Quantitative Studies of Diabetic Foot Ulcer Evolution Under Treatment by Digital Stereotactic Photography.

BACKGROUND: Imaging the lower extremity reproducibly and accurately remains an elusive goal. This is particularly true in the high risk diabetic foot, where tissue loss, edema, and color changes are often concomitant. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reproducibility of a novel and inexpensive stereotaxic frame in assessment of wound healing. METHODS: The main idea is to keep constant and reproducible the relative position of extremities related to the sensor used for the examination during a serial studies by stereotaxic digital photographic sequence. Ten healthy volunteers were evaluated at 10 different time moments to estimate the foot position variations in the stereotaxic frame. The evolution of 40 of DFU patients under treatment was evaluated before and during the epidemical grow factor intralesional treatment. RESULTS: The wound closing and granulation speeds, the relative contribution of the contraction and tissue restauration mechanism were evaluated by stereotaxic digital photography. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the stereotaxic frame is a robust platform for serial study of the evolution of wound healing which allow to obtain consistent information from a variety of visible and hyperspectral measurement technologies. New stereotaxic digital photography evidences related to the diabetic foot ulcer healing process under treatment has been presented.

Kinetic studies of complex biomedical process by magnetic resonance: Cuban experiences.

The potentials of the magnetic resonance (MR) methods in the research of biomedical systems have been demonstrated during the 70 years of its existence. It is presented that the Cuban experience in quantitative magnetic resonance associated with molecular, preclinical and clinical studies of significant diseases and drugs development. MR "in vitro" and "in vivo" studies of sickle cell disease, the diabetic foot ulcer, the brain tumor response and the magnetic nano-particle pharmacokinetics, are presented as example. Furthermore, contributions and restrictions of magnetic resonance to diagnostic and optimization of therapeutic pathways are discussed in some concrete cases.

Brain tumor response to nimotuzumab treatment evaluated on magnetic resonance imaging.

BACKGROUND: Nimotuzumab, a humanized monoclonal antibody anti-epidermal growth factor receptor, has been shown to improve survival and quality of life in patients with pediatric malignant brain tumor. It is necessary, however, to increase the objective response criteria to define the optimal therapeutic schedule. The aim of this study was to obtain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) quantitative information related to dimensions and morphology, molecular mobility and metabolic activity of the lesion and surroundings in order to evaluate any changes through time. METHODS: Fourteen pediatric patients treated with nimotuzumab were evaluated on MRI and MRS for >2 years. Each patient was their own control. The MRI/MRS pulse sequence parameters were standardized to ensure experimental reproducibility. RESULTS: A total of 71.4% of patients had stable disease; 21.4% had objective response and 7.1% had progression of disease during the >2 year evaluation period. CONCLUSIONS: MRI/MRS data with clinical information provide a clearer picture of treatment response and confirm once again that nimotuzumab is effective in the treatment of pediatric brain tumor. These imaging procedures can be a useful tool for the clinical evaluation of study protocol in clinical practice.

Posibilidades de la termografía para los estudios de las úlceras de pie diabético / Possibilities of thermography for the study the diabetic foot ulcers

Se discuten las posibilidades y restricciones de la termografía como método para el diagnóstico no invasivo de las úlceras del pie diabético. Las limitaciones más importantes que se exponen son: 1) los valores de temperatura en los diferentes individuos y sus partes son variables, 2) la temperatura está condicionada mas por los procesos superficiales que por los fenómenos que ocurren en profundidades del organismo, 3) es difícil separar las contribuciones de las diferentes partes que influyen en la temperatura registrada, 4) las posibles correlaciones entre los procesos fisiológicos y las variaciones de temperatura, son complejas y en muchos casos desconocidas, 5) la termografía no brinda información anatómica; sin embargo, es un método de diagnóstico no invasivo, de relativo bajo costo, crecen los trabajos que mejoran la tecnología y aumentan las aplicaciones diagnósticas, lo que amerita que estas se evalúen sistemáticamente(AU)

Possibilities and limitations of thermography as a noninvasive diagnostic method for the diagnosis of diabetic food ulcers were discussed. The more important limitations were 1) the temperature values in different individuals and their parts are variable 2) the temperature changes are more related to superficial processes than to phenomena occurring in depths of the body. 3) It is difficult to determine the contributions of each anatomical structure influencing the recorded temperature 4) the possible correlations among the physiological changes and the temperature variations are complex and in many cases unknown. 5) thermography does not provide anatomical information. However, thermography is a non- invasive method with a relative low cost, works aimed at improving technology and increasing diagnostic applications grow, so it is worthwhile to systematically evaluate these applications(AU)

