Image-directed color Doppler ultrasonography in the evaluation of superficial solid tumors

Image-directed color Doppler ultrasonography (ICDUS) studies of 86 patients with superficial solid masses yielded significantly lower resistive index (RI) values in acute inflammatory lesions, but no significant difference between the maximum systolic flow velocities (S) of the patient groups with malignant, benign, and acute inflammatory lesions. When analyzed separately, the malignant soft-tissue tumor subgroup was shown to have significantly higher mean RI compared to that of the malignant node subgroup. We conclude that RI may be useful in the differentiation of acute inflammatory masses from other pathological entities. Malignant soft-tissue tumors, especially sarcomas, may have different Doppler features from those of carcinomatous tumors. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The potential use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones) in mountain search and rescue operations

Objective

This study explores the potential use of drones in searching for and locating victims and of motorized transportation of search and rescue providers in a mountain environment using a simulation model.

Surgical treatment of axillary artery aneurysm

Aneurysms of the axillary artery are rare and dangerous lesions that threaten the upper extremities with vascular and neurologic compromise. Most can be treated effectively with surgical excision and vascular grafting. We retrospectively assessed 4 axillary artery aneurysms upon which we operated from February 1998 through March 2004. Three patients were admitted to our clinic for symptomatic axillary masses. The remaining patient was transported to our clinic emergently due to massive hemorrhage of an enlarging axillary mass that occurred during biopsy of the mass at another hospital. In this patient, the ruptured axillary artery aneurysm was diagnosed by means of emergent upper-extremity selective angiography. All patients were treated surgically by means of aneurysmectomy and graft interpositioning--with polytetrafluoroethylene grafts in 2 patients and saphenous vein grafts in the other 2. Surgical treatment of axillary artery aneurysms is of importance in avoiding thromboembolism and ischemia, which in turn can lead to gangrene and amputation of the affected extremity. For this reason, operative management of such cases should not be delayed.     

Topiramate ameliorates abdominal aorta cross-clamping induced liver injury in rats

Background and Aim:

Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in the liver occurs after a prolonged period of ischemia followed by restoration of hepatic blood perfusion. During the surgery of abdominal aorta, I/R injury causes damage to lower extremities and many organs, especially liver. The antioxidant and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) suppression effects of topiramate (TPM) have been reported in several studies. We evaluated the potential protective effect of TPM on cellular damage in liver tissue during I/R injury.

Materials and Methods:

Thirty male Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups: Control, I/R, and I/R plus TPM (I/R + TPM) groups. Laparotomy without I/R injury was performed in the control group. After laparotomy, cross-ligation of infrarenal abdominal aorta was applied for 2 h in I/R groups that was followed by 2 h of reperfusion. TPM (100 mg/kg/day) was orally administrated to the animals in the I/R + TPM group for seven consecutive days before I/R procedure.

Results:

The I/R group''s TNF-α and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels were significantly higher than those of the control (P = 0.010; P = 0.002) and I/R + TPM groups (P = 0.010; P = 0.002, respectively). Asymmetric dimethyl arginine (ADMA) levels of I/R group were higher than the control (P = 0.015) and I/R + TPM groups. I/R caused serious histopathological damage to liver tissue; however, TPM led to very low histopathological changes.

Conclusion:

Our data demonstrated that TPM treatment prominently decreases the severity of liver I/R injury. TPM pretreatment may have preventive effects on liver injury via I/R during intra-abdominal surgery.     

Risk Factors of Germinal Matrix Intraventricular Hemorrhage in Premature Infants

Objective

To determine whether some clinical parameters can be used to predict the hemorrhage and whether the relationship between these clinical variables and the grades of hemorrhage is linear.

Methods

A total of 230 premature infants, born at a gestational age less than 34 weeks were retrospectively reviewed. Germinal matrix-intraventricular hemorrhage (GM-IVH), the grade of the hemorrhage, and clinical data were assessed with a checklist. Variables were analyzed by using Mann Whitney U and Fisher’s exact tests and then multiple logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the independent risk factors.

Findings

Resuscitation, gestational age, hypotension, multiple birth, and birth weight were found to be independent risk factors. We determined non-linear relationship between the grades of hemorrhage and the clinical parameters. But when we classified hemorrhages as grade 1, grade 2-3 and grade 4, the relationships were found linear.

Conclusion

Premature infants who had resuscitation, low gestational age, hypotension, multiple birth, and low birth weight are more likely to have GM-IVH. The relationship between the clinical variables and the grades of GM-IVH does not seem to be linear.