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George Giannopoulos

Publications and source records attributed to George Giannopoulos.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Vascular endothelial growth factor polymorphisms in gastric cancer development, prognosis, and survival.

BACKGROUND: Angiogenesis plays an important role in growth, progression, and metastasis of tumors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) overexpression has been associated with advanced stage and poor survival in several cancers. METHODS: The association of functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of VEGF gene with gastric cancer development, prognosis, and survival in a case-control study of 100 gastric cancer Greek patients was evaluated. The genotyping was performed by PCR-RFLP analysis. RESULTS: Our results revealed a marginally significant association of the 634CC genotype (P = 0.042) with increased risk for gastric cancer development. None of the rest of the examined polymorphisms or haplotypes conferred any gastric cancer susceptibility. A strong association between the -2578AA (P = 0.025), -634CC (P = 0.013), +936CT (P = 0.028), +936TT (P = 0.0001) genotypes and a larger tumor size was observed, while the 2578AA and -634CC genotypes were strongly correlated to poor differentiation (P = 0.01) and advanced stage of disease (P = 0.039), respectively. In addition, our results indicated that metastatic disease frequency was more accentuated among the +936TT carriers (P = 0.0035). Interestingly, carrying the -634CC genotype was associated with decreased overall survival rates (46.67%). CONCLUSIONS: The present study suggests that VEGF polymorphisms may contribute to gastric tumor characteristics; these observations, however, requiring further confirmation in a larger multi-ethnic study.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Idiopathic sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (or abdominal cocoon).

BACKGROUND: Idiopathic sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis (or abdominal cocoon) is a rare cause of small bowel obstruction, especially in adult population. Diagnosis is usually incidental at laparotomy. We discuss one such rare case, outlining the fact that an intra-operative surprise diagnosis could have been facilitated by previous investigations. CASE PRESENTATION: A 56 year-old man presented in A&E department with small bowel ileus. He had a history of 6 similar episodes of small bowel obstruction in the past 4 years, which resolved with conservative treatment. Pre-operative work-up did not reveal any specific etiology. At laparotomy, a fibrous capsule was revealed, in which small bowel loops were encased, with the presence of interloop adhesions. A diagnosis of abdominal cocoon was established and extensive adhesiolysis was performed. The patient had an uneventful recovery and follow-up. CONCLUSION: Idiopathic sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis, although rare, may be the cause of a common surgical emergency such as small bowel ileus, especially in cases with attacks of non-strangulating obstruction in the same individual. A high index of clinical suspicion may be generated by the recurrent character of small bowel ileus combined with relevant imaging findings and lack of other plausible etiologies. Clinicians must rigorously pursue a preoperative diagnosis, as it may prevent a "surprise" upon laparotomy and result in proper management.

Humans↗
PubMed2005

Conversion of recent-onset atrial fibrillation or flutter with amiodarone after ibutilide has failed: a rapid, efficient, and safe algorithm.

BACKGROUND: Ibutilide and amiodarone are used for the pharmacological conversion of atrial fibrillation (AF) or flutter (AFl), but their efficacy is rather moderate. METHODS: To test whether the use of ibutilide as a first-choice drug and of amiodarone as a second-line treatment provides a rapid, effective, and safe algorithm for conversion of recent-onset AF or AFl to sinus rhythm (SR), 85 consecutively recruited patients (59 women; mean age 69.7+/-0.9 years) with AF or AFl of recent onset received 1 or 2 mg of ibutilide infusion. In the case of ibutilide failure, amiodarone was given (6 mg/kg IV infusion over 60 minutes followed by 1200 mg IV infusion over 24 hours) 4 hours later. Ten patients with AF or AFl of recent onset were used as controls. The maximum rate-corrected QT interval was calculated in all patients and controls before the start of the study (baseline electrocardiogram (ECG)), 30 minutes later (30-min ECG), and 4 hours later (4-h ECG). RESULTS: Fifty-eight (68%) patients reversed to SR within the first 4 hours after the end of ibutilide infusion. In those 27 patients in whom ibutilide failed, amiodarone was given. Twenty-four of them (28%) were converted to SR during amiodarone infusion. Therefore, in total, 82 (96%) patients with recent-onset AF or AFl were converted to SR. The 10 controls were monitored for the same time period as the study patients and 5 (50%) out of them were spontaneously converted to SR (P<0.0001). No pro-arrhythmia or any other side effects were noticed in the study patients or in the controls. QTc was moderately decreased before the start of amiodarone infusion in patients group, while it did not differ among the three ECGs in controls. CONCLUSIONS: The combination of ibutilide as a first-choice drug and of amiodarone infusion in the case of ibutilide failure provides an effective, rapid, and safe algorithm for restoration of SR in patients with AF or AFl of recent onset.

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