PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L Basso

Publications and source records attributed to L Basso.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Is there a causal connection between bile acids and colorectal cancer?

Bile acid composition was assessed in 50 patients with colorectal cancer as compared to that in a control group of 50 subjects. The two groups were age- and sex-matched. The overall bile acid values were similar in both groups, while the relative concentrations of primary and secondary bile acids were different, a significant increase in the patients with colorectal cancer being observed. This finding thus seems to confirm the existence of a link between colorectal cancer and cholelithiasis. Both conditions share common risk factors, such as alterations in cholesterol metabolism and bile acid composition.

Adult↗

Management of perianal Crohn's disease. Results of a multicenter study in Italy.

PURPOSE: Management of perianal Crohn's disease is still controversial, and reports on large series are very few in the literature. The aim of this multicenter study was to investigate the outcome of both medical and surgical treatment in 225 patients. METHODS: Patients cared for at different institutions were followed up for a median of six years. Most of them had either anal fistula or an abscess (86 percent and 43 percent, respectively), but fissures were also present in 26 percent of the cases. Diarrhea and anal pain were the most common symptoms. Anal lesions preceded the onset of intestinal symptoms in 19 percent of cases. RESULTS: Medical treatment was curative only in 21 of 123 patients. Overall, medical and surgical treatment either cured or improved 62 percent of the cases. Fifty percent had an intestinal resection. Abscess drainage and fistulotomy were the most common anal surgeries. Rectovaginal fistulas (n = 30) required intestinal surgery in 36 percent and anal surgery in 20 percent of the cases, 50 percent with good results. Of 166 patients who had anal surgery, 97 (58 percent) had a positive outcome. Recurrence of anal disease requiring further surgery occurred in 24.5 percent of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: Limited surgeries seem to achieve satisfactory results in more than one-half of the patients affected by perianal Crohn's lesions, whereas medical treatment alone is curative in a small portion of them.

Adolescent↗

A descriptive follow-up study on Helicobacter pylori infection before and after exposition to a war area.

One hundred and thirty asymptomatic Irish soldiers were studied before and after a 6-month peace duty in Lebanon (UNIFIL), to assess the overall prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, relation with age, rank and education, and any increased risk of developing H. pylori infection in a cohort of asymptomatic people temporarily exposed to low levels of sanitation. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) of specific IgG were performed, at the end of the research, on blood samples taken 1 month before service abroad and within 3 months after the mission. At entry, 41 people were found to have positive H. pylori serology (31.5%), while 89 subjects (68.5%) were H. pylori negative. After 6 months of service in Lebanon, 37 people had H. pylori positive serology (28.5%), while 93 subjects (71.5%) were H. pylori negative. Therefore, no significant change occurred. The prevalence of H. pylori infection increased with age and was more prevalent in lower ranks and in those with non-tertiary education. This study shows that a 6 month long stay in poor sanitation conditions does not imply any increased risk of developing H. pylori infection, which is, however, related to age, lower rank, and non-tertiary education.

Adult↗

[Cancer of the distal pancreas: comments on its diagnosis and therapy].

The authors report 14 cases of neoplasms involving the pancreatic body and tail. Duration and characteristics of symptoms at outbreak, diagnostic work-up, resection rates, morbidity and operative mortality are statistically analysed and compared with those found in the same period in patients with cancer of the pancreatic head. A number of important differences between these two locations are detected and analytically discussed.

Carcinoma↗

[The impact of technology on the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic carcinoma].

Between 1960 and 1989, 207 patients with cancer of the head of the pancreas were diagnosed in the 1st Surgical Department of the University of Rome "La Sapienza". While in the first period (1960-'74) diagnosis was performed on the basis of clinical signs and traditional radiological findings, imaging and endoscopy became progressively the main diagnostic tools in the second one (1975-'89). The authors analyse how the different diagnostic approach has influenced the therapeutical outcome. Earlier diagnosis, increased resectability, proper surgical indication, decreased morbidity and mortality, improvement of survival are the achieved results.

Carcinoma↗

The impact of ultrasonography on the prognosis of pancreatic cancer.

The authors review 207 consecutive patients admitted for pancreatic cancer from 1960 to 1989 to the 1st Department of Surgery of the University of Rome "La Sapienza", in order to ascertain whether ultrasonography contributes to achieving the ideal goal of early diagnoses. The results achieved show a higher number of early diagnoses (< 1 month from first symptoms) performed by means of US, and a concurrent increase of cases amenable to radical surgery during the period 1975-1989, and basically from 1985 to 1989. Diagnostic imaging, namely US, is therefore deemed to provide earlier diagnoses and higher rates of pancreatic resectability.

Female↗

A descriptive study of pregnant women with gallstones. Relation to dietary and social habits, education, physical activity, height, and weight.

Five hundred and twelve women attending the antenatal clinic of the Rotunda Hospital of Dublin were studied by means of abdominal real time ultrasound (US) scanning to establish some of the characteristics of those subjects found to be gallstone-positive, compared to the gallstone-negative control population. Coffee, tea and sucrose consumption, dietary fats, attendance at fast-food restaurants, education, cigarette smoking, alcohol, and physical activity did not show any substantial differences between the two groups, while there was a significantly higher prevalence of cholelithiasis in women who had been dieting and in overweight subjects.

Adolescent↗

A study of cholelithiasis during pregnancy and its relationship with age, parity, menarche, breast-feeding, dysmenorrhea, oral contraception and a maternal history of cholelithiasis.

We prospectively studied 512 consecutive women attending the antenatal clinic of the Rotunda Hospital of Dublin, Ireland, to assess the prevalence of gallstones among them and to describe the characteristics of those women found to be gallstone-positive (group 1), compared with the negative-control population (group 2). Real-time ultrasound scanning of the pelvic area was extended to the upper part of the abdomen. Cholelithiasis was detected in 23 patients. No substantial difference was found in parity of group 1 as compared with group 2. Also, early pregnancies, age at menarche and oral contraception did not have any significant difference between the two groups. However, we recorded a significantly higher prevalence of cholelithiasis in older women and in patients with dysmenorrhea. A positive trend was found in patients who had a history of previous breast-feeding and in women with a positive maternal history of symptomatic gallstones.

Adult↗