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Colonoscopy is long time the most preferred method for CRC screening along with diagnosis and treatment for a range of colon diseases. Based on its difficulty in visualizing precursor CRC lesions, mostly those located on the right colon, this method can be subject of improvement. The colonoscopy quality can be influenced by many factors such as colon preparation, retraction time, the colonoscopists medical training and knowledges as well as the performance of endoscopy equipment. The bad quality of colonoscopy will result in the emergence of interval cancers defined, based on the author, as cancers that appear at 3-5 years up to 10 years from the colonoscopy procedure. Interval cancers have predominantly incriminated both the colonoscopy quality and the clinician competences and less the tumor biology. Subsequently there were set quality indicators of colonoscopy in order to raise the quality of the exploration. Among the important indicators, proving their utility in studies, the ADR (adenoma detection rate) is most commonly used along with PDR (polyp detection rate) and APC (adenoma per colonoscopy). Following the purpose of obtaining a higher colonoscopy quality the medical units should keep in check all indicators. Furthermore, there should be an active involvement in an additional training of non-conforming medical personnel or even restrain of practice, given the medical legal actions that have interval cancers as a main cause.
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is currently the most common liver disease that progressively develops in four stages (steatosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis-NASH, fibrosis, cirrhosis). In order to accurately evaluate the amount of fat content inside the hepatocytes, non-invasive imaging studies such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the liver can be used as an alternative method to the traditional invasive liver biopsy. The main objective of our study was to quantitatively assess hepatic steatosis before and after treatment using liver MRS. The study group included 35 patients diagnosed with NAFLD who freely expressed their agreement to take part in this study. The treatment lasted 6 months and consisted of administering a local commercially available liver protection supplement combined with dietary and lifestyle adjustments. The initial quantitative assessment of the liver fat content using MRS revealed a hepatic lipid accumulation ranging from 15.70% to 68.03%, with a mean value of 41.26%. The subsequent liver MRS performed after 6 months of proper treatment indicated a fat content inside the liver parenchyma ranging from 15.47% to 58.98%, with a mean value of 36.07%. The therapeutic measures that were applied to the patients managed to reduce the amount of fat content inside the liver parenchyma in 24 patients (68.57%), while in 11 patients (31.43%) the results revealed an increase in hepatic lipid content. In conclusion, the current study reached its initial objective and offered a modern approach regarding the pre and post-treatment evaluation of hepatic steatosis using MRS.
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INTRODUCTION: HCV is considered the most encountered viral infection that affect patients after hemodialysis sessions. Even though liver biopsy is considered the golden standard for hepatic diagnosis, additional methods have been used for assessing liver fibrosis. Transient elastography (TE) has evolved as a reference method in some European countries and allows the physician to carry out a fibrosis evaluation in a noninvasive, low-cost and rapid method. Our objective was to assess the efficacy of TE in staging patients with HCV liver disease associated with ESRD, thus choosing the correct moment to perform the procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included 34 patients known with ESRD within the regional Nephrology Clinic of Olt County Hospital and also having positive hepatitis C viral liver marker. TE was performed before and hemodialysis and data was analyzed. RESULTS: The patients where we have encountered significant changes were especially within the F0 and F1 stage with a decrease of fibrosis after hemodialysis. Thus, 7 patients which had no fibrosis (F0) went from 4,14±0,98kPa to 3,54±0,84 (p<0,05) and 12 patients from the F1 stage went from 6,22±0,39kPa to 5,47±0,58kPa. The other stages had no significant changes with F2 changing after hemodialysis from 8.03±0,62kPa to 7, 76±0,6kPa. CONCLUSIONS: TE represents a valuable tool for stiffness assessment and should be taken into considerations as a major option for ESRD patients with liver disease. However, more patients should be enrolled to strengthen this theory and thus providing more reliable results.
