Biomedical subjects

Marco Alessandrini

Publications and source records attributed to Marco Alessandrini.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Posturography frequency analysis of sound-evoked body sway in normal subjects.

Sound-evoked activation of the vestibular system has been suggested for a long time, and myogenic potentials have been recorded at the level of different muscular groups while a high intensity sound was applied. The aim of this study was to analyse sound-evoked postural responses in normal subjects and to correlate them with the activation of the vestibular system. Body sway was measured by posturography and elaborated through spectral frequency analysis in 40 healthy volunteers in the basal condition and after applying a sound stimulus monoaurally. Spectral frequency analysis results showed a significant increase, in presence of stimulus, of body sway at low and middle frequencies only on the lateral plane and in the closed-eyes condition. As it seems that these frequency ranges are mainly under vestibular control, our results suggest that sound activates specifically the vestibular system, and posturography during sound stimulation represents an alternative approach to assess vestibular function.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Recurrent paroxysmal positional vertigo related to oral contraceptive treatment.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a high-prevalence vestibular end-organ disorder caused by the detachment of utricular otoconia which float in the posterior or lateral semicircular canal. In the majority of cases the etiology of BPPV is unknown and it may follow viral infection, vascular disorders or head trauma. BPPV may be recurrent, with some authors demonstrating a correlation between recurrence and female gender. We report herein on ten cases (out of 289 diagnoses of BPPV) of recurrent idiopathic BPPV, occurring in healthy women receiving oral contraceptive treatment, which ceased after treatment suspension. It has been hypothesized that the impaired water and electrolyte balance, the variations of endolymphatic pH and the impairment of glucose or lipid metabolism induced by oral contraceptive treatment may cause otoconial degeneration and subsequent otoconia detachment and BPPV. The rarity of the finding (10/289) could account for the poor attention paid to the hormonal pathogenesis of BPPV.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Vestibular compensation: analysis of postural re-arrangement as a control index for unilateral vestibular deficit.

Patients with an acute unilateral vestibular lesion show an impaired balance control. The initial presentation is vertigo followed by postural instability; but with time, the global balance functions can be completely restored by a process called vestibular compensation. The aim of our study was to evaluate short and long-term variations of postural parameters in 20 patients affected by vestibular neuritis (VN), and to compare these patients to 20 normal individuals using computerized static posturography (CSP) along with patient feedback throughout the spectral frequency analysis. This analysis showed in patients with no residual dizziness a frequency shift of body sway from low to middle frequencies as a probable expression of the compensatory strategies used by the central nervous system. On the other hand, patients with persistence of postural instability did not show any frequency shift. Our results seem to provide an early index of a proper occurring compensation so that we can adjust therapeutic protocols according to each patient's functional modifications.

Female↗

PubMed2003

Septoturbinal surgery in contact point headache syndrome: long-term results.

Facial pain syndrome secondary to sinonasal pathology is reported by the International Headache Society (IHS) classification (1988). It is underlined that a clear and proven nasal pathology with adequate painful stimuli must be present, i.e., acute sinusitis, vacuum sinus, or other unspecified pathologies. No clear role of septal abnormalities and turbinate hypertrophy has been attributed in the genesis of pain by the IHS classification. One of the most difficult problems in dealing with patients with sinonasal headaches is the definition of the primary cause of the pain. In our experience possible guidelines are history, endoscopic evaluation, diagnostic blocks, and computed tomography. The data reported here is from a long-term follow-up study of facial pain in a group of 34 patients with facial pain and nasal obstruction due to septoturbinal contact that did not respond to medical therapy. Patients, free from sinus disease or other causes of headache, were treated by septoplasty/rhinoseptoplasty,and middle turbinate electrocauterization. Pre- and postoperative patency was assessed by endoscopic evaluation and nasal resistance was assessed by anterior rhinomanometry. Patients were interviewed regarding pre- and post-operative intensity of pain (subjective pain was evaluated using the 0-10 Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and frequency of the facial pain. The follow-up period ranged from 12 to 47 months (mean: 26.7 +/- 8.5 months). In 25% of the cases the pain relapsed post-operatively (from two days to one year); but in only three patients (8%) the relapses were persistent. Two out of three, however, reported a decreased VAS score after surgery. These results seem to indicate septoplasty and turbinate decongestion to be a fairly good surgical option in treating facial pain due to septoturbinal contact resistant to conservative nasal therapy.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Hypertrophy of inferior turbinates: radiofrequency surgery.

Hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates can be treated by surgical reduction that seems to the most effective approach. Currently, several surgical techniques are performed, like turbinectomy, galvanic or laser cauterization, surgical submucosal decongestion and cryosurgery. In this study, we describe a procedure to reduce the hypertrophy of the inferior turbinates in 60 patients by radio frequency with electrosurgical equipment. The aim of this study is to show how to carry out this technique in the outpatient practice, that allows to face this pathology in an effective and rapid way.

Catheter Ablation↗

PubMed2003

A novel method for diagnosing chronic rhinosinusitis based on an electronic nose.

The nasal out-breath of persons with chronic nasal and/or paranasal infections may have characteristic strange odors, which in our experience are in most cases related to bacterial and/or fungal infections of the sinuses. The objective of the present study was to examine nasal out-breath samples from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) (with or without polyposis) and healthy control volunteers using the electronic-nose (EN) technology. We developed a simple technique for collecting samples of nasal out-breath in disposable sterile plastic sacks with a tight closing seal. The principal component analysis correctly classified all individual EN patterns for CRS patients and misclassified 2 samples from the healthy controls (80.0% successful classification rate). The artificial neural network analysis correctly classified 60.0% of the patterns of both groups. We believe that the use of methodologies based on EN technology, combined with conventional clinical examinations, may improve the diagnosis of chronic rhinosinusitis.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term postural abnormalities in benign paroxysmal positional vertigo.

Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is a disorder in which patients suffer from acute rotatory vertigo due to the presence of free otoconial debris migrating into one or more semicircular canals during head movements and resulting in abnormal stimulation of the ampullary crest. A prolonged loss of equilibrium of unclear origin is also present. Static posturography is a useful tool for the study of postural control systems and their role in these abnormalities. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequency of body sway and long-term instability of BPPV patients by posturography frequency analysis. Twenty patients with canalithiasis of the posterior semicircular canal and 20 normal controls were subjected to static posturography. Informed consent was obtained from all subjects. Patients were tested 1 h after diagnosis, and 3 days and 12 weeks after the characteristic Epley repositioning maneuver. Patients with BPPV showed significantly increased body sway both on lateral (X) and anteroposterior (Y) planes compared to normal subjects. Corporal oscillation with a broad-frequency spectrum was observed in both closed and open eye tests. The repositioning maneuver decreased the X plane body sway, while the anteroposterior sway was unchanged. Twelve weeks after treatment, a normalization of the anteroposterior sway was observed. Results of this study suggest that the long-term postural disturbance associated with BPPV differs from the acute disequilibrium that subsides after canalith repositioning: the former is a sagittal plane/broad spectrum body sway, while the latter is primarily a frontal plane/low frequency sway. The Epley maneuver was shown to reduce frontal sway, a postural abnormality that might therefore be linked to posterior semicircular canal function. Conversely, the observed sagittal body sway was only partially relieved by the restoration of canal function, and therefore, may be more related to the chronic dizziness observed in these patients.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term follow-up of cellular proliferation as a predictive index for the relapse of nasal polyposis.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to identify a reproducible clinical parameter for predicting relapses of nasal polyposis after surgery. METHODS: Ninety-three patients who had undergone ethmoidectomy of bilateral nasal polyps were followed for 3 years. Nasal polyps were obtained from all patients, and cellular suspensions were analyzed individually using flow cytometry. Based on the percentage of cells in the S phase, we identified three groups of patients (high, medium, and low percentages). RESULTS: A relapse of nasal polyposis was observed in 15.00, 70.00, and 100.00% of patients from the low-, medium-, and high-percentage groups, respectively. Patients suffering relapses had a high percentage of cells in the S phase. CONCLUSIONS: We identified two cutoff values for the percentage of cells in the S phase; above the first cutoff, some of the patients suffered relapses; above the second cut-off, all patients suffered relapses.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evaluation of telomerase activity in nasal polyps.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess if nasal polyps express telomerase activity and whether a difference could be found between the polyp and the surrounding mucosa of the middle meatus and between different portions of the polyp itself METHODS: Nine patients affected by nasal polyposis were included in this study; four of these patients had recurring polyposis. Telomerase activity was measured by telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay. In six patients, the telomeric repeat amplification protocol assay was performed on the polyp and on the mucosa from the ipsilateral middle meatus. In a polyp, we were able to investigate telomerase activity of its different portions, corresponding to pedicle and fundus. RESULTS: Telomerase activity observed in nasal polyps was higher than that observed in samples from the ipsilateral middle meatus mucosa. High or intermediate telomerase activity was found to be related to predominant recurring polyposis. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, it could be postulated that telomerase activity could be related with the tendency of polyps to recur.

Humans↗