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Biomedical subjects

V Frusciante

Publications and source records attributed to V Frusciante.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Gallbladder function and gastric liquid emptying in achalasia.

Because of evidence that the abnormalities in achalasia are not restricted to the distal esophagus, we investigated gallbladder function by cholescintigraphy in the steady state and in response to CCK and the scintigraphic gastric emptying of a liquid caloric meal in 10 individuals with achalasia and 10 normal controls. No abnormalities were found during the filling phase of the gallbladder but seven of the 10 patients showed a 50% reduction in the ejection fraction (39.4% +/- 30.4 vs 80.3 +/- 8.3 of controls, mean +/- SD, P = 0.007) and a slower than normal ejection phase (9.1%/min +/- 6.6 vs 18.1 +/- 4.5, P = 0.02. In eight of the 10 patients, gastric liquid emptying was accelerated with a T1/2 of 41.5 min +/- 15.4 vs 74.7 min +/- 11.5 in the controls (P = 0.007). It is concluded that in some achalasia patients extraesophageal functional abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract may be found. Whether these findings are promoted by degenerative charges of extraesophageal nerve fibers as well as their clinical significance require further investigations.

Cholecystokinin↗
PubMed1991

Relative protection from cerebral atherosclerosis of young patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.

It is well known that hypercholesterolemia is correlated with coronary atherosclerosis, but no definite information is available on its association with cerebrovascular atherosclerosis. We studied 10 young patients (age 3-32 years) with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), together with 3 normal relatives as healthy controls. Extra- and intracranial Doppler examination, MRI and cerebral blood flow by SPECT and 99mTc-HM-PAO were performed on all. Six out of 10 patients already had signs and symptoms of coronary heart disease, but all patients were free from ischemic brain lesions, as small as detectable at MRI, and had normal cerebral blood flow. Two patients presented significant stenosis of the carotid arteries at Doppler examination. Young patients with homozygous FH have early and clinically evident coronary atherosclerosis, while overt disease in the cerebral district is delayed despite the extremely elevated plasma cholesterol concentration. This was also confirmed by the autopsy of two patients, who died after the study and whose cerebral arteries were totally free from atherosclerotic lesions. The age, at which flow-reducing atherosclerotic lesions develop in hypercholesterolemic patients, differs with regard to the arterial district involved.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Are the lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations in achalasia always incomplete? A manometric and scintigraphic study.

In two patients with achalasia we found intermittent, complete lower oesophageal sphincter (LES) relaxations at manometric evaluation. These patients had no weight loss, minimal oesophageal dilation, lower LES pressure and faster radionuclide oesophageal emptying when compared with other achalasia patients. Concurrent performing of radionuclide oesophageal emptying and manometry showed that the complete relaxations (CRs) were too short and functionally unsuccessful. Our findings suggest that these patients may be at an earlier disease stage and that intermittent CRs of LES may occasionally occur in achalasia.

Barium Sulfate↗
PubMed1989

Evaluation of the use of ultrasonography in the study of liquid gastric emptying.

Gastric emptying of two different test liquid meals (500 ml isotonic saline and 500 ml skimmed milk, 1.8% fat) has been measured in 10 (saline) and in 19 (milk) normal volunteers by means of real-time ultrasonography (RUS) and scintigraphy, employed simultaneously. In each subject, saline and milk contained 37 MBq of diethylenetriaminopentacetic acid (DPTA) marked with 99mTc. Determinations were made thereafter every 5 min up to 45 min with saline and every 30 min up to a maximum of 220 min with milk. The determination of gastric emptying by RUS was obtained indirectly through the measurement of gastric dimensions, with a single scan performed at the epigastrium, while the subject was kept in a standing position. At each observation, the percent decrease of gastric measurements and the decay in radioactivity over the gastric region were calculated, blind, by two independent examiners. Linear regression and correlation coefficient were subsequently computed for gastric measurements and decay in radioactivity. The results show that the values obtained with RUS do not differ grossly from the ones obtained with scintigraphy. This suggests that the ultrasonographic determination of gastric dimensions with a single section of the stomach may be a valuable method for use in the evaluation of gastric emptying of liquids.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Clinical experience with 99mTc-MAG3, mercaptoacetyltriglycine, and a comparison with 99mTc-DTPA.