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Liver cirrhosis (LC) is the end stage of chronic liver disease characterized by the appearance of extensive fibrosis and regeneration nodes associated with hepatocyte necrosis in liver but also by the reshuffling of hepatic architecture. The triad consisting of hepatic parenchymal necrosis, regeneration and scarring is always present regardless of the type of clinical manifestation. The Child-Pugh-Turcotte classification dates back more than 30 years and has been widely used in diagnosing and assessing the severity of liver cirrhosis. This is preferred due to a low degree of complexity and a good predictive value. Prolongation of the QT interval on the electrocardiogram is common, with a prevalence exceeding 60% in patients with advanced stage of cirrhosis. In these cases, beta blockers and antiarrhythmics should be avoided or used with caution and with close QT interval monitoring. Changes in heart rate and Q-T interval are new entities in cirrhosis complications. A prolonged Q-T interval in chronic liver disease could lead to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. There is no report on heart rate and Q-T interval disorders in our area.
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an ailment affecting and increasing a number of people worldwide diagnosed via non-invasive imaging techniques, at a time when a minimum harm caused by medical procedures is rightfully emphasized, more sought after, than ever before. Liver steatosis should not be taken lightly even if its evolution is largely benign as it has the potential to develop into non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or even more concerning, hepatic cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Traditionally, liver biopsy has been the standard for diagnosing this particular liver disease, but nowadays, a consistent number of imagistic methods are available for diagnosing hepatosteatosis and choosing the one appropriate to the clinical context is the key. Although different in sensitivity and specificity when it comes to determining the hepatic fat fraction (FF), these imaging techniques possessing a diverse availability, operating difficulty, cost, and reproducibility are invaluable to any modern physician. Ultrasonography (US), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), elastography, and spectroscopy will be discussed in order to lay out the advantages and disadvantages of their diagnostic potential and application. Although imagistics has given physicians a valuable insight into the means of managing NAFLD, the current methods are far from perfect, but given the time, they will surely be improved and the use of liver biopsy will be completely removed.
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Diagnóstico por Imagem/métodos , Hepatopatia Gordurosa não Alcoólica/diagnóstico , Técnicas de Imagem por Elasticidade , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios X , UltrassonografiaRESUMO
Hepatocellular carcinoma is a major health issue, ranked the fifth most common tumor and currently being responsible for a third of the cancer-related deaths globally, with an ever-increasing number of fatalities. Current advances in contrast-enhanced imaging techniques such as contrast-enhanced ultrasonography, multi-detector computed tomography and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging are improving the rate of hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosis. Contrast-enhanced ultrasonography has widely become the first choice in liver tumor assessment, as it is faster, simpler and safer than other forms of diagnostic imaging. On the other hand, cross sectional computed tomography is frequently employed when a hepatic formation is suspected of malignancy and allows a more accurate characterization of lesions through multiphasic multi-detector computed tomography technology. Diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging represents another addition to the wide range of diagnostic and prognostic techniques available for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma and is currently regarded as one of the best tools for the characterization of these lesions. Furthermore, groundbreaking biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma are being discovered, although alpha-fetoprotein remains one of the most frequently used serum test in the early stages. Nonetheless, further advances are required for the detection of small liver carcinomas.
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Carcinoma Hepatocelular/diagnóstico , Neoplasias Hepáticas/diagnóstico , Biomarcadores Tumorais/metabolismo , Biópsia por Agulha Fina , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/diagnóstico por imagem , Carcinoma Hepatocelular/patologia , Humanos , Neoplasias Hepáticas/diagnóstico por imagem , Neoplasias Hepáticas/patologia , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Prognóstico , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios XRESUMO
PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the frequency of a key autophagy gene ATG5 rs2245214 C/G polymorphism in a Romanian volunteer cohort, as there are no data regarding an Eastern European population. MATERIAL/METHODS: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood of 105 Romanian unrelated volunteers. The ATG5 rs2245214 C/G polymorphism was genotyped by Real-Time PCR using allelic discrimination TaqMan assay. RealTime PCR was performed on a ViiA™ 7 Real Time PCR System. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of allele frequencies at individual loci was assessed using the Chi-squared test. RESULTS: The genotype frequencies in controls were distributed in accordance with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (χ² = 1.07; p = 0.3). We found CC genotype in 53 subjects (50.48 %), CG genotype in 40 (38.10 %) and GG genotype in 12 subjects (11.42 %).The G risk allele was found in 52 individuals, and the frequency of the minor G allele was 0.3. CONCLUSION: This is the first report on a Romanian population regarding the frequency of the ATG5 gene rs2245214 polymorphism. Our results are slightly different to the distribution pattern from other Caucasian populations and larger studies including various ethnic groups are required.
