Surgical anatomy of the posterior tibial veins]

An investigation of the posterior tibial vascular plexus has established certain specific features of its structure both in normality and in patients with postthrombotic disease. The alterations found require an individual approach to choice of surgical measures which is finally determined intraoperatively. At the present time surgical interventions on the posterior tibial veins in patients with postthrombotic disease are thought to be of three types: extended resection, extravasal correction and plasty of the posterior tibial veins.     

Thyroid-stimulating autoantibodies in the blood of patients with diffuse toxic goiter

The level of thyrostimulating autoantibodies (TSA) in IgG fraction isolated from the blood serum by precipitation of (NH4)2SO4 was determined in 36 patients with diffuse toxic goiter (DTG) and in 8 healthy donors. TCA which were assessed by a rise of the level of cAMP in human thyroid sections (obtained at operation from extranodal tissue of patients with nodal euthyroid goiter) after 2 h-incubation at 37 degrees C with IgG, were determined in 32 DTG patients (89%). The patients were divided into 2 groups with respect to their clinical and thyroid status: with a high and normal or subnormal content of the blood thyroid hormones. In the 1st group the frequency of detection (96%) and the level of TSA (570.64 +/- 109.63%) were much higher than in the 2nd group of patients (70 and 186.29 +/- 23.06%, respectively). The highest levels of TSA (1085.25 +/- 551.27%) were found in 4 of 26 patients (the 1st group) who had not received specific therapy.     

Determination of the value of Na+/H+-metabolism in erythrocytes of patients with arterial hypertension of endocrine origin]

The paper is concerned with the results of determination of a value of Na+/H(+)-metabolism in 66 patients with arterial hypertension of different genesis, including 21 patients with stage 11 essential hypertension, 8 patients with renal hypertension, 25 patients with Itsenko-Cushing syndrome or disease, 7 patients with pheochromocytoma, and 5 patients with primary hyperaldosteronism. The control group consisted of 11 healthy persons without predisposition to essential hypertension. It was shown that a value of Na+/H(+)-metabolism in patients with essential hypertension exceeded a 3.8-fold the control values. In patients with hyperglucocorticism, pheochromocytoma, arterial hypertension of renal genesis, the rate of Na+/H(+)-metabolism was significantly decreased as compared to that of a group of patients with essential hypertension. It could be used in differential diagnosis of the hypertensive syndrome. The problem of the diagnostic value of this indicator in primary hyperaldosteronism needs further investigation.     

The effect of morphine and naloxone on the interaction of afferent signals of differing modalities in the spinal cord

The effect of the electrical nerve stimulation with low (2-4 V, 100 Hz, 5 min) and high (45 V, 1 Hz, 1 min) intensity on the nociceptive responses in the ventrolateral tracts was studied in unanesthetized rats with the transsected spinal cord. Both kinds of stimulation reduced nociceptive responses but the effect of low-intensity stimulations was diminished when they were repeated and was absent over 24 hours after spinalization. The effect of low-intensity stimulation was abolished by naloxone (0.1 and 1 mg/kg) and was reduced during the antinociceptive effect of morphine (1 and 4 mg/kg). The effect of high-intensity stimulation was preserved over 24 hours after spinalization and after repeated stimulations. It was not changed by naloxone and morphine.     

Primary Ewing sarcoma: follow-up with Ga-67 scintigraphy

While avid accumulation of gallium-67 citrate and technetium-99m methylene diphosphonate (MDP) occurs initially in most cases of primary Ewing sarcoma, uptake after therapy is less well defined. Thirty patients with Ewing sarcoma who underwent Ga-67 and bone scintigraphy at diagnosis, at completion of therapy, and at relapse from 1978 to 1988 were evaluated. All 30 patients showed less primary site Ga-67 activity following therapy. Twenty-three of 28 patients who underwent corresponding bone scintigraphy showed less uptake, but residual activity was usually more intense than with Ga-67. Avid reaccumulation of Ga-67 occurred in four of five patients with primary site relapse, while patients who underwent bone scintigraphy showed less change. It was concluded that a greater decrease in Ga-67 than in Tc-99m MDP uptake often occurs in patients successfully treated for primary Ewing sarcoma. Information obtained at Ga-67 scintigraphy is most likely to be helpful if results of bone scintigraphy remain abnormal or if occult relapse is suspected.     

A neurochemical analysis of the interaction of afferent signals at the spinal cord level]

The antinociceptive effect of electrical nerve stimulation with low (2-4 V, 100 Hz, 5 min) and high (45 V, 1 Hz, 1 min) intensity in the unanesthetized rats with the transsected spinal cord was determined by microelectrode recording in the ventrolateral tracts. The action of low intensity stimulation was reduced by yohimbine or during antinociceptive effect of clonidine. It was potentiated by baclofen and physostigmine. Prazosin, bicuculline, methysergid, strychnin, atropine, muscimole, THIP did not influence the effect of low-intensity stimulation. Metysergide partially reduced the effect of high-intensity stimulation. The data suggest that 2-adrenoreceptors are involved in the action of low-intensity stimulation and 5-HT-receptors are involved in the action of high-intensity one. For potentiating the effect of low-intensity stimulation on the segmental level it is possible to use baclofen and physostigmine.