Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

V Ziparo

Publications and source records attributed to V Ziparo.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

[The echographic aspects of the splenoportal axis in patients with esophageal varices].

In the present study the A. try to assess the usefulness of ultrasound in detecting blending risk in portal hypertension. Endoscopic and sonographic findings of 35 cirrhotic patients with esophageal varices were compared to a control group of 27 hepatopathy patients without portal hypertension, observed in the same department and in the same interval. The medium caliber of portal vein was 14.64 +/- 2.59 and 11.8 +/- 1.33 mm, respectively in the study and in the control group (p less than 0.01). Statistic correlations were also found in subgroups of patients with varices of different degrees. A portal vein greater than 16 mm was found in 10 of 11 patients with large varices; this pattern provides a sensitivity of 71.4% and a specificity of 94.1%. In our experience this echographic finding should represents a clear indication for close endoscopic follow-up, even in patients without previous bleeding from esophageal varices.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[Indications and limitations of the surgical treatment of portal hypertension].

The authors report a review of the literature and describe their personal experience with treating esophageal varices; all types of surgical approaches (selective and total shunts, esophageal transection) are examined and compared to the results obtained with non surgical treatment (particularly endoscopic sclerotherapy). Indications and results of surgical treatment are discussed from three definitive viewpoints: prevention of first bleeding or prophylactic treatment, control of acute bleeding or emergency treatment and prevention of rebleeding or elective treatment.

Esophageal and Gastric Varices↗
PubMed1990

Lactitol in the treatment of chronic hepatic encephalopathy--a randomized cross-over comparison with lactulose.

The effect of lactitol, a new non-absorbable disaccharide, in the treatment of chronic hepatic encephalopathy was assessed in 14 cirrhotic patients with non-selective portosystemic anastomosis in a randomized, cross-over study. At the time of inclusion, all patients showed alterations in mental state, and/or psychometric performance, and in the electroencephalogram. Moreover, 10 out of 14 patients suffered from recurrent episodes of hepatic encephalopathy in the 12 months prior to the study. Patients were randomly treated for two consecutive periods of six months with either lactitol or lactulose. The PSE index was calculated to quantify the neuro-psychiatric impairment. Twelve patients completed the study. The patients required a daily dose of 38.2 g +/- 19 of lactulose or 36.3 g +/- 5 of lactitol to produce two semi-soft stools per day. No deterioration in the mental state or in the other neuro-psychiatric parameters were observed, neither during lactitol nor during lactulose therapy. During the study, mild episodes of recurrent encephalopathy occurred in 60% of the patients taking lactulose, and in 25% of the patients taking lactitol, the difference not being significant (X = 1.54, p = 0.21). Flatulence, the major side-effect noted during the study, was present in 7 of the 12 patients during lactulose treatment, and in 2 patients during lactitol treatment; one patient on lactitol complained of nausea. The side effects which occurred during lactitol of the dosage, while those occurring during lactitol appeared when the dosage was higher than 40 g. Lactitol may be considered at least as effective as lactulose in the treatment of chronic hepatic encephalopathy.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[Changes in the lymphocyte subpopulations in a patient with orthotopic transplant of the liver].

Earlier experimental studies have shown that the cyclosporin immunosuppressive effect (CsA) can be modulated by drug timing as well as dose. More specifically treatment during the night was constantly associated with a statistically significant improvement in the prevention or delay of allograft rejection. The present study reports on the circadian variations in T-lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood of a patient given an orthotopic liver allograft and treated with CsA and steroids. In particular, a statistically significant circadian rhythm (p = 0.012) was observed for the T-helper (OKT4) subset with a peak time (acrophase) occurring during the night at 4:27 A.M. In this patient, CsA treatment was, therefore, adapted to the T-helper cycle with the aim of marching CsA blood level variations to that curve. The results suggest that CsA timing can provide a tool for daily dose reduction and then improve the success rate of drug treatment.

Antigens, Surface↗
PubMed1989

Lactitol in prevention of recurrent episodes of hepatic encephalopathy in cirrhotic patients with portal-systemic shunt.

