29 research outputs found
Therapeutic approach in pulmonary mycetoma. Analysis of 27 patients
No full textBACKGROUND:
Pulmonary mycetoma is a characteristic clinical-radiological lesion due to colonization of aspergillus or candida species in pre-existing pulmonary cavities following a number of diseases.
METHODS:
We revisited 27 records of such admitted patients (19 M, 8 F; range age 16-27 yrs) analysing diagnostic approach and therapy. Predisposing conditions were sequelae of tuberculosis or lung abscess, bronchiectasis, bullous emphysema, leukaemia/ lymphoma, diabetes mellitus, corticosteroids and/or immunosuppressant administration and antiblastic chemotherapy. All patients had a characteristic chest X-ray and the most common symptoms were cough and haemoptysis. Diagnosis of pulmonary mycetoma was based on positive sputum culture for aspergillus or candida species and/or positive result for aspergillus precipitin test. Eleven patients received only medical treatment, eight pts only a surgical one and eight patients both medical and surgical ones. Antifungal drugs administered were itraconazole or amphotericin B or fluconazole.
RESULTS:
In the follow-up, six out of eleven patients who had received only medical treatment, cannot be found; five patients or their relatives were interviewed by phone: two of them enjoyed good health and three had died. Sixteen patients underwent thoracic surgery and one of them died because of postsurgical complications. In the follow-up, only nine patients out of this last group were interviewed by phone 2 to 8 years after surgery: seven of them enjoyed good health while two patients had died because of disease not related to pulmonary mycetoma.
CONCLUSIONS:
Aspergilloma treatment is related to the extension of disease and clinical conditions of patients but surgical resection associated with drug administration, when possible, is the treatment of choice
An estimate of the current risk of transmitting blood-borne infections through blood transfusion in Italy
No full textWe conducted a retrospective cohort study to estimate the incidence of major blood-borne agents among Italian blood donors and calculated the risk of infection among blood recipients using the 'incidence/window period model'. The study was conducted among 46 180 blood donors enrolled in six blood centres between 1994 and 1999. During follow-up, seven new infections were confirmed: three donors seroconverted for anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); two for anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV); and two showed hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) reactivity; no cases of syphilis were observed. The incidence rates per 100 000 person/years were: 4.06 (95% CI: 0.82-11.85) for HIV; 2.41 (95% CI: 0.29-8.70) for HCV; and 2.70 (95% CI: 0.32-9.77) for HBsAg; the incidence for total hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was 9.77 per 100 000 person/years (95% CI: 1.16-35.36). The estimated risk of an infectious blood unit not being detected was: 2.45 (95% CI: 0.13-12.33) per 1 million units for HIV; 4.35 (95% CI: 0.30-22.39) for HCV; and 15.78 (95% CI: 1.16-84.23) for HBV. Overall, an estimated 22.58 per 1 million units are infected. In Italy, the risk of transfusion-transmitted infections is low and is similar to that in other western countries. The introduction of new more sensitive screening tests could reduce the residual risk of transfusion-transmitted infection by 40-80%
Increased density of dopamine D2-like receptors in peripheral blood lymphocytes in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis
No full textEur. Respir. J
Localizzazione anatomica dei canali del calcio di tipo “L” nell’arteria polmonare di ratti spontaneamente ipertesi: studio radiorecettoriale ed autoradiografico
No full textGiornale Italiano delle Malattie del Torac
Target current: a useful parameter for characterizing laser ablation
No full textAbstractA current flowing between the ground and target exposed to the nanosecond laser radiation is analyzed to complete characteristics of laser ablation. Three phases of the target current are distinguished. During the ignition phase, the electron emission is driven by the laser pulse and the positive charge generated on the target is balanced by electrons coming from the ground through the target holder. At post-pulse times, a peaked waveform of the target current is typical for the active phase of the plasma and can give information on the material composition of the ablated surface layers. The afterglow phase is determined by a current of electrons flowing from the target to the ground. Experiment shows that the time-resolved target current is very sensitive to the actual composition of the surface layer of irradiated target and laser parameters.</jats:p
Effects of alpha-lipoic acid and its R+ enentiomer supplemented to hyperbaric oxygen therapy on IL-6, TNF-alfa and EGF production in chronic leg wound healing.
No full textCoexistent Sarcoidosis and Tuberculosis: A Case Report
No full textNecrotizing granulomatous diseases of the lungs are usually dependent on a narrow range of differential diagnoses. Tuberculosis (TB) is responsible for the largest number of cases, while necrotizing sarcoidosis is generally considered a rare and easily distinguishable disease substantially based on histological features. However, this entity has become a viable diagnosis in the absence of mycobacteria isolation or when a remarkable clinical improvement cannot be achieved with the combination of anti-TB drugs at full dosage. The classic manifestations of TB and sarcoidosis have an overlapping range for which it is sometimes difficult to make a clinical diagnosis. Furthermore, the role of mycobacteria as a trigger antigen capable of evoking the clinical expression of sarcoidosis is a hypothesis supported by evidence from some cases. We report a case of bilateral tuberculous pleurisy in a 45-year-old male native of a North-African region with an atypical severe multisystem disease characterized by a fever resistant to anti-TB therapy and respondent to corticosteroid treatment. The choice to continue both steroid and anti-TB therapy proved to be correct for the late evidence of TB mycobacterial growth only on pleural specimens. The case described is suggestive of a coexistent systemic sarcoid manifestation and low-antigen TB, which is an underrecognized entity in the medical literature
