Clinical trials or exploitation?
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Claudia Cirillo.
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Ovarian cysts are a common pathology after the 4th decade of life. We can find either smaller functional, non-neoplastic ones (belonging to the follicular and luteinic varieties) or larger tumoral cysts, which, however, are usually benign. These may be of the serous or mucinous type and can sometimes reach really large sizes. Reports of giant ovarian manifestations were more frequent a few decades ago. Prior to the advent of modern radiological, ultrasonographic, tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging techniques, diagnosis was often difficult. Nevertheless, even today, in some cases (as a result of pronounced obesity, for example, associated perhaps with diagnostic negligence), cases of giant ovarian cysts may still be encountered. We report the case of a (previously obese) 19-year-old female, admitted to our hospital for presumed ascites, identified and ultrasonographically misdiagnosed by her gynaecologist. The patient was, in fact, suffering from giant serous cystoadenomas in both ovaries.
This study was conducted from September 2000 to September 2004 on 8 cases of inguinal canal endometriosis. All the patients presented an inguinocrural tumefaction of variable size. In 3 cases (symptomatic endometriosis), the patient's medical history yielded a preoperative diagnosis. In the other 5 cases (asymptomatic endometriosis) we obtained an incidental intraoperative diagnosis. In 2 of these, concomitant frank inguinocrural disease further hampered the preoperative diagnosis, while in the other 3 cases we were oriented towards an inguinal adeno-lymphatic disease. We found no signs of neoplastic transformation in our case series. The histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of endometriosis in all 8 cases, without any atypical cellular signs. From an analysis of the literature we deduced that the worldwide incidence of endometriosis is about 10% of the female population, though it is known that in the vast majority of cases there are few or no symptoms. Even today, despite the routine use of advanced diagnostic and surgical procedures, endometriosis foci are very often identified only incidentally owing to the greater incidence of asymptomatic or paucisymptomatic forms. The aim of our study is to stress the difficulty in diagnosing asymptomatic endometriosis and, above all, to suggest that, in the presence of a concomitant hernial pathology in a woman of child-bearing age, the diagnostic hypothesis of endometriosis should never be disregarded.
The clinical case reported here concerns a giant lipoma (22 x 12 x 10 cm; 2740 g) located in the distal region of the right thigh, in a subfascial zone. The patient was referred to our department for a relapse of thrombophlebitis of the right lower limb (occurring about two years earlier) and presented a large tumefaction of the mid third of thigh at objective examination, the presumed onset of which dated back about ten years after a traumatic accident. Ultrasonography confirmed the presence of the tumefaction but did not allow us to identify its origin with certainty. Musculoskeletal magnetic resonance imaging, however, revealed a gross expansive lesion closely connected to the distal part of the femur, suggesting its probable benign nature. The mass was totally resected without either muscle section or the sacrifice of periosteum. The histological findings indicated an atypical lipomatous tumour. The therapy of giant lipomas is invariably surgical excision. Nevertheless, the high risk of relapse (which is typical of this kind of neoplastic proliferation) despite radical resection, makes a systematic postoperative follow-up necessary.
AIM OF THE STUDY: The Authors report on a patient personally observed owing to a tumefaction, mimicking a pomelo, located on the posterior chest wall, in the same site of another past surgical operation dating back to four years ago. This tumefaction was clear at the inspection, not aching and hard-elastic at the palpation, mobile synchronously with respiratory movements, but unable to alter respiratory mechanics. CASE REPORT: The patient was subjected to laboratory tests, which showed nothing pathological, and to instrumental tests (RX and TAC of the chest, bony scintigraphy) which showed a roundish solid tumefaction, with no "secondary" interest of bony tissue. In this case, it was executed a posterior-lateral thoracothomy, at the VI intercostal space, in the area circumscribing the past surgical scar. The careful removal of the adhesions between the mass and the costal plane, not without the sacrifice of the periosteum, permitted us the total exeresis. The anatomo-pathological test showed a desmoid fibromatosis (desmoid tumor) extra-abdominal (12.5 x 9 x 5 cm). About this kind of neoplastic masses, the risk of post-surgical relapse is very high; so many Authors consider opportune a radio-chemical adjuvant therapy. In this case, the radical excision allowed the Authors to avoid the post surgery pharmacological treatment and to get no relapses after two years from the operation.