In this study we tested for TNF alpha concentrations 45 subjects undergoing elective prostatectomy performed under two different anaesthetic regimens. In addition, given the influence of neuroendocrine axis on immunological homeostasis, we also determined post surgery cortisol and norepinephrine levels. The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups: group 1 (no. = 24) received NLA general anaesthesia, whereas group 2 (no. = 21) received spinal analgesia. Blood samples were drawn the day before surgery (t0), at two (t1), at 24 (t2), at 48 (t3) and 72 (t4) hours from the completion of operation. In the patients assigned to the general anaesthesia group an increase of circulating TNF alpha was detected through t1 to t4. In the spinal group TNFa values did not change in t1 and t2, whereas enhanced levels of the cytokine--overlapping with those of group 1--were observed at 48 and 72 hrs following surgery. Cortisol response increased in both the groups, peaking at t1 but, at this time patients undergoing spinal anaesthesia were found to have significantly lower circulating cortisol. A rise of plasma norepinephrine was observed at t1 in the general anaesthesia group alone. For the early TNF alpha increase, observed in group 1 only, we hypothesize that anaesthetics, such as NLA agents, may trigger a TNF alpha release in vivo. Alternatively TNF alpha production may represent the result of the neuroendocrine response such as cortisol and norepinephrine, to the surgical/anaesthetic trauma which could be blocked by subarachnoid anaesthesia. Conversely, the late TNF alpha increase found in all the patients studied might be explained by postoperative infections as well as by inflammation of the injured tissues and/or normal wound healing.

Adult↗

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Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in a child with cystic fibrosis.

The association of cystic fibrosis (CF) and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is extremely rare. Only three cases have been reported in the literature and all of them had a fatal outcome. In this paper we describe the case of a little girl who was diagnosed with CF (mild course) when she was five months old, and who presented at the age of five years with ALL (intermediate risk). Complete Remission (CR) was rapidly obtained with standard chemotherapy for ALL.; treatment was continued for two years without major complications and with no apparent influence on the course of CF. The patient remains alive and well and in continuous CR four years after discontinuing treatment, and six years after the diagnosis of ALL.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Rare malformation of the bile ducts of surgical interest].

Variations from normal anatomy of extrahepatic biliary tract, especially if on the basis of a congenital defect, are often dangerous for the surgeon, as hidden cause of a possible injury during surgery. During a cholecystectomy performed for lithiasis in non functioning gallbladder, whose preoperative cholangiogram revealed nothing of suspect, the dissection of cystic duct was regular at its normal junction with the Common Bile Duct (CBD). Because of the scheduled intraoperative cholangiogram, it was however not severed but only dissected free. The gallbladder was therefore detached from the liver in anterograde progression, after hemostasis and section of a normal cystic artery. During the detaching of gallbladder from the liver what seemed a very large "hepato-cystic" duct coming to the infundibulum was met: for caution the cholangiogram was then made proximally to such "hepato-cystic" duct that instead revealed to be the main right hepatic duct coming to the infundibulum of gallbladder without confluence with the left hepatic duct. The biliary tract going from the gallbladder to the supposed CBD was in fact the cystic duct, as the Heister's valvulae clearly show on the cholangiograms. Cholecystectomy was therefore performed proximally to the confluence of right hepatic duct, and the postoperative course was uneventful. Such kind of extrahepatic tract derangement must be very rare, because of the apparent lacking in literature of any similar case, also if the possibility is mentioned.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Bile Ducts↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Drug addiction among young people: a study of typology and its relevance to treatment programmes.

On the basis of clinical observation, the authors have classified drug addiction into four types: traumatic, actual, transitional and sociopathic. Such classification helps in epidemiological research to understand better the distribution of people addicted to a given drug. Each type of addiction differs in respect of onset, evolution, prognosis and certain other characteristics relevant to the treatment of drug-addicted persons. Thus, the classification helps in making an appropriate selection of a treatment method and in the evaluation of a treatment programme. It has been observed that (a) traumatic and actual types of addiction have a much more favourable prognosis; (b) individual psychotherapy and support in a medical setting is effective for the traumatic type of addiction; (c) treatment in a family setting appears to be suitable for actual and transitional types of addiction; and (d) the therapeutic community may prove to be effective in the treatment of persons affected by socio-pathic type of addiction.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied