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Biomedical subjects

G Navarra

Publications and source records attributed to G Navarra.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Intraoperative H/R echography for carotid surgery.

BACKGROUND: Intraoperative duplex examination can be used during carotid surgery to identify small technical defects (like anastomotic stenosis, intimal flaps or subintimal wall dissections) that cannot be easily found by palpatory manoeuvres. The objective of this clinical study is to correlate intraoperative duplex findings with early postoperative complications and with duplex data obtained during follow-up. METHODS: From January 1993 to January 1996 we compared early and late postoperative complications that occurred after carotid surgery in two groups of patients: a group of 120 patients undergone intraoperative duplex compared with a group of 100 patients not undergone intraoperative ultrasound. RESULTS: The percentages of early and late postoperative complications which occurred in the first group were respectively 7.5% and 4.2% contrary to 10% and 7% occurred in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Duplex constitutes a selective intraoperative method for carotid surgery, easy to use, enable to identify and immediately correct technical defects.

Aged↗

[The preoperative staging of rectal cancer. A comparative assessment between endorectal echography and pelvic CT].

The authors report a comparative study between endorectal ultrasonography (EU) and computed tomography (CT) in the preoperative assessment of 94 patients with rectal cancer. In evaluating the depth of wall penetration of rectal tumors EUS and CT offered good results: EUS confirmed a clear superiority with overall accuracy of 88.4% versus 80% of CT. On the contrary, in detecting lymph node metastases both techniques had poor results obtaining a correct diagnosis in 75.6% of the cases with EUS and in 69.4% of the cases with CT. In conclusion, the authors believe that EUS and CT may by very useful in the study of tumor penetration of the rectal wall; while in the study of lymph node involvement new techniques for a more accurate diagnosis are needed.

Adult↗

[Emergency laparoscopic surgery].

The acute abdomen continues to be a large part of the general surgeon's workload. The continuing advances in laparoscopic surgery have already permitted many emergency procedures to be performed by this route. Since 1993 the Authors perform an explorative laparoscopy in patients with acute abdomen. Once the diagnosis is verified, the endoscopic view suggests to continue the intervention laparoscopically or to convert the procedure. 70 acute cholecystitis, 57 acute appendicitis, 15 perforated peptic ulcers, 6 gynaecological emergencies, 8 intestinal occlusions and 2 splenic traumas were treated according to this approach. The results obtained testify that laparoscopy is a valuable diagnostic tool for the surgeon in case of acute abdomen and an interesting therapeutic alternative in selected cases. However, it requires extensive experience in laparoscopic techniques.

Abdomen, Acute↗

Cholesterol vesicles in areas of gastric metaplasia of gallbladder epithelium.

Gastric metaplasia is a frequent epithelial change in gallbladder of lithiasic patients. Particles consistent with cholesterol-containing vesicles were searched in areas overlying gastric metaplastic cells, in gastric metaplastic cells, in areas overlying normal-looking epithelial cells and in normal-looking epithelial cells in 25 patients with radiolucent calculi and 10 control patients undergoing cholecystectomy for other reasons. Important trends were found confirming the peculiar role of mucous layer adherent to metaplastic gallbladder epithelium in beginning the nucleation process and interesting pictures concerning the formation of uni- and multilamellar vesicles in these "nucleating areas" were seen.

Adult↗

[Experimental study of postoperative lavage: standardization of the method].

Postoperative infections are an outstanding problem in a surgical department. We have been studying them from a clinical and experimental point of view has a long time. In this study we present a method standardisation of postoperative peritoneal lavage as prevention of surgical infections. Winstar mice, infected with intra peritoneal E. coli cultures, underwent peritoneal lavage with saline solution or sterile water. The results showed the right amount of solution and the exact administration of lavage according to grade of infection. Encouraged by this result we are going to test the efficacy of anti microbial agents for the postoperative peritoneal lavage.

Animals↗

[Surgical treatment of cervical fistula after esophagogastroplasty (EGP)].

The authors report their experience on cervical anastomosis dehiscence in patients who had total esophagectomy and esophagogastroplasty for esophageal neoplasms. They describe, accurately and step by step, the plastic reconstructive technique (by using a vascularized transposed cutaneous flap), used to treat a symptomatic cervical fistula which occurred in 3 of the 24 patients who had esophagectomy and cervical-esophagogastroplasty. This kind of treatment led to complete healing of the fistulas, without clinical and radiological signs of fistula recurrence in all the patients treated.

Anastomosis, Surgical↗

Gasless video-assisted reversal of Hartmann's procedure.

