Impact of statin treatment on patients diagnosed with chronic venous disease. Morphological analysis of the venous wall and clinical implications.

OBJECTIVES: The study evaluates the potential morphological changes that may occur in the venous wall in the case of the patients with chronic venous disease which associates treatment with statins for at least 2 years. METHODS: Operated patients with chronic venous disease in the CEAP C2-C3 stage were included in the study. 215 venous fragments, collected from 50 patients within the study group and 179 venous fragments collected from 52 patients within the control group were microscopically analysed, evaluating a series of morpho-anatomical parameters. RESULTS: In the study group, it was found that, venous reflux predominantly affects small veins, and also, a significant increase in collagen deposits in the adventitia and media tunics, proportional to the thickening of the venous wall. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate possible effects of statins upon the venous morphology. Further studies are needed to determine the impact of these results on daily practice.

Romanian Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.): Physicochemical and Nutraceutical Screening.

Artemisia species are used worldwide for their antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. This research was designed to investigate the phytochemical profile of two ethanolic extracts obtained from leaves and stems of A. absinthium L. as well as the biological potential (antioxidant activity, cytotoxic, anti-migratory and anti-inflammatory properties). Both plant materials showed quite similar thermogravimetric, FT-IR phenolic profile (high chlorogenic acid) with mild antioxidant capacity [ascorbic acid (0.02-0.1) > leaves (0.1-2.0) > stem (0.1-2.0)]. Alcoholic extracts from these plant materials showed a cytotoxic effect against A375 (melanoma) and MCF7 (breast adenocarcinoma) and affected less the non-malignant HaCaT cells (human keratinocytes) at 72 h post-stimulation and this same trend was observed in the anti-migratory (A375, MCF7 > HaCat) assay. Lastly, extracts ameliorated the pro-inflammatory effect of TPA (12-o-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate) in mice ears, characterized by a diffuse neutrophil distribution with no exocytosis or micro-abscesses.

Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS): the impact of Quantitative Strain Elastography for better stratification of cancer risks.

AIMS: Due to the elevated prevalence of the solid thyroid nodules in a general population, an appropriate selection of cases referred to surgery is of paramount importance. The main aim of our study was to evaluate the performance of the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) as a differential diagnosis tool for thyroid nodules. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We evaluated 174 nodules using TI-RADS risk stratification model, using conventional ultrasound and real time elastography parameters and linear multifrequency probe (Hitachi Preirus Machine, Hitachi Inc., Japan). All the nodules were classified using the TI-RADS system according to echogenicity, margins, shapes, calcification, lymph nodes, and increased strain ration. The results were compared with the pathology exam, which was considered the golden standard diagnosis. RESULTS: The prevalence of malignant nodules was 16.7% (29 cases). The differential diagnosis performance regarding the malignant tumor for TI-RADS is appropriate for clinical use, obtaining an area under ROC curve of 0.95761 [0.8424-0.989] 95% confidence interval. Combining TI-RADS 2, 3 and 4A as probably benign and TI-RADS 4B and 5 as probably malignant, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 97.93%, 86.20%, 97.26% and 89.28% respectively. The overall accuracy of the method was 95.97%.According to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists Guidelines, 169 cases required FNAB examination; by applying the TI-RADS scoring system, the necessity for FNAB would decrease to 74 cases. CONCLUSION: Quantitative strain elastography, as the 6th parameter of TI-RADS system, adds diagnostic power to the risk stratification model.