Surgical complications in hematological malignancies.

Surgical complications in oncohematological practice appear a primary problem for their high incidence, diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties and unfavourable prognosis. The authors present data from a retrospective study of 93 patients from the Clinic of Hematology and Surgical Clinic of the Higher Medical Institute in Plovdiv for the period from 1990 to 1997. Surgical complications occurred in 9.9% of the patients treated for hematological malignancies. Most frequent and hazardous were the cases of acute abdomen, followed by soft tissue purulent infections. The authors suggest that high risk of surgical complications exists in patients undergoing vigorous chemotherapy. Patients are particularly vulnerable in the neutropenic period after chemotherapy when the abdominal and anorectal complications may be fatal.     

Effect of fetal tissue transplantation on reparative processes in experimental liver cirrhosis

Reparative regeneration after fetal tissue transplantation and after surgical stimulation was studied in rats with experimental cirrhosis of the liver. Fetal tissue restored the morphology and function of cirrhotic liver and modified functional activity of peritoneal macrophages. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 130, No. 8, pp. 216–219, August, 2000     

Analysis of the results from an early low-level predischarge and late symptom-limited exercise tests and coronary angiographic examination in patients with uncomplicated myocardial infarction.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the prognostic value of an early predischarge and late symptom-limited exercise tests as opposed to the evidence from the coronary angiographic examination. Twenty patients with an uncomplicated myocardial infarction were studied with an early predischarge exercise test (14-21 days) and a following postdischarge late symptom-limited veloergometric test. All the patients underwent an exercise test designed according to the protocol of the International Health Organization. A coronary angiographic examination was carried out in all the studied patients. Thirteen of the patients were with two positive veloergometric tests and significant stenosis from the selective coronary angiography. Seven of the patients had two negative tests. Two of them did not have significant coronary stenosis from the angiografic assessment. Generally 40% of the patients undergoing late exercise test reached a higher workload. There was no significant difference between the results from an early predischarge and late symptom-limited veloergometric test. A higher physical work load reached during the late exercise test did not show an improved coronary blood flow. Positive early and late exercise tolerance tests proved significant coronary stenosis. A negative exercise test did not exclude significant coronary stenosis.     

The applications of eHealth technologies in the management of asthma and allergic diseases

Portable devices, such as smartphones and mobile Internet access have become ubiquitous in the last decades. The term ‘eHealth’ stands for electronic health. The tools included in the eHealth concept utilize phones, computers and the Internet and related applications to improve the health care industry. Implementation of eHealth technologies has been documented for the management of different chronic diseases, including asthma and allergic conditions. Clinicians and patients have gained opportunity to communicate in new ways, which could be used cost‐effectively to improve disease control and quality of life of those affected. Additionally, these innovations bring new opportunities to academic researchers. For example, eHealth has allowed researchers to compile data points that were previously unavailable or difficult to access, and analyse them using novel tools, collectively described as ‘big data’. The role of eHealth become more important since early 2020, due to the physical distancing rules and the restrictions on mobility that have been applied worldwide as a response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In this review, we summarize the most recent developments in various eHealth platforms and their relevance to the speciality of allergy and immunology, from the point of view of three major stakeholders: clinicians, patients and researchers.     

Cerebellar hemangioblastomas--a study of the immunoprofile of neoplastic stromal component

BACKGROUND: Central nervous system hemangioblastomas (HBs) are uncommon, highly vascularized tumors that are predominantly found in the cerebellum. They occur sporadically or in association with von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) disease. HBs are of unknown histogenesis, and the origin of stromal cells is still a subject of debate. The aim of this study was to investigate the immunoprofile of neoplastic stromal component, and to determine whether the profile of the expression of immunomarkers used can contribute to the elucidation of the histogenesis of HBs. METHODS: A series of eight cerebellar HBs were histochemically examined for the detection of mast cells and immunohistochemically for the expression of factor VIII-related antigen (FVIII-RAg), CD34, vimentin, factor XIIIa (FXIIIa), S-100 protein, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neuron-specific enolase (NSE), neurofilaments (NF), synaptophysin, chromogranin, and somatostatin. RESULTS: Mast cells were present in all hemangioblastomas, and were particularly abundant in one tumor. Immunohistochemically, intense reactivity for vimentin and NSE in the stromal cells was constantly seen. Immunoreactivity with S-100 protein and FXIIIa was variable, but generally many HBs stromal cells were negative for these markers. However, stromal cells were uniformly negative for FVIII-RAg in all HBs investigated. They were negative for CD34, GFAP, NF, synaptophysin, chromogranin, as well as somatostatin. GFAP-positivity of the occasional stromal type cells, located only peripherally, was interpreted as "pseudopositivity". CONCLUSION: The immunoprofile of neoplastic stromal component in this study suggested a possible origin from undifferentiated multipotential mesenchymal cells. High expression of NSE (glycolytic and hypoxia-inducible enzyme) in the HBs stromal cells might be related to the loss of the VHL protein function.     

Quantitative assessment of some risk factors of chronic cardiac failure and non-invasive diagnosis of its early (preclinical) stages

Factors of risk of chronic circulatory insufficiency (CCI) were assessed in 263 hypertensive patients with and without ischemic heart diseases. CCI was diagnosed in 218 of these 263 patients. Early stages of CCI may be diagnosed in certain number of these factors. ECG findings in isolated arterial hypertension detected left ventricular dysfunction classified as chronic cardiac failure of functional class I (NYHA criteria).     

Safety and efficacy of modified radical lymph nodes dissection in patients with papillary thyroid cancer and clinically evident lymph nodes metastasis

INTRODUCTION: Papillary cancer of the thyroid gland is well known as a lymphotropic type of cancer. In more than 50 percent of all cases it metastasizes first and mainly in regional lymph nodes. The extent of surgical intervention remains a subject of controversy and discussions. AIM: The aim of our retrospective study was to evaluate efficacy and safety of modified radical lymph node dissection (MRND) in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of survival and quality of life of 19 patients who underwent surgery at the Department of General Surgery. All patients had papillary thyroid cancer and regional lymph nodes metastases. The results were compared to literature data on surgical interventions differing in extent and specifics. RESULTS: Our analysis and its parallel with literature data revealed better survival rates and quality of life in patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy (TT) with modified radical lymph nodes dissection in comparison with those ones who had undergone total thyroidectomy with berry picking (BP). CONCLUSIONS: Modified radical lymph nodes dissection is an effective and comparatively safe procedure for the treatment of patients with papillary thyroid cancer and regional lymph nodes metastases. If adequately performed it ensures better quality of life, longer survival and improves further control on distant metastases.