Carbon dioxide laser salvage surgery after radiotherapy failure in T1 and T2 glottic carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: Recurrent glottic carcinoma after radiotherapy (RT) may be managed by open neck or endoscopic surgery. The impact of endoscopic treatment with CO(2) laser for recurrent glottic carcinoma after RT is reported. METHODS: We present the oncologic and vocal outcomes of a retrospective study based on a series of 16 patients with rT1 and rT2 glottic carcinoma who were endoscopically managed between February 1995 and December 1999 after RT failure. All patients were males with a mean age of 68.7 years (range, 50 to 87 years). Before RT, the lesions had been staged as T1 N0 in 11 patients and T2 N0 in 5, and after RT as rT1 N0 in 12 and rT2 N0 in 4. According to the European Laryngological Society classification, a total of 9 transmuscular, 3 total, and 4 extended cordectomies were performed. Mean follow-up was 45 months (range, 9 to 79 months). RESULTS: Endoscopic salvage surgery was successful in 14 patients. One of them developed a second recurrence and was definitively cured with an additional endoscopic procedure. Two of the 16 patients had recurrent disease after salvage laser surgery and died due to progression of disease. Ultimate local control with laser alone at 3 years was 87.1%, according to the Kaplan-Meier method. Laryngeal preservation was obtained in all survivors after endoscopic rescue surgery. Voice analysis showed a clear correlation between the amount of vocal cord tissue resected and decrease of the vocal outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The present series indicates that selected recurrences after primary RT for T1 and T2 glottic carcinoma are eligible for endoscopic salvage surgery with oncologic results comparable to those with open neck procedures but with a lower complication rate and a favorable functional outcome.     

Combined heart and liver transplantation for familial amyloidotic neuropathy.

Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is an inherited disease characterized by an abnormal systemic deposition of a mutant protein called transthyretin (TTR) with elective involvement of the peripheral nervous system, but often determining cardiac, gastrointestinal, and urinary tract dysfunction. FAP commonly affects the liver and the heart until end-organs failure. Transthyretin amyloidosis is today an accepted indication for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). Combined heart and liver transplantation (CHLT) may be an attractive and rational treatment option when both organs are contemporary involved by this type of amyloidotic disease. Nowadays, surgical indications and techniques are far from being consolidated because only few cases of CHLT have been previously reported in literature. From November 1999 to May 2006, we performed five orthotopic combined heart and liver transplantations for FAP at our institution. Our surgical experience and clinical outcomes are herein reported.     

Transmitter Release Associated with Long-term Synaptic Depression in Rat Corticostriatal Slices

Using a corticostriatal slice preparation, we have recently shown that tetanic stimulation of the corticostriatal pathway produces long-term depression (LTD) of striatal excitatory synaptic transmission. In the present study we have analysed the relationship between LTD and the striatal release of different endogenous transmitters. Samples of perfusate were collected via a small cannula placed just above the surface of the striatal slice close to the recording electrode, and were analysed by HPLC. The high-frequency stimulation (100 Hz, three trains, 3 s duration, 20 s intervals) used to induce LTD caused a significant but transient increase in the release of both excitatory (aspartate and glutamate) and inhibitory (glycine and GABA) amino acid transmitters. Tetanic stimulation also produced a significant, but transient increase in the release of endogenous dopamine. We conclude that the tetanic stimulation of the corticostriatal pathway is able to induce a large but transient release of excitatory amino acids and of dopamine, whose participation in the induction of striatal LTD has been demonstrated previously. Moreover, the maintenance of this form of synaptic plasticity does not seem to require a sustained change in transmitter release.     

One-shot percutaneous ethanol injection of liver tumors under general anesthesia: Preliminary data on efficacy and complications

Purpose: To verify the efficacy of ultrasound (US)-guided injection of large amounts of ethanol into large or multiple liver lesions, in a single session under general anesthesia (one-shot PEI) for percutaneous ablation of hepatic tumors. Methods: Twenty-nine patients (27 with 51 hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) nodules on cirrhosis, diameter range 1.0<+>–<+>9.0 cm; two patients with a single metastasis from the gastroenteric tract, 5.0 and 9.0 cm, respectively, in diameter) were treated with one-shot PEI. Results: The total volume of alcohol delivered per patient ranged from 16 to 210 ml. Mean ethanol volume in all patients was 49 ml. Dynamic computed tomography (CT) examination showed complete necrosis in 41 of 50 lesions. Two patients died of hypovolemic shock due to massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding, 3 and 7 days, respectively, after the interventional procedure. All the remaining patients are alive (follow-up 5<+>–<+>14 months) except one who died of liver failure 5 months after. New HCC nodules occurred in six patients within 6 months and one intralesional relapse was recorded. Conclusion: In this preliminary experience, one-shot PEI is as effective in inducing liver tumor necrosis as traditional PEI; its advantages are shorter treatment time and the capability of treating larger and multiple liver lesions.     

Strategy and timing of peripheral nerve surgery

The authors review the latest theories of peripheral nerve regeneration and repair. They present their research on nerve regeneration including the alterations in the mother cell body, and in the distal part of the axon, and the time required to reach the best production of amino acids for cytoskeleton reconstruction. Other research of particular interest which is presented regards the chemotactic arrangement of motor and sensory axons inside a vein. This research has shown that the axons are able to find their way to the appropriate (sensory or motor) distal endoneural tubes.Adoption phenomena are also presented.The discussion of surgery includes the type (suture, glueing, grafts, tubulization) and the time of surgical repair. Timing and repair strategies are related to the site of the lesion (which can require that a greater or smaller amount of cytoskeleton be reconstructed), the type of the injury, the state of surrounding tissues, the age of the patients, injuries to muscles, tendons, bones, vessels and skin. A scheme of strategy is proposed.     

Serum digoxin and beta-methyldigoxin in elderly patients on hospital admission: correlation with home compliance and clinical variables

Summary Serum digoxin and beta-methyldigoxin (BMD) were measured in 165 elderly patients (age >60 years) admitted to hospital, of whom 109 had been treated at home with digoxin and 56 with BMD.The mean BMD level was significantly lower than that of digoxin (1.1 vs. 1.4 ng/ml). Creatinine clearance and daily dose were the variables most strongly associated with digoxin level, and the prescribed dose and serum albumin were the best predictors of the BMD concentration. Compliance was assessed by a compliance index (CI), namely the ratio of the measured glycoside concentration, corrected for creatinine clearance, over the expected steady-state dose, calculated from a hospitalized reference group. Compliant individuals in both treatment groups, i.e. those with a CI > the median value, were characterized by a lower daily dose and dosage frequency.Toxicity, whether clinical or electrocardiographic, was present in 9% of the patients and was associated only with a significantly higher mean serum level of the drug.