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PURPOSE: This study aims to evaluate intratumoral microvessel density in rectal carcinoma cases with different histopathological type (adenocarcinoma and mucinous carcinoma) and different preoperatory neoadjuvant radiotherapy status (irradiated / non-irradiated) ,thus analyzing any possible statistical correlation between these parameters. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our prospective study consists in standard immunohistochemistry procedures using CD34, CD31 and CD105 antibodies, which were performed on 25 samples of rectal carcinoma, in order to determine intratumoral microvessel density. RESULTS: The 25 case study group was divided either by histopathological type or by prior radiotherapeutical treatment as follows: 9 cases of mucinous carcinoma versus 16 cases of adenocarcinoma and 13 cases of rectal cancer that have not received neoadjuvant radiotherapy versus 12 cases of rectal cancer with preoperatory radiotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: The number of intratumoral microvessels is higher in non-irradiated rectal tumors and in adenocarcinomas, this remark being statistical significant (with only one exception - CD34 staining in non-irradiated versus irradiated tumors) for all types of vessels (new-grown and mature). This result is due to the benefic effect of neoadjuvant radiotherapy on decreasing angiogenic activity, thus having an important prognostic value for rectal cancer.
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Fibrosis assessment is a necessary component of liver disease evaluation not only for prognosis but also for future therapeutic management. Our study objective was to evaluate the accuracy of quantitative assessment of liver fibrosis in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B or C, relying on RTSE results, a method approved and acknowledged in Europe. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-three consecutive patients diagnosed with chronic viral hepatitis B or C between January 2014 and December 2014 at the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova were enrolled in the study. Patients underwent both TE and RTSE. RESULTS: The reference method used for staging liver fibrosis was TE, based on its recognition and validation by the European guidelines. Fibrosis was classified as follows: 17.47% of patients were staged as F0, 11.11% of patients staged as F1, 14.28% as F2, 17.47% as F3, and 39.68% as F4. Correlation coefficients between measurements for each parameter was done with ANOVA test, in order to identify any differences, according to the fibrosis stage. Valuable information was obtained suggesting that MEAN, SD, %AREA, COMP, Skewness, IDM and Contrast had highly significant differences when related to the Fibrosis Stage (FS) (p<0,001) and ASM had significant differences (p<0,05). As for Kurtosis, ENT and Correlation parameters no significant differences with the FS was found. CONCLUSIONS: Imaging methods of assessing liver fibrosis are of special interest in chronic liver fibrosis assessment. RTSE comes as a potential new technology based on elastogram evaluation which may prove to be more efficient along with larger prospective studies.
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Insulinomas are benign insulin-secreting neuroendocrine tumors originating in the pancreatic beta cells. Symptoms are caused by hypoglycemia and clinical diagnosis is based on establishing their relationship to fasting, usually via a fasting test. The most conclusive imaging tests are endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and CT. Surgery is the treatment of choice. A 33 year old male presented with a 2-year history of hunger which had intensified in the previous 6 months with added accompanying symptoms, culminating with an acute episode - loss of consciousness and seizures - which resolved after administering i.v. glucose. A fasting test was performed, with results suggestive for an insulinoma. Dual-phase CT showed a mass in the tail of the pancreas but no contrast enhancement. EUS was used for further assessment: B-mode showed a hypoechoic focal mass with a cystic component, on contrast enhancement the pattern was hypovascular, and elastography showed soft tissue. EUS fine needle aspiration (FNA) was performed and the immunohistochemistry (IHC) assay was conclusive for a neuroendocrine tumor of the pancreas. Treatment consisted of caudal pancreatectomy, with no recurrence after 1-year follow-up. Although this case started with a classic clinical presentation of an insulinoma, imaging studies related to tumor vascularization raised doubts about the actual diagnosis. Nevertheless, multimodal EUS assessment with FNA was considered to be the most appropriate diagnostic technique for detection, characterization and staging of the mass. EUS findings together with the IHC assay were able to offer the definite diagnosis of a benign neuroendocrine tumor and allowed us to refer the patient for appropriate treatment.
