Mycobacterium infection directly observed in a surgical outpatient centre.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to check the presence and the role of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, in an Ambulatory and Day Surgery Out-Patient Centre. METHODS: Two periods of activity in this Centre are evaluated corresponding separately to the years 1989-1993 and 1994-1998 and the total number of patients, coming for examination, ambulatory or day surgery, hospitalization, postoperative follow-up, is considered, in order to identify the number of cases and the clinical signs of this disease. All cases were examined by the same team and the checks were completed, in the selected cases in which it was advisable, with radiological, bacteriological, bioptical, radiometrical exams and with the Elisa test (after informed consent). RESULTS: In the first period 1989-1993, 21,220 patients were examined and no case of tubercular infection was observed. In 1994-1998, 24,347 patients were examined and 4 cases of tubercular infection detected, which represent 0.016% of the patients attending the service. The clinical cases are as follows. Case 1: right sub-mammary lump, diameter 7 x 5 cm, smooth, oval, firm. Case 2: right breast swelling, diameter 5 cm, not sore, with deep attachments. The mammography and ultrasound scan indicate: the opacity is compatible with mali moris breast lesion. Case 3: coloured, immigrant, who presents back swelling, diameter 8 cm, with fluctuation. CT of the chest indicates opacity near left latissimus dorsi muscle, diameter 10 cm, without bronchopleural connections. Case 4: bleeding neoplastic ulcer of the wrist. At physical exam a right subclavear amphoric breath sound is noticed, corresponding at chest X-ray to an opacity including cavitation. In the 4 cases no lymph node in the regional effusion areas is detected. In the 4 cases surgical therapy is integrated with antituberculous chemotherapy till 6 months after operation. CONCLUSIONS: Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection has been increasing in the second group of years considered, as it is observed in European industrialized countries and North America. This increase corresponds to 0.016% in 24,374 patients examined in the period 1994-98. This infection must not be connected with the classic sites and traditional primary and post-primary symptons, but must be considered and identified in a surgical hospital out-patient centre, in unusual sites, sometimes masquerading as a false positive carcinoma, in patients with predisposition, because of old age, race, immunodepression (also if HIV negatives), resistance to treatment, previous tuberculous infection. In the cases identified deep diagnostic definition, the surgical treatment and a prolonged antituberculous chemotherapy are necessary.

[An occult pancreatic insulinoma: radio-guided surgery with 111-In-octreotide. A case report and review of the literature on pre- and intraoperative diagnosis]. / Insulinoma pancreatico occulto: chirurgia radio-guidata con 111-In-octreotide. Case report e revisione della letteratura in tema di diagnosi pre ed intraoperatoria.

INTRODUCTION: Pancreatic insulinoma is a small, rare neoplasm; its radical therapy is surgical enucleation or resection. Although clinical diagnosis is simple, instrumental and radiological localization is still difficult (occult insulinoma: 10-20%). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors present the case of a 71-year-old patient suffering from relapsing vertigo syndrome, derangement and transient lypothymia after strong physical activity. ECG, encephalic and abdominal C.T., eco-color-Doppler of epiaortic vessels failed to identify any pathological features. Laboratory tests only revealed that basal glycemia was always lower than normal. Insulinoma was strongly suspected following the outcome of dosages of insulin and C-peptide in the serum and was confirmed after a supervised fast test (72 h). Once the biochemical diagnosis had been reached an abdominal eco, C.T., a selective and superselective angiography and echo-endoscopy were carried out to locate the tumor site but results were negative. Only somatostatin-receptor scintigraphy with 111 In-octreotide detected a catchment area (diameter: 3 cm) to the right of the hypochondrium, anterior to the kidney and caudal to the left hepatic lobe. RESULTS: During laparotomy a hand-held gamma detecting probe (C-Trak) was used to detect in situ tumour binding of the radiolabelled octreotide and a neoplasm was identified and enucleated from the pancreatic head (diameter: 7 mm), undistinguishable from the surrounding parenchyma. Postoperative signal checks of the surgical field and of the neoplasm revealed, in the first, the absence of captation and, in the second, maximal captation. Histological findings confirmed the nature of the neoplasm: an insulinoma with a ring pattern. Two years after surgery the patient is in good health, with no signs of relapse. CONCLUSIONS: Radio-guided surgery with labelled octreotide makes it possible to pinpoint small insulinomas, locate occult neoplasm, verify the completeness of surgical excision in the field and in the surgical piece, by comparing the different captation of labelled octreotide and check neoplasm multicentricity and any metastases.

Successful therapy of Niemann-Pick disease by implantation of human amniotic membrane.

In a patient with a lysosomal storage disorder, not involving the CNS, repeated implantations of human amniotic sheets have proved to provide a successful approach to enzyme replacement therapy. Implantation of pure epithelial cells, separated from the other cell types of the amnion, might markedly improve the procedure, avoiding some risks of host-versus-graft rejection.

[Graft of cryopreserved human amniotic epithelial cells in a subject with type B Niemann-Pick disease]. / Impianto di cellule epiteliali amniotiche umane crioconservate in un soggetto affetto da malattia di Niemann-Pick tipo B.

Implantation of pure cryopreserved epithelial cells obtained by enzymatic digestion of human amnion was successfully carried out in one patient affected by Niemann-Pick disease type B. No host-versus-graft reaction was recorded after implantation. The clinical improvement observed in this patient is supposed to be effect of the documented increase of sphingomyelinase activity in his leukocytes after implantation, confirming the possibility that an effective release of sphingomyelinase from amniotic epithelial cells and enzyme uptake by deficient cells can occur. Separation and cryopreservation of human amnion epithelial cells markedly improve the procedures of implantation and may represent a further step beyond in the enzymatic therapy of many lysosomal storage disorders.