Acta clinica Croatica
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Acta clinica Croatica · Sep 2020
Endoscopic evaluation of patients with colonic wall thickening detected ON computed tomography.
Colorectal wall thickening is a condition which is occasionally encountered on computed tomography (CT) investigations. Malignancies and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be the most common and most important pathologies in some cases. Our objective in this study was to evaluate colonoscopy results in patients with increased colorectal wall thickness identified on CT. ⋯ The mean hemoglobin level was 12.8 g/dL in patients with normal colonoscopy as compared with 9.5 g/dL in those with malignancies (p=0.001). On multivariate analysis, hemoglobin and age were the only significant variables to predict an abnormal result on endoscopy. Detecting colonic wall thickening on CT may indicate malignancy, especially in patients who are over 50 years of age and have hemoglobin values less than 10 g/dL.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Sep 2020
Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 shortens duration of tetracaine- and oxybuprocaine-induced corneal anesthesia in rats.
We focused on the relationship of 0.5% tetracaine- and 0.4% oxybuprocaine-induced corneal anesthesia in rats, and pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (0.4 µg/eye), along with nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitor N(gamma)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (0.1 mg/eye) and/or NOS substrate L-arginine (2 mg/eye), applied in the form of eye drops. We assessed corneal sensitivity recovery (Cochet-Bonnet esthesiometer), corneal lesion elimination (staining with 10% fluorescein) and decrease in tear volume (Schirmer test). BPC 157 administration had a full counteracting effect. ⋯ These distinctions may indicate particular NOS involvement (corneal insensitivity vs. corneal lesion along with tear production), distinctively affected by the administration of NO agents. However, additional BPC 157 co-administration would re-establish counteraction over topical ophthalmic anesthetic-induced effect, be it in its early or late course. We suggest BPC 157 as an antidote to topical ophthalmic anesthetics.
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Germ-cell testicular cancer (GCTC) is a malignant neoplasm derived from the primordial germ cell. Although it accounts for approximately 1% of all malignancies in men, it is the most common cancer of younger male population, with the highest incidence between ages 15 and 35. Testicular cancer incidence rate has risen globally over the past several decades, with the average increase in the incidence of testicular cancer in Croatia of 7% per annum from the year 1983 to 2007. ⋯ Despite increase in the incidence rate, a promising circumstance is that GCTC has become a model of curable cancer. Because of advances in diagnostic procedures, sophisticated radiation techniques and especially the introduction of cisplatin based chemotherapy protocols together with advanced postchemotherapy surgical techniques, curability is expected in about 95% of all patients diagnosed with testicular cancer and over 70% of patients with advanced disease. In this review, we will focus on treatment strategies of primary GCTC.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Sep 2020
ReviewEIGHTY YEARS OF ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY IN CROATIA AND IN SESTRE MILOSRDNICE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL CENTRE.
In 1937, Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini performed electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) in Rome for the first time. That was the time when different types of 'shock therapy' were performed; beside ECT, insulin therapies, cardiazol shock therapy, etc. were also performed. ⋯ As early as 1940, just two years after the results of the ECT had been published, it was also introduced in Croatia, at Sestre milosrdnice Hospital, for the first time in our hospital and in the then state of Yugoslavia. Since 1960, again the first in Croatia and the state, we performed ECT in general anesthesia and continued it down to the present, with a single time brake.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Sep 2020
Review Case ReportsCollecting duct carcinoma and endemic nephropathy - case reportS and literature review.
Although collecting duct carcinoma is a subtype of renal cell carcinoma, several studies implicate association with urothelial carcinoma. The coexistence of collecting duct carcinoma and another renal neoplasm is rare. Endemic nephropathy is a renal disease causing chronic renal failure. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first case report describing this coexistence. Certain similarities between collecting duct carcinoma and urothelial carcinoma were found, e.g., higher incidence in female compared to male, higher mean age, and multifocal and multicentric occurrence of the tumor. Our observations support the hypothesis that collecting duct carcinoma and urothelial carcinoma could be connected.