Role of the subfascial endoscopic perforating veins surgery in the treatment of venous ulceration: physiopathology and diagnosis]

Chronic venous insufficiency is a recurrent pathology, but affected patients often undergo clinical observation at a most severe and clearly symptomatic stage of the disease. In this late stage, therapy can only relieve symptoms of the disease which often lead to disability. In the clinical course of chronic venous insufficiency, phlebostatic ulceration constitutes a recurrent finding and it is responsible of compromising patients quality of life. The role of perforating veins, made refluxive by various pathogenic noxa, in the genesis of ulcerative lesions has been known since long time. For many years the interest in perforating veins surgery has been limited because of the several negative consequences of the operations. The possibility of modifying the hemodynamics of perforating veins compartment without causing post-operation complications by video-supported surgery, led to the debate on the role of these vessels in the chronic venous insufficiency. The phlebostasis non-invasive diagnosis uses imaging techniques consisting in tests which mostly are cheap, simple and easy to perform, thus representing the best early approach to the patient. It is widely thought that even though complex examinations are available, most precious information can be obtained by only two examinations: color-Doppler ultrasonography and, limitedly, plethysmography. By these diagnostic directions it is possible to better identify the site and the hemodynamic origin of the venous insufficiency.     

Epiluminescence microscopy for port-wine stains: pretreatment evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Port-wine stains (PWSs) are characterized by an increased number of ectatic vessels. The treatment of choice is the use of some lasers such as pulsed dye lasers. However, some lesions are nonresponsive to laser treatment. Perhaps the vessels' depth and diameter and the thickness of the vessel wall are important factors influencing the effectiveness of the laser treatment. METHODS: To investigate whether epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) could be useful in determining the effectiveness of laser treatment of PWSs, we studied a group of patients with PWSs using both ELM and histological analysis. RESULTS: A correlation existed between a gray-whitish veil seen by ELM and the vessel depth judged by histology: when the veil was absent, the vessels were always found to be located only in the upper third of the dermis. CONCLUSION: We think that the gray-whitish veil is a distinctive dermoscopic feature that is able to differentiate between superficial vessels (absence of veil) and deeper vessels (presence of veil).     

Allergic rhinitis: A challenge diagnosis

AIM: The allergic rhinitis represents one of the ten major causes of ambulatory check-up. The incidence is between 10% to 25% in the general population and, in Italy, is approximately present in 10% of children and 20% of adolescents. The diagnosis of this disease is related to family anamnesis and the presence of several signs and typical symptoms. Regarding the tests used to detect this disease, cutaneous specific IgE (skin prick test) is used as cute reactivity expression. Using nasal specific IgE dosage we analyzed patients affected by rhinitis and its relationship between positive test, gender and age, the relationship between positive test and disease and the better response to diagnosis between the 2 tests performed (i.e., skin prick test and nasal specific IgE). METHODS: We analyzed 125 subjects enrolled consecutively, age range 48-216 months (median 144 months) that performed skin prick test and nasal specific IgE. RESULTS: Looking at the overall subjects, 51 subjects were positive to skin prick test and nasal specific IgE, 23 subjects were positive to skin prick test, 31 subjects were positive to nasal specific IgE, 20 subjects were negative to both tests. Regarding the relationship between tests positive and symptoms we did not find any significant correlation. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggests that rhinitis diagnosis is quite difficult to perform and the test used to detect this disease needs to be more accurate and precise. Family anamnesis and clinical signs are fundamental in the diagnosis of allergic rhinitis.     

Imaging of autoimmune diseases.

