[Epidemiology and results of surgical treatment of euthyroid and toxic goiter depending on the peculiarities of clinical course, tracheal compression and comorbidity].

BACKGROUND: At the time of seeking medical help, some patients have nodular/multinodular goiter of large and gigantic sizes, which leads to compression of the neck organs. In the structure of benign diseases, neck compression is diagnosed in 10% of cases, and tracheal narrowing is found in 84% of patients in this group. It was experimentally established that narrowing of the trachea leads to the development of hypertension in the pulmonary circulation. Patients with nodular/multinodular goiter with compression of the neck organs belong to the age group of 50 years and older, the peculiarity of which is comorbidity of varying severity. Cardiopulmonary syndromes may mask compression of the organs of the neck by the thyroid gland. As a rule, patients come and/or go to a cardiologist, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist and other specialists, as a result of which the timelines for timely surgical treatment are missed. Often, patients are delivered to the endocrine surgeon urgently due to the development of asphyxiation. The symptoms of impaired external respiration and the initial manifestations of pulmonary hypertension, as a result of compression syndrome, preceding this condition are evaluated only retrospectively. AIMS: To study the frequency of tracheal compression and symptoms of chronic hypoxia in the structure of benign thyroid diseases requiring surgical treatment, as well as an assessment of the nature of comorbid pathology and the results of surgical treatment. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the results of surgical treatment of benign thyroid diseases for the period from March to August 2019 was carried out (100 observations). RESULTS: Toxic goiter prevailed in the structure of benign thyroid diseases (74%). Tracheal compression was observed in 69% of cases. When trachea was compressed, arterial hypertension statistically significantly prevailed (χ2, p≤0.01). The appearance of «wheezing» on inhalation/exhalation and an increase in its frequency were detected when the trachea narrowed to the thyroid gland to 10 mm or less in 10 cases (10%) with a statistically significant prevalence of pulmonary hypertension (χ2, p≤0.01). Thyroidectomy prevailed in the structure of operations (80%). There was no statistically significant increase in surgical complications depending on the severity of tracheal compression, age, and concomitant pathology. There were no fatal outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical treatment of patients with benign thyroid diseases complicated by compression of the neck organs is also shown safely regardless of age and associated pathology.

Outside Mainstream Electronic Databases: Review of Studies Conducted in the USSR and Post-Soviet Countries on Electric Current-Assisted Consolidation of Powder Materials.

This paper reviews research articles published in the former USSR and post-soviet countries on the consolidation of powder materials using electric current that passes through the powder sample and/or a conductive die-punch set-up. Having been published in Russian, many of the reviewed papers are not included in the mainstream electronic databases of the scientific articles and thus are not known to the scientific community. The present review is aimed at filling this information gap. In the paper, the electric current-assisted sintering techniques based on high- and low-voltage approaches are presented. The main results of the theoretical modeling of the processes of electromagnetic field-assisted consolidation of powder materials are discussed. Sintering experiments and related equipment are described and the major experimental results are analyzed. Sintering conditions required to achieve the desired properties of the sintered materials are provided for selected material systems. Tooling materials used in the electric current-assisted consolidation set-ups are also described.