Comparison of open gastrectomy and the laparoscopic procedure in advanced gastric cancer. / Comparación de gastrectomía abierta frente a laparoscópica en cáncer gástrico avanzado.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent neoplasias in Peru and worldwide, with surgery as the only potentially curative or palliative treatment. Laparoscopic gastrectomy is the most frequent alternative surgical technique utilized, but one of its main drawbacks is the technical difficulty involved in perigastric lymphadenectomy. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical and surgical characteristics, postoperative complications, and survival rate in patients with advanced gastric cancer that underwent open gastrectomy or laparoscopic gastrectomy at the Hospital Nacional P.N.P "Luis N. Sáenz" in Lima, Peru, within the time frame of 2005 to 2014. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An analytic, longitudinal, retrospective cohort study was conducted on 482 patients that underwent surgery for gastric cancer, within the time frame of January 2005 to December 2014. The clinical, epidemiologic, and postoperative characteristics were evaluated, and a survival analysis was carried out. RESULTS: Of the 475 patients included in the study, 236 underwent open gastrectomy and 239 had laparoscopic gastrectomy. Median follow-up time was 61.9 months in the open surgery group and 46.7 months in the laparoscopy group. There were fewer postoperative complications in the laparoscopy group and no statistically significant difference between the two groups in relation to the survival analysis. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, laparoscopic gastrectomy resulted in fewer postoperative complications, compared with the open procedure, but did not modify overall survival during the follow-up period.

Similar biological activity in skin prick test for Oralair® (8200 BAU) and Grazax® (6200 BAU) reinforces effective SLIT dosing level.

In Europe, allergen extracts are standardized based on skin prick wheal size in 20-30 allergic subjects. To understand the biological activity of clinically effective Sublingual immunotherapy, we used this method to determine the biological activity of solution and tablet Timothy grass pollen (TIM) extracts, compared to an FDA-approved extract (Reference) of 10 000 BAU/ml. Blinded, quadruplicate skin prick tests with concentrate and three serial half-log dilutions allowed the construction of a semilogarithmic regression line per extract. Bioequivalent allergy units (BAU) values were obtained from the comparison with reference. Extracts and dilutions showed a neat linear dose response (all: R2 > 0.98) in 33 rhinitis patients. Relative potencies: Staloral® 12 000 BAU/ml, Soluprick® 10 300 BAU/ml, Oralair® 8200 BAU, and Grazax® 6200 BAU. Even though all extract concentrates differed in wheal size (P = 0.01-0.001), Grazax® producing a 25% smaller wheal size than Oralair® , and the biological activity of these clinically effective TIM tablets led in the same range (6200-8200 BAU; 0.92-1.23 cm2 ). SLIT dose-finding studies for other pollens might start with allergen extracts producing 1.1 cm2 wheal surface.

[Schönlein-Henoch purpura. A report of 55 cases]. / Púrpura de Henoch-Schönlein. Informe de 55 casos.

The clinical, histological and laboratory data from a series of 55 pediatric patients with Henoch-Schönlein purpura studied at the Hospital General de Mexico in a 16-years period are presented herein. Even when there are a few clinical features in this example of Mexican children, the clinical presentation and the course of the disease are similar to what is found in the literature.