the irregular mass opacities and bronchial amputations characteristically associated with cancer of the lung. As the actual anatomical extent of the process exceeded the limits indicated by radiological examination, the whole left lung was removed at surgery; histological studies, however, revealed the essentially benign nature of the lesion. The patient was discharged in due course of time as surgically cured. There was no major deterioration of his neurological status either at discharge time or at later rechecks.

[Cavitary carcinomas of the lung with a pseudocystic aspect. Description of 2 clinical cases]. / Carcinomi cavitari del polmone con aspetto pseudocistico. Descrizione di due casi clinici.

In this paper the Authors describe two cases of carcinoma of the lung with cavitary aspects that came under their observation. There are various hypotheses on the formation of such cavities: it is possible that the neoplastic cells may have a growth trend in a centrifugal direction, or that the cavity is due to a necroic-colliquaive process of the mass itself or to extensive phenomena of autophagism. In other cases the neoplastic cells carpet already existing air cysts, giving the appearance of thin wall cavitation. It is precisely this type of cavitation that poses problems of differential diagnosis. In fact, when other instrumental investigations such as bronchoscopy or needle biopsy, always combined with cytology of the sputum, are not decisive, a relatively certain diagnosis can be obtained only by observing the evolution of the picture for some time, as was the case in the patients referred to above.

[The ND-Yag laser in the treatment of non-resectable esophageal neoplasms: evaluation and results]. / Il laser N.D. Yag nel trattamento delle neoplasie esofagee non resecabili: valutazione e risultati.

The Authors show a set of 9 cases of patients suffering from oesophagus flaky carcinoma, judged radically non-operable, and treated with endoscopic laser-therapy by N.D. Yag Laser. They illustrate the patients' main clinical data, method followed, complications observed and results obtained. What seems to emerge from the analysis of the data is: the effectiveness of laser-therapy in the control of disphagia, simplicity of the technique and its acceptability by the patient, as well as the rareness of complications. Three are the clinical parameters used for the checking of patients before and after the laser treatment: disphagia, odynophagia and thoracic ache. The intenseness of symptoms was classed from 0 up to 3. Before the treatment, six patients out of nine showed class 3 disphagia; after the treatment, two could assume fluids (class 2), two fed also on minced foods (class 1), and two fed normally; in the two cases with initial class 2 disphagia a normal feed could be adopted; in one case no initial disphagia was present. Odynophagia was initially present in one case only at class 3, in three cases at class 1, and in all the other cases it was absent (0). After the treatment, odynophagia disappeared totally, except in one class 1 case, which remained unchanged. The presence of thoracic ache before the treatment was class 1 in four cases, class 3 in one case, and absent in four cases. After the treatment, the class 3 ache turned into class 1: in one class 1 case it was not modified; in the remaining cases the ache, if present, disappeared. Some questions remain opened, concerning the effect on survival, even in relation to other palliative methods, to the duration of the palliation obtained and to the eventual associability of lasertherapy to radiotherapy.

[Parenteral and enteral nutrition in esophageal stenosis. Initial clinico-experimental results]. / La nutrizione parenterale ed enterale nelle stenosi esofagee. Prime risultanze clinico-sperimentali.

The Authors study the pre- and post-operative nutritional treatment of the patients suffering from oesophageal stenosis, principally neoplastic, waiting to undergo the radical operation. Although the compensation of the nutritional situation of these patients through the enteral and parenteral nutrition results difficult to be effected, the results encourage to apply this clinical practice everywhere a demolitive operation, always long, heavy, and burdened by a high morbidity and mortality, is foreseen.

[Endobronchial lipomas]. / I lipomi endobronchiali.

The authors report three cases of endobronchial lipoma, and study the etiopathogenesis and the main clinical and therapeutical aspects of such neoplasiae. Both diagnosis and treatment should be timely, in order to prevent irreversible damages to lung parenchyma, compelling surgeons to mutilating operations making the function of the apparatus heavier.

[Esophagogastroplasty in the treatment of squamous carcinoma of the esophagus (our experience)]. / L'esofagogastroplastica nel trattamento del carcinoma squamoso dell'esofago (nostra esperienza).

The authors report on their experience with 42 cases of squamous carcinoma of the oesophagus subjected to oesophagectomy and oesophagogastroplasty. The patients' mean age was 55.2 years (range: 41-70) with a 13:1 male/female ratio. A positive history of cigarette smoking and of alcohol consumption was found in 87% and 80% of patients respectively. The sites of the neoplasms were as follows: 24 in the mid 3rd of the oesophagus, 9 in the lower 3rd, 6 in the upper 3rd of the thoracic oesophagus and 3 in the cervical oesophagus. In 39 patients the operation was performed in two stages according to Lewis and in 2 cases it was performed in 3 stages according to McKeown, while one patient was treated with a pull-through operation according to Akiyima. Six patients died during the first 30 days postoperatively as a result of circulatory complications or ARDS. Fistulization of the anastomosis as observed in 5 cases, though this was clinically manifest only in two. Mean survival was 5.9 months, 18.6 months and 10.5 months according to the period considered.

[Bullous emphysema of the lung (our experience)]. / Le bolle enfisematose del polmone (nostra esperienza).

Ten patients (9 males and 1 female; mean age: 44.8 yrs) with bullous lung disease were treated. Frequent patient-history findings were smoking and spontaneous pneumothorax. Nine cases were treated surgically either by bullectomy or atypical resection. In one case, an attempt at endobullous aspiration failed owing to the patient's very poor general condition. Among the postoperative complications in three cases we observed difficult pulmonary re-expansion and infection of the surgical wound with consequent pleural empyema in another.