The preparation, application and clinical usage of 99mTc-mercaptoacetyltriglycine, MAG3, a tubular secreted compound, is described in the first 225 patients in a phase III study. Image quality, relative renal function, and renal transit times were compared with a 4 fold greater administered activity of 99mTc-DTPA in 11 patients. Correlation coefficients of 0.94 for relative function, 0.83 for parenchymal transit time index and 0.82 for whole kidney transit time index were found. Frusemide responses were similar. 99mTc-MAG3 is an efficacious radiopharmaceutical for routine renal radionuclide studies, giving excellent image quality in patients with hypertension, poor renal function, obstructive nephropathy or a renal transplant.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Scintigraphic oesophageal clearance in diabetics: clinical usefulness.

The whole digestive tract is one of the sites most involved in diabetic autonomic neuropathy. The aim of this work was to validate the clinical usefulness of oesophageal scintigraphy in the early detection of this complication of diabetes. Eighty-one diabetic patients without oesophageal symptoms were studied by solid meal scintigraphic test (SMST) and 35 out of them also by liquid meal scintigraphic test (LMST). As controls, 20 normal volunteers were studied by LMST and 14 by SMST. Forty-seven diabetics studied by SMST were also evaluated by cardiovascular tests (CT) and for the presence of retinopathy and peripheral neuropathy. The most statistically significant difference between diabetics and controls was found at 75s with SMST. SMST results showed a statistically significant correlation with CT. No correlation was found with the presence of retinopathy or peripheral neuropathy. We conclude that SMST is a useful, safe, low-cost diagnostic tool in the detection of diabetic autonomic neuropathy.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Preliminary clinical evaluation of free/total PSA ratio by the IMMULITE system.

The role of free (F) and complexed serum PSA is now under investigation. In the present study, we evaluated the clinical significance of F-PSA and F/Total (T) PSA ratio in a preliminary series of samples from 88 patients with prostate cancer (PC), 113 with benign prostatic disease (BPD), and 98 with non-prostatic disease (NP). We used the F-PSA and third generation T-PSA (DPC, Los Angeles, USA) chemiluminescent enzyme immunometric assays with the IMMULITE automated system. At the 10 ng/ml cutoff for T-PSA levels, we obtained a sensitivity of 83% with a specificity of 100% in NP and 80% in BPD. The addition of the F/T ratio--rather than F-PSA levels--was useful to better discriminate PC and BPD in the cases erroneously classified by T-PSA alone: 44/68 samples (65%) were correctly diagnosed. Moreover, the F/T ratio was particularly effective in the critical T-PSA range between 4.1-9.9 ng/ml; 26/40 cases (65%) were correctly evaluated. In conclusion, the F/T ratio seems to be an interesting auxiliary test to T-PSA, to be reserved for selected cases where additional diagnostic information is necessary.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

PSA and bone scintigraphy.

The authors evaluate the role of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and bone scintigraphy in the follow-up of radical prostatectomy-treated and radiotherapy-treated patients. 784 patients were evaluated by simultaneous PSA assay and bone scans. The correlation between PSA levels and extension of bone metastases was good. The frequency of extraskeletal metastases was low: only 13 patients had soft tissue metastases without bone involvement and 33/138 patients with bone metastases had also extraskeletal metastases. The results underline the importance of PSA and the possibility to omit bone scan when the PSA level is below 8 ng/ml in patients who did not undergo anti-androgenic treatments.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Efficacy of 51Cr-EDTA clearance to tailor a carboplatin therapeutic regimen in ovarian cancer patients.

AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 51Cr-EDTA clearance to tailor the carboplatin dose in two different therapeutic regimens of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 14 patients entered the study, eight treated by carboplatin (C) alone and six by C and paclitaxel (P). The dose of C was calculated from the Calvert formula [DOSE(mg) = desired AUC x (GFR + 25)] based on the Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) figure; in our protocol desired Area under the curve (AUC) figure was 5 mg/ml x min. The method used to calculate the GFR requires only 4 blood samples taken in the late part of the disappearance plasmatic curve and conjugates accuracy to an acceptable clinical compliance. RESULTS: In only 5 courses a significant hematological toxicity (HT) was present (4 courses grade 2, 1 course grade 3); it was necessary to delay only 2 courses; no treatment was discontinued because of HT. CONCLUSION: We concluded that there is no summation toxicity of C and P if administered simultaneously and that the assessment of GFR by 51Cr-EDTA clearance is an optimal tool to predict an acceptable toxicity.

Adult↗