Development of amyloidosis in Behçet's syndrome with isolated mucocutaneous involvement

Development of secondary amyloidosis is an infrequent complication in patients with Behçet's syndrome (BS). It has been reported that multiple systemic involvement, long disease duration, and male gender are major clinical factors accompanying the development of amyloidosis in BS. We report a case of secondary amyloidosis in a patient diagnosed as having BS with a positive pathergy test 9 years previously and who had isolated mucocutaneous involvement. Regular use of colchicine since the diagnosis and somewhat mild progress of the disease could not prevent the development of secondary amyloidosis in this patient. He is alive and receives hemodialysis regularly.     

Clinical and angiographic outcome after angiography-guided stent placement in small coronary vessels

BACKGROUND: Although it is widely accepted that stenting confers favorable angiographic and clinical results in coronary arteries >/=3.0 mm in diameter, the outcome of stent placement in smaller vessels remains largely unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: We sought to specifically determine the early and long-term clinical outcomes in a large series of 197 consecutive patients who underwent stent placement in 207 vessels <3.0 mm in diameter. Procedural success, accomplished in 97.3%, was accompanied by a significant reduction in lesion severity from 85% +/- 9% before to 3% +/- 7% diameter stenosis after the procedure (P =.0001) and a 0.5% incidence of subacute stent thrombosis. At 1 and 2 years of follow-up, survival rate without major target lesion-driven events was observed in 77.3% and 73.9% of patients, respectively. Repeat revascularization procedures accounted for most of these events; cardiac deaths (including those related to subacute stent thrombosis) and late (>30 days) myocardial infarctions were infrequent (2.4% and 1.0%, respectively). The 6-month angiographic binary instent restenosis rate was 30.1%. On multivariate analysis, diabetes mellitus (P =. 0275), small baseline reference vessel size (P =.0300), and stent size 相似文献   

Rectovaginal septum endometriosis: a disease with specific diagnosis and treatment

BACKGROUND: The involvement of the rectovaginal septum, of rectum and sigmoid by endometriosis leads to intense symptoms as dysmenorrhea, pelvic pain, deep dyspareunia, tenesmus and hematochezia in young and middle aged women during periods. The diagnosis can be made by tipycal history and vaginal examination, rectal examination, barium enema, proctoscopy and so on. The indications of operation include severe clinic symptoms and failed conservative therapy. The treatment of choice for this type of endometriosis is the surgical resection of affected tissue, in order to relieve patient symptoms, and avoid disease progression. The correct assessment as to the presence and extension of the endometriosis-affected sites such as the rectum, uterosacral ligaments and rectovaginal septum is extremely important to provide better results with the surgical treatment of endometriosis. AIM: To describe the main aspects related to rectovaginal septum endometriosis and offer the general surgeon some information about this enigmatic disease. CONCLUSION: Rectovaginal septum endometriosis is a frequent disease, with specific diagnosis and treatment.     

Effect of Sulfonylureas Administered Centrally on the Blood Glucose Level in Immobilization Stress Model

Sulfonylureas are widely used as an antidiabetic drug. In the present study, the effects of sulfonylurea administered supraspinally on immobilization stress-induced blood glucose level were studied in ICR mice. Mice were once enforced into immobilization stress for 30 min and returned to the cage. The blood glucose level was measured 30, 60, and 120 min after immobilization stress initiation. We found that intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection with 30 µg of glyburide, glipizide, glimepiride or tolazamide attenuated the increased blood glucose level induced by immobilization stress. Immobilization stress causes an elevation of the blood corticosterone and insulin levels. Sulfonylureas pretreated i.c.v. caused a further elevation of the blood corticosterone level when mice were forced into the stress. In addition, sulfonylureas pretreated i.c.v. alone caused an elevation of the plasma insulin level. Furthermore, immobilization stress-induced insulin level was reduced by i.c.v. pretreated sulfonylureas. Our results suggest that lowering effect of sulfonylureas administered supraspinally against immobilization stress-induced increase of the blood glucose level appears to be primarily mediated via elevation of the plasma insulin level.