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Biomedical subjects

M Cattaneo

Publications and source records attributed to M Cattaneo.

178 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Chemotherapeutic agents and future fertility.

The recent progress in antiblastic therapy has achieved significant successes in the treatment of tumors, obtaining in some cases a complete recovery and very frequently a remission of the disease for a considerable number of years. Therefore the clinician has to deal with the problem of long term toxicity which always accompanies these therapies. This aspect was once considered as a secondary feature in respect to the severity of prognosis quod vitam of the subjects affected with cancer, while now, with a significant increase of survival, it is preeminent that there be the possibility to offer these patients an acceptable quality of life under both physical and social profiles. The reintroduction of patients affected with cancer or treated ones into their social and familiar functions must take into account many factors which are bound to the degree of physical integrity, to psychological conditioning and problems of resumption of working activity. Under a strictly social profile it is fundamental to have knowledge of troubles and disturbances that may involve the reproductive sphere.

Antineoplastic Agents↗

[Biliary atresia: pathogenetic considerations emerging from the histopathologic analysis of the liver parenchyma].

Nine patients had been surgically treated for extrahepatic biliary atresia from 1974 to 1982. The analysis of the hepatic specimens obtained during the surgical exploration revealed a wide spectrum of histopathologic lesions. In 3 patients we found severe Giant-cell transformation, while in the other 6 it was not possible to ascribe the histopathologic picture to a univocal pathogenesis. Comparing our results to the reports of other Authors we believe biliary atresia can not be explained by a single pathologic mechanism. The obstruction of the extrahepatic bile ducts might be the common morphologic denominator of different pathologic entities, from each of them it depends a different evolution of the hepatic lesions and a different survival after Kasai's operation.

Bile Ducts↗

Antiplatelet therapy in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Antiplatelet agents have been studied in a number of clinical trials to evaluate their efficacy in the prevention of ischemic cardiovascular events related to platelet-rich thrombi. Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) is definitely effective in the hospital phase of acute myocardial infarction; it also prevents cardiovascular events but not anginal attacks in patients with unstable angina and reduces the rate of occlusion of coronary artery bypass grafts. ASA is often used in the post-infarction period, even though anticoagulant therapy is probably more effective; it is also effective in patients with transient ischemic attacks in the brain. Ticlopidine is the treatment of choice in patients with major stroke and in those with peripheral vascular ischemia; it can also be considered a valid alternative to ASA in the management of transient ischemic attacks and unstable angina. There is at the moment little role for antiplatelet agents in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗

Plasma homocysteine levels in 10 patients with polycythemia.

Polycythemia and hyperhomocysteinemia are risk factors for thrombosis. Since red blood cells actively metabolize methionine to homocysteine, we investigated whether or not patients with polycythemia have increased plasma levels of homocysteine, which might contribute to their increased thrombotic risk. In ten patients with polycythemia, the plasma homocysteine levels were measured before phlebotomy, three days after the procedure and 1-2 months later. The baseline mean plasma homocysteine levels in patients (9.7 +/- 1.6 mumol/L [+/-SD]) did not differ significantly from that found in 30 sex- and age-matched healthy controls (12.2 +/- 6.9). Despite a fall in the patients' mean [+/-SD] hematocrit from 0.50 +/- 0.02 at baseline to 0.47 +/- 0.03 three days after phlebotomy (significant at 95%) and to 0.48 +/- 0.02 after 1 to 2 months (not significant), the mean plasma homocysteine levels did not change significantly (9.9 +/- 2.3 mumol/L at 3 days and 9.7 +/- 2.1 mumol/L at 1-2 months). It is unlikely that high plasma homocysteine levels contribute to the increased thrombotic risk of polycythemic patients.

Adult↗