[Thymoma: diagnosis and surgical treatment]. / Timomi: diagnostica e terapia chirurgica.

Thymoma is the most common primary neoplasm of the tymus. The majority of thymomas are encapsulated masses and exhibit benign behavior. Less frequently they may be invasive, or rarely they may metastasize to distant sites. The usual clinical presentation is that of an anterior mediastinal mass found accidentally in an asymptomatic patient. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance may be helpful in the evaluation of adjacent structures. The histologic classification proposed by Muller-Hermelink is useful in predicting and defining the risk of invasiveness of thymomas showing a significant correlation between tumor cell type and stage. The treatment of choice is complete surgical excision; radiation therapy may be used adjunctively to surgery in the treatment of invasive tumors. The choice of surgical approach is conditioned by site and grading of thymoma. The prognosis of encapsulated thymoma is generally favorable; invasive tumors are associated with a worse prognosis but may respond to radical resection.

[Echographic evaluation of lymphadenopathies of the abdomen]. / Contributo alla valutazione ecografica delle tumefazioni linfonodali dell'addome.

The US findings are reported of 91 cases of abdominal lymphadenopathy examined by either histological or instrumental check-up, or follow-up. Adenopathies were classified according to etiology, which was lymphomatous or leukemic in 19 cases, metastatic in 56, and reactive or inflammatory in 16. Lymph node involvement was most frequent in porta hepatis, periportal and peri-aortocaval locations. US findings allowed a diagnostic approach to be planned based on number, size and morphology of adenomegalies, as well as on the involved lymph nodes. In the porta hepatis and periportal areas, adenomegalies were most often due to neoplastic metastases of the alimentary canal, and to inflammatory-reactive disorders. Adenopathies in the peri-aortocaval area were most often due to systemic and to severe neoplastic metastases having their primary location even out of the alimentary canal.

[Ultrasonographic findings and integration with computerized tomography in pathology of the abdominal wall]. / Rilievi ecografici e integrazione con Tomografia Computerizzata nella patologia della parete addominale.

Ultrasonography (US) plays a major role in the study of the anterior and lateral abdominal wall. Our experience refers to 150 patients examined over a 5-year period, who were divided into two groups according to disease etiology: 72 patients suffered from iatrogenic and 78 from non-iatrogenic conditions. The first group was mainly composed of alterations caused by anticoagulation therapy, e.g., hematomas, and recent or previous surgery, i.e., 19 incisional hernias and 19 inflammatory-abscess processes. The second group included above all 32 cases of abdominal wall hernia, 18 neoplasms, 13 traumas with abdominal wall involvement only and 12 inflammatory processes. US yielded valuable pieces of information to diagnose iatrogenic conditions, even for small or non-relevant conditions. Moreover, US allowed non-iatrogenic conditions to be located and identified, accurately demonstrating abdominal wall layers involvement. US was also very useful in the patients whose physical examination is of no use or difficult, e.g., in the patients with much pain and trauma or obese patients. CT was used in selected cases only, as a complement to US, when a more detailed spatial assessment of wide or deep lesions was necessary.