妊娠性肝内胆汁淤积症：一项地塞米松和熊脱氧胆酸的随机、对照试验

妊娠性肝内胆汁淤积症（ICP）的主要特征是：母体难以忍受的瘙痒症，血清胆汁酸升高（≥10μmol／L）以及胎儿死亡风险的增加。最近，确定了一个与影响胎儿损害相关的界值，即血清胆汁酸≥40μmol／L。在一项双盲、安慰剂对照试验中，作研究了熊脱氧胆酸（UDCA）和地塞米松对瘙痒症、胆汁淤积的生化指标和胎儿并发症发生率的影响。为此，选取了130例患有ICP的妇女，随机分到UDCA组（1g／d，使用3周），地塞米松组（12mg／d使用1周，第2周、第3周使用安慰剂）和安慰剂组（使用3周）进行治疗。在治疗期间和治疗3周后对瘙痒症和胆汁淤积的生化指标进行分析。在分娩时记录胎儿的并发症（自发性早产，新生儿窒息，羊水、胎盘、胎膜的胎粪染色）。意向治疗分析显示仅在UDCA组中，丙氨酸转氨酶（ALT）（P=0．01）和胆红素（P=0．002）明显减少。在血清胆汁酸≥40μmol／L的ICP妇女的亚群分析中发现（n=34）UDCA对瘙痒症（减轻75％）、胆汁酸（下降79％）、ALT（降低80％）和胆红素（降低50％）也有明显效果，但对胎儿并发症发生率无影响。地塞米松并无减轻瘙痒症或降低ALT的作用，在降低胆汁酸和胆红素方面比UDCA效果差。     

Mesogonadal shunts for extrahepatic portal vein thrombosis and variceal hemorrhage.

Extrahepatic portal vein thrombosis (EHPVT) may occur in children or adults and usually comes to clinical attention due to complications of portal hypertension such as variceal hemorrhage. A variety of standard surgical techniques exist to manage these patients, but when these fail surgical options are limited. We describe two novel portosystemic shunts that utilize the gonadal vein as an autologous conduit. Four patients were evaluated for EHPVT with variceal bleeding. None of the patients were candidates for a standard splenorenal shunt due to prior surgical procedures. The first patient underwent a left mesogonadal shunt and the remaining 3 patients underwent a right mesogonadal shunt. Postoperative ultrasound or computed tomography (CT) scan confirmed early patency of the shunt in each patient. There have been no further episodes of variceal hemorrhage with follow-up of 3.5 years in the child who underwent the left mesogonadal shunt, and 17, 19, and 20 months in the patients who underwent the right mesogonadal shunt. Three of the 4 shunts remain patent. One shunt thrombosis occurred in a patient homozygous for the Factor V Leiden mutation despite anticoagulation with coumadin. This is the first report of the successful use of the gonadal vein as an in situ conduit for constructing a portosystemic shunt. In conclusion, the right and left mesogonadal shunts may be useful as salvage operations for patients with EHPVT who have failed standard surgical shunt procedures.     

Decreasing incidence of peptic ulcer complications after the introduction of the proton pump inhibitors, a study of the Swedish population from 1974–2002

Background  

Despite a decreasing incidence of peptic ulcer disease, most previous studies report a stabile incidence of ulcer complications. We wanted to investigate the incidence of peptic ulcer complications in Sweden before and after the introduction of the proton pump inhibitors (PPI) in 1988 and compare these data to the sales of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA).     

HER-2/neu (c-erbB-2) evaluation in primary breast carcinoma by fluorescent in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry with special focus on intratumor heterogeneity and comparison of invasive and in situ components.

We have studied the intratumor HER-2/neu heterogeneity in 78 consecutive and population-based primary invasive breast carcinomas. Within the invasive component, heterogeneity was detected in only 1 of 78 tumors. In 48 tumors (62%), we found both in situ and invasive components in analyzed tissue sections. Twelve of these 48 tumors had a difference of at least 2 arbitrary units in the in situ compared with the invasive part of the tumor with regard to the HER-2/neu status analyzed by HercepTest (immunohistochemistry). Eight of these 12 tumors were reanalyzed with fluorescent in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry with and without a new Automated Cellular Imaging System. In this limited material, immunohistochemistry in combination with the Automated Cellular Imaging System seemed to have a better correlation with fluorescent in situ hybridization than immunostaining analyzed manually. In conclusion, HER-2/neu expression is not seldom heterogeneous in invasive compared with in situ components within a tumor. This finding should be considered in the choice of evaluation method. To avoid heterogeneity as a confounding factor in HER-2/neu analyses, detection methods such as immunohistochemistry and fluorescent in situ hybridization, which can provide evaluation in a preserved tissue architecture, should be used. Perhaps the intratumor HER-2/neu heterogeneity can explain some of the unexpected failures of trastuzumab therapy.     

Long-term results of simple and radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma

From 1974 to 1983, simple and radical nephrectomies were performed at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center (Tel Hashomer, Israel) for renal cell carcinoma. The authors reviewed 109 cases that were followed for a period ranging from 5 to 14 years. Simple nephrectomy was performed in 55 patients, and 54 patients underwent radical nephrectomy. The selection of the surgical procedure was based on the surgeon's preference and not on the basis of clinical stage, age, or sex. The surgical results and survival rates were assessed according to the pathologic stage of the tumors. Among patients with Stage I tumor, radical nephrectomy produced better survival rates at 5 and 10 years (P = 0.03); however, when the non-cancer deaths were excluded, the difference in survival was not statistically significant. For Stage I tumors the survival free of disease at 5 years was better for the radical nephrectomy group, but this difference was not statistically significant. No difference was noticed in the local recurrence rate between the two groups. Nephrectomy in patients with Stage IV disease did not alter survival regardless of the type of operation.