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INTRODUCTION: Real time-sonoelastography (RTE) is a new developed technique that reveals the physical properties of the tissue by characterizing the difference in hardness between diseased tissue and surrounding tissue. Elasticity measurements have been already reported to be useful for the diagnosis and differentiation of many tumors: breast lesions, prostate cancer, lymph nodes and pancreatic masses but there are only few studies for the focal liver lesions. The aim of the study was to analyze whether computer enhanced dynamic analysis of elastography images is able to better characterize and differentiate benign and malignant liver lesions. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group included, in total thirty nine liver tumors. RTE was performed by EUS or transabdominal ultrasound. ROC analysis for the mean hue obtained through histogram analysis of the region of interest (liver lesion) after averaging individual pixels over a 10-second elastography movies was used to assess the color information inside the region of interest and to consequently differentiate benign and malignant liver lesions. Based on a cutoff of 170 for the mean hue histogram values recorded on the region of interest, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of differentiation of benign and malignant masses were 92.5%, 88.8%, and 88.6%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 86.7% and 92.3%, respectively. In conclusion, real time sonoelastography is a promising technique that might improve the characterization and differentiation between benign and malignant focal liver lesions visualized during transabdominal or endoscopic ultrasound.
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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Capsule endoscopy (CE) represents a novel method which allows safe, non-invasive and rapid exploration of the small bowel. Our aim was to determine the feasibility CE has in assessing tumoral pathology of the small bowel and aiding surgical teams in determining appropriate treatment. Material and Method Our study was conducted on 11 patients who presented tumoral pathology of the small bowel, from a total of 50 patients investigated by VCE. Malignancy was determined on the surgical resection piece, by histological exam. Statistic analysis of the data was conducted using Fisher's Exact Test. Results Tumoral pathology was represented by: 3 intestinal polyps, 2 benign stromal tumors, 2 malign stromal tumors, 2 adenocarcinomas, one neuroendocrine malign tumor and one duodenal papilla carcinoma. We followed the presence of malign tumors in regards to age. All malign tumors (n=6) were recorded in patients over 60 years old, while benign tumors were recorded in most cases (80%, n=4) in people under 60 years old. One case of benign tumor (intestinal polyp) was observed above 60 years old. Conclusion Capsule endoscopy represents a real help for the surgeon, as it allows identification of small bowel pathology, giving information regarding the approximate localization of lesions, their size and orienting on their nature. Tumoral pathology is encountered mainly with the old age population and can be presented under a multitude of forms. We believe that an efficient method for incipient detection and a protocol to establish malignity is necessary.
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Biópsia por Agulha Fina/efeitos adversos , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/diagnóstico por imagem , Endossonografia , Neoplasias Esofágicas/diagnóstico por imagem , Peritonite/etiologia , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/patologia , Carcinoma de Células Escamosas/secundário , Neoplasias Esofágicas/patologia , Humanos , Metástase Linfática , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Fatores de Tempo , Ultrassonografia de IntervençãoRESUMO
BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) elastography represents a new imaging procedure that might characterize the differences of hardness and strain between diseased tissue and normal tissue. The aim of this study was to assess the efficiency of EUS elastography for the differentiation of focal masses in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study group comprised 258 patients with focal pancreatic masses included prospectively at 13 participating centers. Qualitative analysis of the diagnoses made by two expert doctors using all recorded video clips was performed in order to test the interobserver variability. A post-processing software analysis was used to examine the EUS elastography videos by calculating average-hue histograms of individual elastography images. The quantitative information was used to calculate intra-observer variability and the accuracy of the method. RESULTS: Qualitative analysis of the recorded videos revealed a kappa value of 0.72. Intra-observer variability analysis revealed that the single measure intraclass correlation ranged between 0.86 and 0.94. The average-hue histogram analysis of the data indicated a sensitivity of 93.4â%, a specificity of 66.0â%, a positive predictive value of 92.5â%, a negative predictive value of 68.9â%, and an overall accuracy of 85.4â%, based on a cut-off value of 175. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) was 0.854 ( P < 0.0001) with a confidence interval of 0.804â-â0.894. CONCLUSION: The value of quantitative analysis of EUS elastography recordings was proven by good reproducibility of the videos, as well as good parameters of the AUROC analysis. (Clinical Trials.gov identifier: CT00909103).
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Técnicas de Imagem por Elasticidade/métodos , Endossonografia/métodos , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/diagnóstico por imagem , Pancreatite Crônica/diagnóstico por imagem , Adulto , Idoso , Diagnóstico por Computador , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Variações Dependentes do Observador , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/epidemiologia , Pancreatite Crônica/epidemiologia , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Estudos Prospectivos , Curva ROC , Sensibilidade e Especificidade , Método Simples-CegoRESUMO
BACKGROUND Chronic pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease of the pancreas with a physiopathology that is yet to be fully understood, with a multifactorial etiology, of which alcohol abuse causes the majority of cases. PATIENTS AND METHOD We included 80 patients diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis, admitted in the Gastroenterology Clinic of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Craiova. In each patient, demographic parameters, family and personal history were recorded. All patients were initially evaluated by transabdominal ultrasound. In selected cases other imagistic methods were used: computed tomography, endoscopic ultrasound with fine needle aspiration, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. RESULTS The mean age in the studied group ranged between 26 and 76 years with a mean age of 52.9 years. The male to female ratio was 3.6:1. The most frequent presenting symptom was abdominal pain (93.75%), followed by fatigue (70%), anorexia (50%); fewer patients presented with emesis, loss of weight, diarrhea, meteorism and flatulence. The most frequent etiologic factor of chronic pancreatitis in the studied group was alcohol abuse. Using imaging methods the following complications of chronic pancreatitis were diagnosed in the studied group: complicated or uncomplicated pseudocysts (31.57%), pancreatic cancer (18.75%), obstructive jaundice (10%), segmental portal hypertension (2.5%), and pseudoaneurysm (1.25%).CONCLUSSIONS Transabdominal ultrasound is quite accurate in diagnosing chronic pancreatitis and its morbidities and its non-invasiveness makes it the method of choice in the initial assessment of the disease. EUS has the advantage of visualizing not just the modifications of the pancreatic ducts, but also the parenchyma. Moreover, it can be used as EUS-FNA in order to increase the sensitivity of the differential diagnosis between pseudotumoral chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.
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Fibrosis is the liver's scarring response to injury, culminating in cirrhosis and its complications. Percutaneous liver biopsy with connective tissue stain is considered more likely a ''silver'', rather than a ''gold standard'' for assessing the degree of hepatic fibrosis. That's why new modalities were recently developed to accurately assess the stage of the liver disease. The term ''elastography'' describes an imaging technique that conveys information about a tissue's relative firmness in response to compression, meaning it is more akin to palpation than inspection. Real-time transabdominal elastography represents a new technology for measurement of tissue elasticity integrated in ultrasound systems and can be performed with conventional ultrasound probes during a routine sonography examination. Some of its limitations are that it cannot explore neither all the patients, nor a sufficient size of the liver. In order to overcome these, now that the technology exists, we propose an endoscopic approach from the "inside".
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INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic involvement in metastatic melanoma is not an uncommon feature in disseminated disease, but isolated metastasis to the pancreas is a rare entity. Management of the pancreatic metastatic melanoma is controversial and the role of surgery is poorly defined. Most of the resectable pancreatic metastases were treated by standard pancreatectomies, and the role of limited resections (as central pancreatectomy) was not yet established. CASE REPORT: A 43-years old woman with previously right eye enucleation for primary melanoma (4 years ago) developed three metastases (one located into the body of pancreas and two into the right inferior pulmonary lobe). The diagnosis of the pancreatic metastasis was done by endoscopic ultrasound -fine needle aspiration biopsy. A two step operation was performed: first a central pancreatectomy for pancreatic metastasis and after three weeks a right inferior pulmonary lobectomy for lung metastases. RESULTS: The postoperative outcome after central pancreatectomy was complicated by a bleeding from distal pancreatic stump, requiring a re-laparotomy for hemostasis and a pancreatic fistula conservatively treated. At 12 months after operation the patient is asymptomatic, with no clinical and imaging signs of recurrence. CONCLUSION: Surgical resection remains the single hope for cure for patients with metastatic melanoma. Central pancreatectomy could be an optimal choice for metastatic malignant melanoma to the body of the pancreas only if a complete resection of the tumor can be achieved and can be accomplished by other surgical procedures for other sites of metastatic melanoma.
