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Biomedical subjects

D Nitti

Publications and source records attributed to D Nitti.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

CA 19-9 determination in gastric juice: role in identifying gastric cancer and high risk patients.

Gastric juice CA 19-9 levels were determined in 23 patients affected by gastric cancer, in 57 patients affected by chronic atrophic gastritis of different severities and in 55 'healthy' controls, undergoing endoscopy for upper gastrointestinal tract symptoms. Increased CA 19-9 levels were documented in chronic atrophic gastritis patients as well as in gastric cancer patients, the difference with respect to controls being statistically significant. However, there was considerable overlap between different groups. In particular, gastric cancer patients had CA 19-9 levels similar to those detected in moderate and severe chronic atrophic gastritis. CA 19-9 correlated with gastric juice pH and CEA concentration. Its values were not influenced by the patients' age or sex. In our opinion CA 19-9 gastric juice determination, although not useful in singling out patients harboring gastric neoplasia, may be used in identifying patients 'at risk' for gastric cancer and who might then be referred for more accurate investigations.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Adjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer. The EORTC experience and a review of the literature.

In spite of the improvements in surgical techniques and intensive care therapy, no appreciable improvement in the prognosis for patients with colorectal cancer has been made in recent years. Several types of adjuvant treatment, including radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, have therefore been proposed and used in clinical trials, mainly in the United States and western Europe. The results obtained by the Gastrointestinal Group of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), using preoperative radiation therapy with 3450 rads, are reported here; this therapy results in a reduction in the number of local recurrences and also appears to prolong the five-year survival period, although a longer follow-up is required to confirm this. According to the Gastrointestinal Tumor Study Group (GITSG), postoperative radiation therapy with chemotherapy seems to prolong the tumor-free interval in stages B2 and C when compared to surgery alone. Nonspecific immunotherapy does not appear to improve surgical results either in terms of local recurrences or survival. Some clinical trials suggest that systemic polychemotherapy benefit subgroups of patients with colorectal cancer. Toxicity is still very high, however; 5-FU is the more active and safe single agent but, due to the low response rate, it appears essential to identify new, more active drugs. Particular attention has been focused recently on prophylactic infusion chemotherapy of the liver, and clinical trials are now being made by several groups, including the EORTC. Preliminary results seem to show a reduced incidence of liver metastases in patients infused with 5-FU after radical surgery. Adjuvant therapy in colorectal cancer patients undergoing radical surgery has so far given encouraging results. Future results are awaited with optimism, but they must be achieved through prospective clinical trials conducted by well-organized cooperative groups.

Antineoplastic Agents↗
PubMed1985

CEA and ferritin in chronic pancreatic disease: a comparative evaluation.

CEA and ferritin were determined in 90 subjects with the aim of comparing their value in the diagnosis of pancreatic malignancy. Ferritin was shown to be more sensitive than CEA in detecting pancreatic cancer patients (68.4% and 57.9%, respectively) all of whom were, however, in an inoperable stage. In contrast, CEA showed a higher specificity as compared to ferritin (77.4% and 47.2%, respectively), the latter being frequently increased in inflammatory conditions such as chronic pancreatitis. The simultaneous assessment of CEA and ferritin showed the highest sensitivity when either parameter was found to be pathological and the highest specificity when both were. The receiver-operating characteristic curves demonstrated that CEA is more discriminating than ferritin for all serum values. Neither ferritin nor CEA may be considered a practically suitable marker of pancreatic cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Combined evaluation of serum ribonuclease and ferritin: any advantages in pancreatic cancer diagnosis?

In 116 subjects, serum ribonuclease (RNase) and ferritin were determined in order to evaluate whether their combined evaluation might improve the diagnostic accuracy of each test. Significantly higher levels were found in pancreatic cancer patients both for RNase and ferritin than in control subjects and chronic pancreatitis. Sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing pancreatic cancer were 86% and 46%, respectively for RNase; 76% and 65% for ferritin. One of the two tests was pathological in 100% of pancreatic cancer, with a specificity of 29.9%; both were pathological in 62.1%, with a specificity of 82.1%. The results emphasize the limits of the combined assessment of pancreatic cancer markers.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Carcinoembryonic antigen in gastric juice collected during endoscopy. Value in detecting high-risk patients and gastric cancer.

In order to ascertain the role of gastric carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) determination in detecting patients with a risk for gastric cancer, 69 subjects were studied; 23 were referred for endoscopy because of dyspepsia but without obvious macroscopic lesions, 27 with duodenal ulcer, 11 with benign gastric ulcer, 8 with gastric cancer. The following results were obtained by subdividing the material according to the histologic interpretation of the results of gastric mucosal biopsies: (1) in the presence of minor histologic abnormalities of the gastric mucosa, CEA in gastric juice was under 100 ng/ml in all but five cases; and (2) in moderate or severe chronic atrophic gastritis (associated or otherwise with intestinal metaplasia or dysplasia), and in gastric cancer, gastric CEA ranged between 224 and 3120 ng/ml in all but two cases. Although not diagnostic for gastric cancer, gastric CEA is a promising test in detecting patients at risk, including those with dysplasia of the gastric mucosa.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Serum ferritin in pancreatic disease. An accurate test of malignancy?