Recurrent episodes of hepatic encephalopathy (HE) frequently occur in surgically shunted cirrhotic patients. The prevention of these episodes is based mainly on the long-term use of lactulose. Recently, lactitol, a nonabsorbable disaccharide similar to lactulose, has been proposed as an alternative in the management of HE. It has the advantage of being better tolerated and producing a more predictable catharsis. The effects of the two agents were compared in a controlled randomized study lasting six months involving 31 cirrhotic patients with portal-systemic shunt, of whom 40% experienced HE. The PSE index (mental state, EEG, asterixis, Raitan test, and ammonia) was assessed in each patient on entry to the study and every three months during treatment. Episodes of HE, side effects, and the patients' comments on efficacy, tolerability, and palatability were recorded. The dose required to induce two bowel movements per day was 48 +/- 25 ml of lactulose syrup and 36 +/- 7 g of lactitol. During the study, the number of patients who had an episode of HE and the PSE index was similar in both groups. The patients judged lactitol better from the point of view of palatability. Meteorism and flatulence, experienced by patients treated with lactulose, was not reported by the lactitol group. We concluded that lactitol is as effective as lactulose in the long-term prevention of episodes of HE in cirrhotics with portal-systemic shunt and may be better tolerated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Management of esophageal varices in the Western world--the state of the art.

The treatment by Western countries of bleeding from esophageal varices was reviewed from three definite viewpoints: prevention of first bleeding or prophylactic treatment, control of acute bleeding or emergency treatment, and prevention of rebleeding or elective treatment. Even though prophylactic surgery has been abandoned on the basis of several randomized studies, some authors still perform esophageal transection and report encouraging results. In emergency situations, the role of surgery has been limited by the prohibitive hospital mortality and by the introduction of vasoactive drugs and endoscopic sclerotherapy. Nevertheless, good immediate and long term results have been obtained in specialized centers in which bleeding patients undergo surgery no later than 8 hours after their admission. As regards the prevention of rebleeding, non selective portal decompression gives adequate protection against rebleeding, however, hepatoencephalopathy follows in considerable incidence. In order to avoid this complication, direct operations on varices have been performed, largely with good results. The Warren shunt offers results showing advantage over the non-selective shunt in the first postoperative period but later on, it behaves hemodynamically as a total shunt and the advantage is then cancelled. We report herein a review of the literature and also describe our personal experience with treating bleeding esophageal varices.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed1985

Role of delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity reaction in classifying patients with bronchial carcinoma.

Cell-mediated immune response was evaluated in 150 patients with histologically confirmed bronchopulmonary carcinoma using bacterial and fungal recall antigens injected intradermally (PPD, candida, trichophyton). In the study group negative skin test reaction was found in 51 of 150 patients (34.0%), whereas in the control population it was found in 5 of 33 cases (15.1%) (p less than 0.05). Histologic cell type and stage of disease were defined for each patient. It was possible to calculate the growth rate of the primary tumor only in 68 of 150 patients, and it was recorded as doubling time. Evaluation of the skin test reaction in each prognostic subgroup showed no statistically significant differences. The only statistically significant differences were found when each prognostic subgroup was compared with the control population according to the frequency of a negative response to the skin test, particularly in stage III M1 (p less than 0.05) and stage III M0 (p less than 0.02). The delayed cutaneous hypersensitivity studied with recall antigen stimulation was mainly correlated with the stage of disease, and it should not be considered as an independent prognostic factor.

Candida↗
PubMed1984

Spontaneous motor activity increases after portacaval anastomosis in rats.

Spontaneous motor activity was monitored in rats at various times, up to 14 weeks, after portacaval anastomosis (PCA) or sham operation. Total 24 hour activity scores rose significantly after PCA and remained significantly higher than those of sham operated rats for twelve weeks. After PCA, activity during the twelve hour lighted period was greatly increased, whereas dark period activity was unchanged. Increased activity in the light period was found to be well correlated with the degree of elevation in brain concentrations of tryptophan, tyrosine, phenylalanine and glutamine. These results are consistent with previously reported EEG studies and suggest that motor-activity measurement may facilitate the correlation of biochemical changes with behaviour in rats with portal systemic shunting.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1981

Exaggerated glucagon secretion in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects with surgical porto-caval anastomosis.

Pancreatic glucagon (IRG) levels in the postabsorptive (fasting) state and in response to arginine test (ATT), have been investigated in 17 subjects with porto-caval anastomosis (PCA). Out of these, seven subjects were insulin-treated diabetics, 5 were untreated diabetics, and 5 had no evidence of clinical diabetes. Basal and stimulated IRG values in the overall group of PCA subjects were significantly increased in comparison to 14 normal controls. No significant difference was found between the three groups of patients in respect to IRG values. The mean fasting IRG levels, grouped in relation to the age of shunt, were significantly raised six months after surgery. In addition no significant difference in IRG values (fasting or stimulated) was observed in relation to the entity of the liver disease (child degree) or to the type of surgical shunt. Finally, when PCA patients with or without encephalopathy were considered, fasting and peak IRG values were significantly increased in those patients with encephalopathy.

