1,721,046 research outputs found
Markers of bone metabolism in patients with chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
No full textThere are no studies comparing some of the most important markers, such as vitamin D, parathormone, osteocalcin, bone alkaline phosphatase, and calcium, in patients with chronic benign and malignant pancreatic diseases. Our objective was to comparatively evaluate serum markers of bone metabolism in patients with chronic pancreatitis and in those with ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Sixty-Three consecutive subjects were studied: 30 patients with a firm diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis and 33 having histologically confirmed pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D, bone alkaline phosphatase, osteocalcin, parathormone, and calcium were determined using commercially available kits. Taking into consideration the clinical variables of all 63 patients studied, 25-hydroxyvitamin D was inversely correlated with only the body mass index (P'0.007), whereas it was not correlated with age (P'0.583) or fecal elastase-1 concentrations (P'0.556). Regarding the other substances studied, parathormone was positively correlated with only the age of the patients (P'0.015). Of the 5 substances studied, only bone alkaline phosphates were significantly different (P<0.001) between patients with chronic pancreatitis and those with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Within the 2 groups of patients, the 23 patients with chronic pancreatitis without diabetes mellitus had serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D significantly lower (P'0.045) than those with chronic pancreatitis having diabetes mellitus, whereas smokers with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma had serum concentrations of calcium significantly higher (P<0.001) as compared to nonsmokers. Altered bone metabolism seems to be associated with chronic diseases of the pancreas; however, the mechanism should be better elucidated
Can serum pancreatic amylase and lipase levels be used as diagnostic markers to distinguish between patients with mucinous cystic lesions of the pancreas, chronic pancreatitis, and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma?
No full textObjective: This study aimed to assess the presence of pancreatic hyperenzymemia in patients with pancreatic cystic lesions as compared to other chronic diseases of the pancreas. Methods: Ninety-one patients were studied: 32 had mucinous cystic lesions, 35 had chronic pancreatitis (CP), and 24 had pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Surgery was carried out in 10 of the 32 patients with mucinous cystic lesion (7 of them had severe dysplasia), in 5 patients with CP, and in 9 patients with PDAC. Results: Abnormally high serum pancreatic isoamylase activity was present in 11 (34.4%) patients with mucinous cystic lesions, in 14 (40.0%) patients with CP, and none in patients with PDAC (P = 0.002); whereas serum lipase activity was abnormally high in 8 (25.0%) patients with mucinous cystic lesion, in 17 (48.6%) patients with CP, and in 3 (12.5%) patients with PDAC (P = 0.009). In 7 patients with mucinous cystic lesions and histologically confirmed severe dysplasia, abnormally high levels of both serum pancreatic amylase and lipase were present in 3 (42.9%) patients. Conclusions: High serum concentrations of pancreatic amylase and lipase were found in no more than half of the patients with mucinous cystic lesions. High levels of pancreatic enzymes were not associated with a greater risk of malignancy
Imaging techniques for acute necrotizing pancreatitis: multidetector computed tomography
No full textCCK-1 receptor blockade for treatment of biliary colic: a pilot study
No full textBACKGROUND: Loxiglumide is a potent and selective cholecystokinin-1 (CCK-1) receptor antagonist able to inhibit gall-bladder contraction. AIM: To assess the effect of CCK-1 receptor blockade on the pain of patients with biliary colic. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fourteen patients with biliary colic but no suspicion for acute cholecystitis, were randomly and blindly assigned to loxiglumide (50 mg i.v.) or hyoscine-N-butyl bromide (20 mg i.v.) treatment. Pain intensity was monitored by a Visual Analogue Scale. Patients with less than 80% response at 30 min, were retreated with a second injection of the same compound. RESULTS: Reduction in pain score (mean +/- S.E.M.) was faster and significantly greater in patients treated with loxiglumide (n = 7) than in controls (n = 7): 88 +/- 7% vs. 47 +/- 12% after 20 min, P < 0.05; 92 +/- 6% vs. 49 +/- 13%, after 30 min, P < 0.05. Only one of seven patients treated with loxiglumide needed a second injection at 30 min (vs. six of seven controls, P < 0.05). No adverse effect was observed after either treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Loxiglumide is highly effective in obtaining pain relief in patients with biliary colic. The analgesic effect of CCK-1 receptor blockade is superior to that of a conventional anticholinergic treatment
Autoimmune pancreatitis: a case mimicking carcinoma.
No full textDescrizione di un caso di pancreatite cronica autoimmune con alcune importanti considerazioni diagnostiche e terapeutiche
Is troponin T a useful marker of myocardial damage in acute pancreatitis? A prospective time course study
No full textSerum tumor markers not useful in screening patients with pancreatic mucinous cystic lesions associated with malignant changes
No full textBackground Serum cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) provides additional information about mucinous cystic pancreatic neoplasm (MPN). This study was undertaken to assess both CA19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) serum concentrations in consecutive patients affected by MPNs and other chronic benign and malignant pancreatic diseases. We also evaluated whether serum CA19-9 and CEA determinations provide additional information such as the presence of invasive carcinoma in MPN patients. Methods Serum CA19-9 and CEA from 91 patients with pancreatic diseases were tested by commercially available kits at the time of diagnosis. The upper reference limit of serum CA19-9 was 37 U/mL and that of serum CEA was 3 ng/mL. Results Thirty-five patients was diagnosed with chronic pancreatitis (CP), 32 with MPN, and 24 with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) confirmed histologically. Surgery was carried out in 5 CP patients, in 10 MPN patients (7 of them had severe dysplasia), and 9 PDAC patients. Serum CA19-9 activity was high in 12 (34.3%) CP patients, in 7 (21.9%) MPN patients, and in 12 (50.0%) PDAC patients (P=0.089). High serum CEA concentrations were noted in 6 (17.1%) CP patients, in 6 (18.8%) MPN patients, and in 12 (50.0%) PDAC patients (P=0.010). In the 7 MPN patients associated with histologically confirmed severe dysplasia, 3 (42.9%) patients had elevated serum activity of serum CA19-9, and 2 (28.6%) patients had high levels of CEA. Conclusion Serum determination of oncological markers is not useful in selecting MPN patients with malignant changes
Heart in acute pancreatitis: facts and fictions
Full text linkPain is the hallmark of acute pancreatitis and it is localized in the epigastrium in more than 60% of patients having mild or severe disease. Acute pancreatitis may mimic other diseases such as acute coronary syndrome. In addition, the acute illness of the pancreas is associated with a number of metabolic abnormalities, such as hypocalcemia and hypophosphatemia, which may cause hemodynamic changes and variations in the concentration of ionized calcium. In turn, these have been directly correlated to changes in myocardial contractility. The aim of this paper is to review the current literature on the involvement of heart during the course of acute pancreatitis and also to evaluate experimental and clinical data on this topic
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
