Do acne treatments affect insulin‐like growth factor‐1 serum levels? A clinical and laboratory study on patients with acne vulgaris

Acne is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting sebaceous gland follicles. Lately, acne has considered an insulin‐like growth factor‐1 (IGF‐1) mediated disease. Recent research demonstrated that IGF‐1 levels decrease after 3 months of isotretinoin. The purpose of our study is evaluating the influence of acne treatments on IGF‐1 serum levels. Forty‐six subjects with acne vulgaris aged 14 to 30 years were subdivided into three groups according to their severity of acne and treated following the European Dermatology Forum guidelines. IGF‐1 was measured in patients before and after the treatment and then compared to the IGF‐1 of a healthy population of the same age. IGF‐1 resulted higher in patients than in controls but there was not a statistically significant variation after treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the influence of topical and systemic acne treatment on IGF‐1 serum levels. In contrast with the literature, our results suggest that common therapies for acne are not able to significantly modify IGF‐1 serum levels.     

Lymphoscintigraphic localization of sentinel node in early colorectal cancer: results of a monocentric study

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Evaluation of the feasibility of the sentinel node technique in early colorectal neoplasms and its overall accuracy in predicting nodal metastases. METHODS: Thirty-five patients with colon or rectal lesions or degenerate polyps not radically excised by endoscopy were included. Lymphatic mapping was performed with 99mTc labeled albumin colloid injected submucosally by an endoscopic route the afternoon before the surgical procedure. The day of the intervention, 2.5% patent blue V dye (S.A.L.F: Italy) was injected circumferentially around the tumor. A hand held gamma detecting probe (Scintiprobe m100, Pol-Hi-Tech, Italy) was employed to detect "hot" nodes, in vivo and ex vivo. All sentinel nodes were embedded separately for haematoxylin and eosin staining. No IHC or PCR techniques were employed. RESULTS: Sentinel lymph nodes (SLN) were successfully identified in 35 out of 35 patients. Concordance between SLN and nodal status was observed in 32 out of 35 cases (91.4%); four patients (11.4%) were upstaged. Three skip nodal metastases were observed (false-negative rate: 8.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The sentinel node technique with blue dye and radiotracer seems valuable in early colorectal cancers detected by screening programs: a good organization and a learning curve are needed, as further multicentric studies.     

Combined laser assisted treatment for permanent hair removal for skin types I‐V with Alexandrite 755 nm and ND:YAG 1064 nm lasers

This retrospective cohort study regarding hair removal procedures considers all the data collected in three different clinical centers from 2017 to 2019. The device used to perform the treatments was composed of an Alexandrite 755 nm and an Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser, that delivered both wavelengths in a blended simultaneous emission (Thunder MT, Quanta System, Samarate, Italy). The improvement evaluated after five sessions of treatment by an external referee was: 83.0% for armpits, 82.1% for the bikini line, 82.2% for legs, 79.6% for thorax, and 81.6% for the back. The collected temporary skin reaction data reported in this study were all acceptable and transitory resolving in less than 1 week. The level of erythema and perifollicular edema were all signs of the reached treatment endpoint. First degree burns, hyper, and hypopigmentation were also reported in a few cases but these, all resolved before the follow‐up visit without any permanent skin effects. No adverse effects were thus reported to have happened. This retrospective study demonstrates the efficacy of combining Alexandrite and Nd:YAG lasers in a mixed modality with simultaneous emission. This technology permitted to treat patients with skin types I‐V without any reported permanent side effects and with a high pain tolerability compared to the use of Nd:YAG in single mode.