Autoimmune diseases represent a heterogeneous group of pathologies with a wide range of immunological changes and clinical presentations. The clinical onset of the disease commonly occurs when signs and symptoms of target tissue hypofunction appear; complications can also be present. The aim of an imaging diagnostic technique in this context is to correctly evaluate the disease extent and severity for appropriate treatment and to follow up the efficacy of therapy. In addition, identification of subjects at risk and the preclinical diagnosis may allow disease prevention. Ultrasound (US), conventional radiology and computed tomography (CT) are often used for a detailed morphological study of tissues involved; magnetic resonance (MRI) may also demonstrate biochemical and structural tissue changes. Nuclear medicine techniques are known for their sensitivity and specificity and in recent years an expanding field is represented by the development of radiolabelled receptor ligands. New radiopharmaceuticals able to bind in vivo to specific receptors have been introduced allowing the non invasive detection of changes in affected tissues. The relevant criteria to choose different diagnostic approaches in several autoimmune diseases are discussed in this review. In particular the role and contribution of nuclear medicine for the study of autoimmune diseases have been described.     

Coeliac disease: Oral ulcer prevalence, assessment of risk and association with gluten-free diet in children

AIMS: Oral mucosal lesions may be markers of chronic gastrointestinal disorders, such as those causing malabsorption. Our objectives were to assess the prevalence of recurrent oral aphthous-like ulcers in coeliac disease patients living in the Mediterranean area, and to evaluate the impact of a gluten-free diet. METHODS: A test group of 269 patients (age range 3-17 years) with coeliac disease confirmed both serologically and histologically was compared with a control group of 575 otherwise clinically healthy subjects for the presence, or a positive history of aphthous-like ulcers. Coeliac disease patients with aphthous-like ulcers were re-evaluated 1-year after starting a gluten-free diet. RESULTS: Aphthous-like ulcers were found significantly more frequently in coeliac disease, in 22.7% (61/269) of patients with coeliac disease versus 7.1% (41/575) of controls (p=<0.0001; chi-square=41.687; odds ratio=4.3123; 95% confidence interval=2.7664:6.722). Most coeliac disease patients with aphthous-like ulcers and adhering strictly to gluten-free diet (71.7%; 33/46) reported significant improvement on gluten-free diet, with no or reduced episodes of aphthous-like ulcers (p=0.0003; chi-square=13.101; odds ratio=24.67; 95% confidence interval=2.63:231.441). CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiological association found between coeliac disease and aphthous-like ulcers suggests that recurrent aphthous-like ulcers should be considered a risk indicator for coeliac disease, and that gluten-free diet leads to ulcer amelioration.     

Detection of Celiac disease in primary care: a multicenter case-finding study in North America

BACKGROUND: Celiac disease (CD) is one of the most common lifelong disorders in western countries. However, most cases remain currently undiagnosed in North America, mostly due to poor awareness of CD by primary care physicians. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether an active case-finding strategy in primary care could increase the frequency of CD diagnosis and (b) to determine the most common clinical presentations of the condition. METHODS:This was a multicenter, prospective study involving adult subjects during the years 2002-2004, attending one of the participating practices. All individuals with symptoms or conditions known to be associated with CD were tested for immunoglobulin A anti-transglutaminase (tTG) antibodies, and those with elevated anti-tTG were subsequently tested for IgA antiendomysial antibodies (EMA). All subjects who were positive for EMA were advised to undergo an intestinal biopsy and HLA typing. RESULTS: The study group included 737 women and 239 men, with a median age of 54.3 yr. A positive anti-tTG test was found in 30 out of 976 investigated subjects (3.07%, 95% CI 1.98-4.16). CD was diagnosed in 22 patients (18 women, 4 men). The most frequent reasons for CD screening in these 22 cases were bloating (12/22), thyroid disease (11/22), irritable bowel syndrome (7/22), unexplained chronic diarrhea (6/22), chronic fatigue (5/22), and constipation (4/22). The prevalence of CD in the serologically screened sample was 2.25% (95% CI 1.32-3.18). The diagnostic rate was low at baseline (0.27 cases per thousand visits, 95% CI 0.13-0.41) and significantly increased to 11.6 per thousand visits (95% CI 6.8-16.4, P < 0.001) following active screening implementation. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that an active case-finding strategy in the primary care setting is an effective means to improve the diagnostic rate of CD in North America.