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Biomedical subjects

G Sprovieri

Publications and source records attributed to G Sprovieri.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Serum lipase assay. A test of choice in acute pancreatitis.

We evaluated the clinical accuracy of an automated turbidimetric assay for serum lipase determination in order to screen for acute pancreatic damage. Seventy patients with pancreatic and thirty with nonpancreatic digestive diseases were studied. Fifty-two healthy subjects were also studied as controls. Serum lipase concentrations were abnormally high in all patients with acute pancreatitis and in 3 (10%) in the group of 30 patients with nonpancreatic acute abdomen. In the 35 patients with chronic pancreatitis studied during clinical remission, serum lipase levels were abnormally high in 8 (23%), and abnormally low in 3 (9%). In the 9 patients with pancreatic cancer, 4 (44%) had abnormally elevated serum lipase values and 1 (11%) abnormally low. The results indicate that serum lipase determination is useful in the emergency diagnosis of acute pancreatic damage because of its high sensitivity and specificity. In patients with chronic pancreatitis and in patients with pancreatic carcinoma serum lipase determination is of limited value.

Acute Disease↗

[Immunoenzymatic method for the quantitative determination of specific IgE antibodies].

We describe a qualitative immunoenzymatic method for the determination of specific IgE antibodies in serum or plasma, that can be used as screening in case of suspected IgE-mediated allergy. The comparative analysis of results obtained with this new method and with standard methods for in vitro determination of specific IgE shows a perfect correspondence of the results for both sera with levels of specific IgE or non detectable levels of specific IgE.

Adolescent↗

[The coagulation picture and plasma clearance capacity in atherosclerotic diabetics].

An attempt is made to set out the complex question of the relations between plasma and wall factors in coagulation, platelets and lipids in atheroscderotic diabetes. The literature data show that this disease is associated the clotting and fibrinolytic systems as a result of the prevalence of thrombogenic factors and/or poor inhibitor activity. A survey is made of fibrinolysis activators and inhibitors, and of the part played by lipids in the aetiopathogenesis of thrombophilia, though the mechanisms responsible have not yet been fully established. Reference is made to De Gaetano's exposition of Walsh's views concerning the rôle of platelets in clotting. An assessment is made of the relations between platelets and lipoproteins, and hence of the importance of platelets in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Reference is made to a series of atherosclerotic diabetics. Hyperaggregability was noted in 60% of 30 cases. The experimental results obtained by Bierman et al. on the relation between insulin and lipoproteinlipase and the interference of insulin with PHLA are presented in an explanation of the clarifying power of plasma in this disease. Lastly, an account is given of lipoproteinlipase values observed in a personal series of 48 cases employing a radioimmunological technique. Baselines were depressed in 24 subjects.

Aged↗

An immunochemical study of the synovial fluid can contribute to the distinction between rheumatoid and non rheumatoid arthritis.

Synovial fluids from 102 patients affected by various joint diseases have been analyzed for their protein, immunoglobulin and beta 2-microglobulin contents, for the total and alternative pathway hemolytic activities of the complement components, for the presence of rheumatoid factors and Clq binding materials. The aim of this study was to verify whether an immunochemical analysis of the synovial fluid could help to distinguish rheumatoid arthritis from other arthropathies. With regard to this, we emphasize that the latex test, the Clq binding assay, as well as the measurement of C3d and beta 2-microglobulin concentrations in synovial fluids, were the most helpful assays. An immunochemical synovial score was calculated summing the results of these four tests, thus making the recognition of rheumatoid arthritis, among the various inflammatory joint diseases, easier.

Arthritis↗

Serum CA 242 in pancreatic cancer. Comparison with CA 19-9 and CEA.

Serum CA 242, CA 19-9 and CEA concentrations were determined in 94 subjects divided into 5 groups: Group 1 consisted of 22 healthy subjects; Group 2 consisted of 40 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma; according to Cubilla and Fitzgerald's classification, 11 tumours were Stage I, 4 were Stage II, and 25 were Stage III. Group 3 consisted of 10 chronic pancreatitis patients, group 4 of 10 acute pancreatitis patients, group 5 of 12 patients with nonpancreatic digestive carcinomas. Ten of these 12 patients had distant metastases. The sensitivity of CA 19-9 in the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was higher than that of CEA and CA 242 (p < 0.05 and p < 0.005, respectively). In Stage I cancer patients the sensitivity of the markers studied was less than 50% (45% for CA 19-9, 18% for CEA, and 9% for CA 242) whereas most of the 25 patients with metastatic tumours of the pancreas had elevated serum levels of all 3 markers. The various combinations of the three markers did not significantly improve the sensitivity in diagnosing pancreatic cancer. No relationship was found between the localization of the tumour and the serum levels of the 3 markers studied. Similarly, no differences were found between patients with cholestasis and those without. The specificity of the 3 markers, evaluated in patients with benign pancreatic diseases, was 100% for CA 242, 90% for CA 199 and 70% for CEA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adenocarcinoma↗