Regularidades y tendencias de las tecnologías al servicio de la medicina moderna / Regularities and tendencies of the technologies at the service of modern medicine

Se expone las tendencias y regularidades que se manifiestan en las tecnologías médicas como consecuencia del desarrollo científico contemporáneo. La informatización, la cuantificación de los procesos biomédicos, la convergencia entre las especialidades médicas y de estas con las ingenierías y las ciencias básicas, la fusión creciente del diagnóstico y la terapéutica, entre otras, revolucionan conceptos y crean nuevas situaciones cuyo conocimiento es esencial para diseñar acciones organizativas, de formación de especialistas y científico-investigativas, conducentes a la asimilación creadora y crítica de los adelantos de la alta tecnología. Se concluye que el factor organizativo y cultural, frecuentemente, tiene una dimensión predominante sobre el tecnológico.

The regularities and tendencies of the medical technologies as a result of the contemporary scientific development were presented. Informatization, quantification of biomedical processes, the convergence of medical specialties, and the relationship of these specialties with engineering and basic sciences, growing merging of diagnosis and therapeutics, among others, all this revolutionizes concepts and brings about new situations that must be taken into account in order to design organizational, scientific/research and specialist formation activities leading to creative and critical assimilation of the state-of-the-art technological advances. It was concluded that the organizational and cultural factors have generally predominated over the technological factors.

Regularidades y tendencias de las tecnologías al servicio de la medicina moderna / Regularities and tendencies of the technologies at the service of modern medicine

Se expone las tendencias y regularidades que se manifiestan en las tecnologías médicas como consecuencia del desarrollo científico contemporáneo. La informatización, la cuantificación de los procesos biomédicos, la convergencia entre las especialidades médicas y de estas con las ingenierías y las ciencias básicas, la fusión creciente del diagnóstico y la terapéutica, entre otras, revolucionan conceptos y crean nuevas situaciones cuyo conocimiento es esencial para diseñar acciones organizativas, de formación de especialistas y científico-investigativas, conducentes a la asimilación creadora y crítica de los adelantos de la alta tecnología. Se concluye que el factor organizativo y cultural, frecuentemente, tiene una dimensión predominante sobre el tecnológico(AU)

The regularities and tendencies of the medical technologies as a result of the contemporary scientific development were presented. Informatization, quantification of biomedical processes, the convergence of medical specialties, and the relationship of these specialties with engineering and basic sciences, growing merging of diagnosis and therapeutics, among others, all this revolutionizes concepts and brings about new situations that must be taken into account in order to design organizational, scientific/research and specialist formation activities leading to creative and critical assimilation of the state-of-the-art technological advances. It was concluded that the organizational and cultural factors have generally predominated over the technological factors(AU)

Resonancia magnética de imágenes cubana: tres años de servicio en el Sistema Nacional de Salud / Cuban magnetic resonance tomography equipment: three years of operation in the national health care system

Se realizó un estudio descriptivo para determinar el comportamiento del servicio de los tomógrafos de resonancia magnética cubanos Giroimag-01 y Giroimag-02, desarrollados por el Centro de Biofísica Médica de Santiago de Cuba, durante el período comprendido entre 1996 y 1998, a partir del análisis comparativo de los informes estadísticos mensuales, semestrales y anuales del servicio prestado con estos equipos y teniendo en cuenta los pacientes atendidos en el trienio, la positividad registrada y las lesiones más comúnmente diagnosticadas. A modo de conclusión se relacionan los factores que han condicionado la favorable evolución del servicio prestado por dichos tomógrafos, donde se destaca la necesidad y conveniencia de continuar su generalización en el Sistema Nacional de Salud cubano

Resonancia magnética de imágenes cubana: tres años de servicio en el Sistema Nacional de Salud / Cuban magnetic resonance tomography equipment. Three years of operation in the national health care system

Se realizó un estudio descriptivo para determinar el comportamiento del servicio de los tomógrafos de resonancia magnética cubanos Giroimag-01 y Giroimag-02, desarrollados por el Centro de Biofísica Médica de Santiago de Cuba, durante el período comprendido entre 1996 y 1998, a partir del análisis comparativo de los informes estadísticos mensuales, semestrales y anuales del servicio prestado con estos equipos y teniendo en cuenta los pacientes atendidos en el trienio, la positividad registrada y las lesiones más comúnmente diagnosticadas. A modo de conclusión se relacionan los factores que han condicionado la favorable evolución del servicio prestado por dichos tomógrafos, donde se destaca la necesidad y conveniencia de continuar su generalización en el Sistema Nacional de Salud cubano (AU)