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Biomedical subjects

G Alberti

Publications and source records attributed to G Alberti.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

[The activities over one year of the first aid unit of the Florence Orthopedic Trauma Center: a statistical analysis].

The characteristics of all the traumatic cases treated at the emergency unit of C.T.O. Hospital in Florence are here described. The year 1985 was taken as a sample to be compared to the previous statistics obtained in the past. The authors found an increase in the number and severity of the traumatic cases, particularly in old patients and localized in the extremities (hand and foot).

Age Factors↗

[The use of high-field magnetic resonance in the follow-up of patients with mechanic aortic valve prosthesis and composite aortic tubular prosthesis].

Eleven patients who had undergone cardiac surgery were studied by means of high-field MR imaging (1.5 T). Six patients had had aortic root and valve replaced with a Björk-Shiley (BS) composite tubular aortic graft prosthesis for acute dissection of ascending aorta. In the other 5 patients with rheumatic calcific aortic disease, the valve had been replaced with a BS prosthesis. As a whole, MRI studies were 14. Previous evaluations of magnetic field effects had seem carried out ex vivo on both BS valves and BS composite prostheses, on surgical ligation clips (Tantalium and Stainless) and on stainless wires for sternal closure. In 4 patients (2 BS composite grafts and 2 BS valves) MRI diagnosed chronic dissection of both arch and descending aorta. In 1 of them, with a BS valve, associated localized acute dissection of ascending aorta was observed. In 3 patients with BS composite grafts, MRI revealed pseudo-aneurysms (including a thrombosed one) at the graft level. In one case MRI was repeated 4 times and was very helpful in monitoring the pseudo-aneurysm. MRI showed pericardial hematoma in 2 patients with BS grafts and paravalvular abscess in a case with BS valve. In one patient with BS valve fast-imaging MR revealed severe aortic regurgitation. No adverse reactions were demonstrated on MR images of prosthetic implants. MRI artifacts were insignificant with the spin-echo technique, while the fast-imaging technique showed clear image distortion at the valve level.

Adult↗

[Analysis of prognostic factors in 106 cases of carcinoma of the rhinopharynx treated with cobalt teletherapy].

A series of 106 patients affected with nasopharyngeal carcinomas and treated by definitive external irradiation from January 1975 to December 1986 was retrospectively reviewed. The median follow-up, from the end of the treatment, was 43 months (range 24-90). The nasopharynx received not less than 60 Gy to the midplane: the clinically negative neck (N0) was treated with a total dose of 50 Gy and the patients who had N1-3 disease received not less than 60 Gy. Thirty-eight patients had a recurrence in the irradiated areas (31 in the nasopharynx, and 7 in the neck); 17 patients developed distant metastases. Disease-free survival at 60 months was 42%. The most significant prognostic factor (p less than 0.05) was the presence of advanced neck involvement (N2-3), since most of the lymphatic and distant recurrences were observed in this group of patients. The overall results did not reveal but slight differences in the survival according to histology, even though patients with undifferentiated carcinomas had a local recurrence rate significantly lower than those with squamous cell carcinomas. Our findings suggest that patients with N2-3 neck diseases or with locally advanced involvement (T3-4) be treated by adjuvant chemotherapy in order to decrease the risk of local and distant relapses.

Adolescent↗

Problems in evaluating response of primary breast cancer to systemic therapy.

The evaluation of the response of primary breast cancer to systemic therapy is difficult. Evaluable primary lesions may be assessed both by physical and by mammographic examination. In this study, response to therapy was evaluated after 4 cycles of CMF or CMF plus tamoxifen in 49 patients with locally advanced breast cancer entering a prospective randomized trial. In 35 patients response was evaluated by both physical examination and mammography. In some cases there was disagreement between physical examination and mammography in quantifying the magnitude of response. In 8 of 35 (22.9%), the overall response was overestimated by physical examination versus mammography, while in 3 of 35 (8.6%) the reverse was true. Taking into consideration different criteria in attributing the overall response, i.e. selecting physical examination only, mammography only, or the most favorable or the least favorable response between the two methods of assessment, the objective remission rates were 65.7%, 54.3%, 71.4% and 45.7%, respectively. The data suggest that both physical examination and mammography should be used in evaluating the response of primary breast cancer to a systemic treatment. Should these two methods yield contrasting results, the data obtained with each method should be reported. The best observed response may be employed in determining the overall response.

Adult↗