Value of prostate specific antigen in predicting the existence of bone metastasis in scintigraphy

OBJECTIVE: Evaluate the ability of serum concentration of prostate specific antigen (PSA) between 2 cutting points to predict the existence of bone metastasis confirmed by bone scintigraphy in man with prostate cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two hundred and fourteen consecutive patients with prostate cancer were evaluated during the present study in the period from 1998 to 2001. From all patients, PSA serum concentrations and bone scintigraphy were obtained. For the study, 2 cutting points of PSA (10 and 20 ng/mL) were adopted to predict the existence of bone metastasis. RESULTS: From the 214 patients, 35 (16.3 percent) presented positive scintigraphic examinations for the presence of bone metastasis. No patient presented bone metastasis in scintigraphy if having PSA < 10 ng/mL, and in only 1 patient (0.46 percent) with bone metastasis PSA concentration was < 20 ng/mL. Therefore, when the cutting point adopted for PSA serum concentration was 10 ng/mL, a negative predictive value for bone metastasis was 100 percent with sensitivity rates of 100 percent. Nevertheless, the positive predictive value and the specificity of the method were, respectively, 24.5 percent and 39.7 percent. When the cutting point of PSA serum concentration was 20 ng/mL, an increment was observed in rates of positive predictive value and specificity (41.5 percent and 73.2 percent), respectively, without substantial changes in negative predictive value (99.2 percent) and sensitivity (97.1 percent) of the method. CONCLUSIONS: Data of present study allow for the conclusion that PSA serum concentration over 20 ng/mL was a more accurate cutting point than PSA serum concentration over 10 ng/mL to predict the presence of bone metastasis in scintigraphy

Efeito de drogas antiinflamatórias e antifibrosantes sobre aderências intra-abdominais pós-operatórias, em um modelo animal / Effect of anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic agents on postoperative intraabdominal adhesions, in an animal model

Neste estudo experimental comparou-se o efeito de drogas antiinflamatórias e antifibrosantes sobre as aderências peritoneais pós-operatórias. Foram utilizados 32 ratos machos Wistar, que foram divididos em 4 grupos de oito, que receberam as seguintes soluçöes: grupo I) soluçäo fisiológica; grupo II) prednisona; grupo III) colchicina; grupo IV) diclofenaco sódico. A dose utilizada de todas as soluçöes foi de 1ml/Kg. A operaçäo realizada foi uma laparotomia mediana, com remoçäo de serosa de intestino grosso e abrasäo do peritôneo. As drogas utilizadas nos grupos II e III mostraram-se mais efetivas em inibir a neoformaçäo vascular e fibrose, quando comparadas à do grupo IV (p<0,05). Um modelo animal que permite o estudo da patogênese das bridas pós-operatórias foi desenvolvido