Arginine↗
PubMed1981

A randomized controlled trial of mesentericocaval shunt with autologous jugular vein.

After a large uncontrolled experience, in April 1976, a randomized clinical trial between side-to-side portacaval anastomosis and a mesentericocaval shunt with internal jugular vein interposition was initiated. Up to April 1979, 23 patients were operated upon with a mesentericocaval shunt and 26 with a portacaval anastomosis. With a mean follow-up time of 23 months, no statistically significant differences in terms of operative mortality, hepatic encephalopathy and long term survival were found between the two operations. Therefore, a mesentericocaval shunt does not appear to offer effective advantages compared with the portacaval anastomosis, and it should be performed in particular instances in which, for anatomic reasons, a portacaval anastomosis cannot be performed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Hyperammonaemia, plasma aminoacid imbalance, and blood-brain aminoacid transport: a unified theory of portal-systemic encephalopathy.

It is proposed that hyperammonaemia in liver cirrhosis or after portacaval shunt contributes to plasma neutral aminoacid imbalance and to increased activity of the blood-brain neutral amino-acid transport system. Plasma neutral aminoacid concentrations are deranged, partly, but not completely, because ammonia stimulates glucagon secretion; a high rate of gluconeogenesis and hyperinsulinaemia follow. Brain uptake of neutral aminoacids rises because ammonia stimulates brain-glutamine synthesis, which results in rapid exchange of brain glutamine for plasma neutral aminoacids. Hyperammonaemia therefore contributes to encephalopathy indirectly, by raising the brain concentration of neutral aminoacids which after neurotransmitter metabolism, rather than directly, by toxic effects on neuronal metabolism.

Amino Acids, Branched-Chain↗
PubMed1979

Brain tryptophan and the neoplastic anorexia-cachexia syndrome.

The cause of anorexia associated with neoplasia is unknown, and some investigators have suggested a central mechanism. Recent neurophysiologic studies have revealed the possible role of serotoninergic system involving tryptophan (TRP) and its indole neurotransmitter metabolites in regulating particular aspects of feeding behavior. We therefore studied plasma and brain factors affecting TRP transport through the blood-brain barrier (plasma free and total TRP, albumin, nonesterified fatty acids, plasma neutral amino acids, brain uptake index [BUI] for TRP) and central serotonin metabolism (5-HT, 5-HIAA) in young, anorexic rats bearing the Walker-256 tumor injected intramuscularly. Plasma free TRP, but not plasma total TRP, and, more important, brain TRP and brain 5-HIAA were significantly higher in tumor-bearing rats than in pair-fed control animals. The results suggest an association between altered brain TRP metabolism and feeding behavior in tumor-related anorexia.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Alterations in plasma and CSF amino acids, amines and metabolites in hepatic coma.

The dog with an end-to-side portacaval shunt (PCS) has been extensively used as a model to investigate hepatic encephalopathy (HE) as it demonstrates a plasma amino acid pattern similar to patients with chronic liver disease. In adult mongrel dogs, the effect of PCS on plasma and CSF amino acids, octopamine (OCT), phenylethanolamine (PEA) and CSF 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5-HIAA), were studied. Moreover, the effect of correction of plasma amino acids by infusional techniques was investigated.Tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine levels increased dramatically during the development of HE in plasma and CSF, while valine, leucine and isoleucine decreased in plasma only, but CSF levels remained stable. Plasma and CSF octopamine and phenylethanolamine and CSF 5-HIAA increased markedly as clinical features in the dogs' behavior, characteristic of hepatic encephalopathy occurred, including hypersalivation, ataxia, flapping tremor, somnolence and finally coma. Once in coma, the dogs were infused with an amino acid mixture (F080) calculated to normalize the plasma amino acid pattern. After one to eight hours, the dogs began to awake. Simultaneously, blood, and CSF aromatic amino acids returned to their control values, as did OCT, PEA and CSF 5-HIAA. If F080 infusion was stopped, biochemical alterations would appear within one week, again accompanied by clinical hepatic encephalopathy.The results indicate that the altered levels of aromatic and branched chain amino acids, octopamine and PEA in plasma and CSF correlate well with the development of HE and that correction of the plasma amino acid abnormalities improves encephalopathy simultaneously with correction of neurotransmitter derangements in CSF.

Amines↗