More than 60% of patients who are submitted to Hartmann's procedure refuse to undergo reversal. This procedure is in fact a major undertaking associated with significantly mortality and morbidity rates. The authors suggest a minimally invasive approach without pneumoperitoneum. A consecutive series of four male patients, average age 64 years, underwent laparoscopic assisted reversal of Hartmann's procedure in our department. The procedure was performed for intestinal malignant occlusion in two cases and for perforated diverticulitis in the other two. Mobilization was nearly immediate and incisional pain almost absent; peristalsis restarted after 36-48 h. Finally, the patients were discharged on day 6. Neither mortality nor morbidity occurred in the 8-month follow-up period. The authors conclude that this new laparoscopic procedure may lead to shorter hospital stays and increased acceptance by patients, while maintaining the same safety of the traditional open procedure.

Colon, Sigmoid↗

[Laparoscopic treatment of Mirizzi's syndrome].

The Mirizzi syndrome is an unusual benign obstructive jaundice due to extrinsic mechanical compression of the common hepatic duct by gallstone impacted within the neck or cystic duct of the gallbladder. This syndrome is described either as an acute form due only to extrinsic compression of the common bile duct (type I) or as a chronic form resulting in an erosive cholecysto-choledochal fistula (type II). Up to date, the syndrome remains a clinically and surgically challenging problem. The anatomic basic of the syndrome (an anomalous relationship between the cystic duct and the common hepatic duct) when associated with inflammation and interbiliary fistula predisposes to a critical situation to be clearly detected and contributes to technical difficulties when surgical management is performed. The operative diagnosis of Mirizzi syndrome remains elusive and requires careful scrutiny of the biliary tract imaging to recognize the diseased duct system and to facilitate the following operative procedures. The surgical treatment requires a skill and careful operative dissection of the duct system, cholecystectomy and a safe biliary exploration and stone clearance, avoiding any iatrogenic damage to common hepatic duct. Laparotomy is commonly advocated as the safer approach to the diseased biliary tract and it is still employed by most authors. The laparoscopic surgery has not yet entered as the first-choice procedure for this syndrome due to jaundice and acute inflammation considered by some as contraindication to mini-invasive treatment. This paper describes successful surgical management by laparoscopic techniques in two patients affected by Mirizzi type I and type II syndrome treated by cholecystectomy alone and cholecystectomy with choledochal fistula flap repair, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗

[Use of PGE1 in severe ischemia of the lower extremities. Clinical study].

Lower limb critical ischemia is a clinical condition typical of patients with severe chronic obstructive arterial disease (Fontaine's IIIb and IV degree). This condition often leads to amputation of the limb involved. The authors present to the use PGE1 in 50 patients with Fontaine's IIIb-IV degree chronic obstructive arterial disease of lower limbs in which the indication of amputation was done. All the patients, admitted to the emergency ward, complain of rest pain and distal ulcers. The administration of PG5(1) was given as follows: 40 mg/bid/e.v./20 days. A 6 months long follow-up was installed with the instrumental evaluation of: Transcutaneous oxygen pressure; Distal blood perfusion with Doppler; cardiac pulse; blood pressure. Eighteen patients became to a Fontaine's II degree during the next 2 months after therapy, 25 patients came back to a severe claudicatio: of them 18 underwent successfully vascular surgery, 7 underwent amputation of the lower limb. In 7 patients the PGE1 did not influence the natural progression of the disease. Among the side-effects of therapy we can mention: headache (4%), erythema and pain of injected vein (8%), sick (4%). All the side effects were transient and never led to interruption of therapy.

Aged↗

[Video-assisted mediastinoscopy: clinical uses].

The experience with video-assisted mediastinoscopy in 16 cases examined, is reported. Initially the classic mediastinoscopic device with the aid of an operative thoracoscopy was used. Starting from April 1994 the Authors used the video-assisted mediastinoscopy which, enlarging the surgical field, allows to improve the operative performance and may be a good aid for multiple teaching.

Humans↗

[Pleural drainage vs video-assisted minimally invasive surgery in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. A retrospective study].

The most frequent cause of spontaneous pneumothorax is bleb's disease of the lung. Considering that, pnx s. has a remarkable bent for relapsing, we think that it's necessary an aggressive treatment to resolve it. That's because pleural drainage is useful for a symptomatic resolution, VATS for an etiologycal one. To value the real efficacy of the treatment of VATS, we have effected a retrospective research between two classes of patients suffering from pnx s. admitted in our Institute from 1987 until 1991, one treated with pleural drainage (class A, 11 patients) and the other with VATS (class B, 13 patients). 1) Patients treated with pleural drainage were nearly double compared to class B. 2) In class A, the mean value of drainages were nearly double compared to class B. 3) Class A had a number of relapses 10 times more compared to B. 4) Considering the period of hospitalization, class A had a value nearly triple compared to B. 5) We've noticed that the mean value of the cost for episode of pnx s. in class A was more than 15% compared to class B and the cost for patient in class A was nearly double than in class B. We can affirm that, for the treatment of pnx s., the method of VATS rappresents a real success. We're passed from the "symptomatological treatment" of it to an aetiological one, joined to the prophylaxis of the relapse.