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Neoplasias Oculares/patologia , Neoplasias Pulmonares/secundário , Melanoma/secundário , Pancreatectomia/métodos , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/secundário , Adulto , Neoplasias Oculares/cirurgia , Feminino , Humanos , Neoplasias Pulmonares/cirurgia , Melanoma/cirurgia , Pancreatectomia/efeitos adversos , Neoplasias Pancreáticas/cirurgia , Pneumonectomia/métodos , Resultado do TratamentoAssuntos
Doenças do Colo/diagnóstico , Fístula Gástrica/diagnóstico , Gastroenterostomia/efeitos adversos , Fístula Intestinal/diagnóstico , Síndrome do Intestino Irritável/diagnóstico , Anastomose em-Y de Roux/métodos , Doenças do Colo/etiologia , Doenças do Colo/cirurgia , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Seguimentos , Fístula Gástrica/etiologia , Fístula Gástrica/cirurgia , Gastroenterostomia/métodos , Humanos , Fístula Intestinal/etiologia , Fístula Intestinal/cirurgia , Laparotomia/métodos , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Úlcera Péptica/cirurgia , Medição de Risco , Resultado do TratamentoRESUMO
Hepatitis C virus represents one of the major health problems of actual world, as almost 170 million of world population and 1 million persons in Romania are infected with HCV. Considering the increasing importance of HCV, it is imposed that we elucidate the molecular mechanisms, which are the base of hepatic fibrogenesis and potential targets for therapy, for diminishing progression to cirrhosis and avoid the appearance of complications. Activation of stellate cells is the main event in hepatic fibrosis. They also express almost all key components needed for the pathological degradation of matrix and that is why they play an important role not only in the production, but also in the degradation of the matrix. Recently, the worldwide research has also been oriented towards another type of cells with possible function in fibrogenesis and response to antiviral therapy: hepatic progenitor cells. The presence of hepatic progenitor cells in chronic C viral hepatitis is associated with severity of the disease, grade of fibrosis and the risk of hepatocarcinoma. Traditionally perceived as irreversible, reversibility of advanced fibrosis has been described recently in antiviral therapy trials for chronic C viral hepatitis. The favorable effect of interferon therapy on hepatic histology, including fibrosis, has been shown even in patients without sustained virusological response. During the last years, the advantages of the so-called support therapy using interferon have been demonstrated in patients with an increased rate in progression of fibrosis. Further research of the factors associated with progression of fibrosis will allow optimization of criteria for patient's antiviral therapy.
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Hepatite C Crônica/genética , Hepatite C Crônica/terapia , Cirrose Hepática/genética , Proliferação de Células , Progressão da Doença , Hepatite C Crônica/complicações , Hepatócitos/fisiologia , Humanos , Cirrose Hepática/etiologia , Cirrose Hepática/terapia , Células-Tronco/fisiologiaRESUMO
External bile duct fistulas are inherent postoperative complications that usually appear after biliary tract surgery, traumatic bile duct injuries and liver surgery for hepatic hydatid disease or liver transplant. The management is highly individualized, while the success and long-term results of endoscopic and surgical techniques are conflicting. The study included 32 cases with external bile duct fistulas managed by endoscopic retrograde cholangiography (ERC) with sphincterotomy and/or stent placement, including "rendez-vous" procedures in 2 cases. The causes of the external fistula were represented by cholecystectomy with/without retained common bile duct stones or strictures (22 cases), cholecystectomy and drainage of a subphrenic abscess caused by severe acute pancreatitis (1 case) and surgical interventions for hepatic hydatid disease (9 cases). Due to the prospective protocol of the study we were able to apply an individualized endoscopic treatment: sphincterotomy with proper relief of the bile duct obstruction (stone extraction) or sphincterotomy with large-size (10 Fr) stent placement for large-sized bile duct defects. The results consisted in closure of the fistula in 3.5 +/- 1.7 days for the subgroup of patients with sphincterotomy alone. Among the patients with stent insertion, fistulas healed slower in 14 +/- 3.5 days. There were no complications after endoscopic treatment; however the stent could not be passed in one patient that required subsequent surgery. In conclusion, endoscopic intervention is the treatment of choice for small external biliary fistulas complicating biliary tract surgery or liver surgery for hepatic hydatid disease. When the fistula is large, the placement of a 10 Fr endoprosthesis becomes necessary, while failure of endoscopic treatment leads to surgery with hepatico-jejunal anastomosis.