Serum ferritin, described as increased in patients with pancreatic cancer, was studied in 109 subjects by an immunoradiometric technique in order to assess its reliability in detecting pancreatic malignancy. A significant increase of serum ferritin was found in pancreatic cancer as compared to controls (p less than 0.01), to calcifying (p less than 0.05), non-calcifying (p less than 0.05), and recurrent (p less than 0.01) chronic pancreatitis. Nevertheless, high levels of serum ferritin were found in 10 out of the 36 chronic pancreatitis patients and in 10 out of the 26 patients with non-pancreatic diseases, whilst values within the normal range were detected in 6 out of the 22 pancreatic cancer patients. These data suggest that serum ferritin, although frequently increased in pancreatic cancer, cannot be considered a marker of pancreatic malignancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Ovarian function after pelvic lymph node irradiation in patients with Hodgkin's disease submitted to oophoropexy during laparotomy.

Staging laparotomy for Hodgkin's disease was carried out on 110 women in fertile age at the General Surgery Department of Padua Medical School from 1972 to 1977. An oophoropexy was done during the operation. According to the stage the patients underwent radiation therapy that was associated in some cases to chemotherapy. Complete evaluation was possible only in 66 patients. Eighteen out of the 66 had mantle field and para-aortic lymph node chain radiotherapy. One case of amenorrhoea (5.5%) and five pregnancies (27.8%), were found among them. Nineteen had the same type of radiotherapy with MOPP. 3 cases of amenorrhoea (15.8%) and 3 pregnancies (15.8%) were found. Five had total nodal irradiation (TNI) according to Kaplan and all of them had amenorrhoea (100%). Twenty four had TNI associated to MOPP with 24 cases of amenorrhoea (100%). Our results slightly differ from those of other Authors. They showed: 1) that the oophoropexy is not effective using standard surgical technique (probably because of the size of the central shielding) as it causes amenorrhoea in 100% of the cases; 2) the incidence of permanent amenorrhoea from chemotherapy with MOPP is the same as reported by other Authors; 3) the absence of teratogenic effects by chemotherapy in newborns of these patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

CEA concentration and cytology in duodenal fluid collected during the Secretin-Pancreozymin test. Attempt at an early diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma by means of simple procedure.

CEA concentration in juice collected during the Secretin-Pancreozymin test, and cytology were evaluated in order to establish whether they may be used as an aid in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma before resorting to x-ray examinations. Thirty-three subjects were studied: 6 normal subjects, 12 with chronic pancreatitis, 3 after recovery from acute pancreatitis, 8 with gall-stones, 3 with carcinoma of the pancreas and 1 with cancer of the biliary tract. Three duodenal juice samples (at 30, 60 and 90 mins of hormonal infusion) were taken in each subject for CEA, cytology, bicarbonate and trypsin determinations. Although a significant statistical difference was noted between normal subjects and patients with carcinoma of the pancreas in the 30-min-juice sample, CEA concentration in the duodenal juice did not seem a reliable index in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma. The information provided by cytology was also very scanty and sometimes misleading. The clinical picture and radiological investigation still remain the surest basis for the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Circulating antibodies in malignant melanoma patients.

Sera from 46 patients with malignant melanoma (MM) in different clinical stages and from 25 healthy blood donors were studied by an indirect conventional immunofluorescent technique (IIT) and by an immunofluorescent complement-fixation test (ICFT). No specific and reliable serological reactivity could be demonstrated against autologous and homologous MM and other nonmalignant pigmented tissues. An increased incidence of diffused antinuclear (ANA; 41%) and cytoplasmic epidermal cell autoantibodies (A-CYT; 71%) was observed in the patients by IIT. Statistical evaluation of the results gave significant values in the chi 2 test in patients for ANA (chi 2 = 5.2061; p less than 0.05) and for A-CYT (chi 2 = 8.9176; p less than 0.01) versus age-matched controls. Thyroid microsomal, gastric parietal cell, smooth muscle and mitochondria autoantibodies were, respectively, detected in 4.3, 4.3, 4.3 and 0% of patients' sera.

Antibodies, Neoplasm↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Absence of the cell cycle inhibitor p27Kip1 protein predicts poor outcome in patients with stage I-III colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The p27Kip1 protein regulates the G1 to S phase transition of cell cycle by binding to and inhibiting the cyclin E/Cdk2 complex. This study explores the prognostic significance of the absence of the p27Kip1 protein in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). METHODS: Formalin-fixed tumor sections from 124 patients who underwent curative resection for stage I-III CRC were analyzed by immunohistochemistry using MoAb anti-p27KiP1. RESULTS: Detectable levels of p27Kip1 protein were found in 86% of tumors. Median follow-up was 55 months. Actuarial 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were 76% and 85%, respectively, in patients with tumors with p27Kip1 protein expression and 34% and 40%, respectively, in those whose tumors lacked p27Kip1 protein expression (P < .001). At multivariate analysis, tumor stage (III vs. I-II) and p27Kip1 protein status (absence vs. presence) were found to be independent prognostic factors for DFS and OS. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of p27KiP1 protein expression in CRC is a negative prognostic marker and may therefore be useful in selecting early-stage patients more likely to benefit from adjuvant treatment.

Adenocarcinoma↗