Drainage↗

[Video-assisted atypical resection of peripheral lung nodules localized using CT-guided wires. First clinical experiences].

One of the reasons for the rapidly expanding use of thoracoscopic surgery as an alternative to thoracotomy, is the excision of peripheral lung nodules. Nodules judged too small or too far from the pleural surface to be seen during thoracoscopy, must be localized beforehand. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of percutaneous placement of needle hook-wires to locate such nodules before surgery. Under Ct guidance 5 nodules were pre-operatively identified in 4 patients. The thoracoscopic resection of the lesions was done without complication, in 1 patient the operation had to be converted into an open one to dislodge of the wire. CT-guided hook-wire localization is easily and safely performed and permits thoracoscopic resection of lung nodules, which otherwise might be impossible.

Aged↗

[Treatment with immunomodulating drugs of patients with operated cancer. Long-term results].

The authors produce a new course of study in order to verify the efficacy of immunomodulatory treatment in cancer-operated patients. In the General Surgical Clinic and Surgical Therapy Institute of University of Ferrara, from July '86 to June '92, 582 cancer-operated patients were treated by immunomodulatory drugs, making use of standard of absolute random. A group (100 patients) was subjected to peroperative anticontagious immunoprophylaxis; B group (482 patients) to postoperative cyclic immunomodulation; in this last group, were codified C group (166 patients) and D group (63 patients), controlled in follow-up, making use of 3 parameters: survival, clinical-oncological restage, performance status. The results obtained confirm the efficacy of the proposed immunomodulatory treatment: a reduction of incidence both early infections and late infections, an increase of survival, falls in clinical-oncological stage to less advanced levels and, above all, an improvement of performance status.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

["Simulated walking" in the duplex evaluation of the venous system. The clinical and instrumental correlations].

The goals of non-invasive duplex vascular diagnosis of the venous system of the lower limbs are: 1) To make evaluation of the venous system during deambulation feasible under physiological, pathological and post-surgical or elastocompressive conditions. Moreover, any such evaluation must be achieved using a standardized, easy, highly reproducibly method which is inexpensive and utilizes the diagnostic instruments available. 2) To achieve detailed, selective localization of the valvular and parietal dysfunctions at the basis of any reflux pathology. 3) To identify and quantify venous flux and reflux during deambulation. The present work gives the results achieved over the period of one year after a new method simulating deambulation (Walk System 1 patented) was set up for several utilizations, principally correlated to the use of conventional duplex scanning in studying the venous system. The main purpose of the Walk System 1 is step simulation to uncover the location and extent of venous disease. This application test of: a pneumatic pump which compresses the calf to 100-120 mmHg in 0.3 sec thus simulating muscolar pumping during deambulation; standard 40 mmHg compression of the foot in order to rule out any hemodynamic involvement of the foot pump venous system. We can use this pump in the hemodynamic component, a part, during the step simulation, with synchronism with calf pump in TVP prophylaxis or in vascular therapy; an easy-to-use application software able to quickly pulsed Doppler data of flux and reflux by means of the flux and reflux orthodynamic indices or with measures in ml/sec. The study was performed on 80 lower limbs in normal subjects in order to define the normality range and in 380 lower pathologic limbs. The study has yielded a clinical-instrumental correlation between the hemodynamic data observed during inflation-deflation of the calf cuff, positioning the pulsed Doppler sample volume in the saphenous vein in the saphenous-femoral ostium zone and the underlying venous morphology. The results have made it possible to determine physiological S-F reflux and to establish 4 pathological classes of orthodynamic S-F reflux, each class corresponding to a specific range in the orthodynamic reflux index (class 0 = 0 < RI < 0.25; class 1 = 0.25 < RI < 2; class 2 = 2 < RI < 3.5; class 3 = 3.5 < RI < 6; class 4 = RI > 5) and to a particular morphological conditions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

Primary leiomyosarcoma of the aorta: report of a case and review of the literature.

Leiomyosarcoma of vascular origin is an extremely rare lesion especially when it occurs in the arteries. In the present study, we report a case of such a neoplasm, originating in the wall of the descending aorta and give an ample review of world references on the subjects of primary aortic neoplasm. Wright classified aortic tumors into two categories concerning the site of origin in the aortic wall: the first involves the intima, the second group consists of tumors arising in the media or adventitia. The aspecific clinical findings that characterize these lesions explain the difficulty of a preoperative diagnosis. Very important, therefore, are sonography and CT which point out signs and symptoms which refer to a local and distal diffusion of the tumor. However, even in the cases in which the diagnosis is done before surgery, there is no codified therapeutic management. In fact both surgical and non-surgical methods (radiotherapy, chemotherapy) have poor results with an average survival. Due to the limited prognosis "quoad vitam", the elective therapy must preferably be of conservative type.

Aged↗