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P Lo Gerfo

Publications and source records attributed to P Lo Gerfo.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Endothelial-monocyte activating polypeptide II, a novel antitumor cytokine that suppresses primary and metastatic tumor growth and induces apoptosis in growing endothelial cells.

Neovascularization is essential for growth and spread of primary and metastatic tumors. We have identified a novel cytokine, endothelial-monocyte activating polypeptide (EMAP) II, that potently inhibits tumor growth, and appears to have antiangiogenic activity. Mice implanted with Matrigel showed an intense local angiogenic response, which EMAP II blocked by 76% (P < 0.001). Neovascularization of the mouse cornea was similarly prevented by EMAP II (P < 0.003). Intraperitoneally administered EMAP II suppressed the growth of primary Lewis lung carcinomas, with a reduction in tumor volume of 65% versus controls (P < 0.003). Tumors from human breast carcinoma-derived MDA-MB 468 cells were suppressed by >80% in EMAP II-treated animals (P < 0.005). In a lung metastasis model, EMAP II blocked outgrowth of Lewis lung carcinoma macrometastases; total surface metastases were diminished by 65%, and of the 35% metastases present, approximately 80% were inhibited with maximum diameter <2 mm (P < 0.002 vs. controls). In growing capillary endothelial cultures, EMAP II induced apoptosis in a time- and dose-dependent manner, whereas other cell types were unaffected. These data suggest that EMAP II is a tumor-suppressive mediator with antiangiogenic properties allowing it to target growing endothelium and limit establishment of neovasculature.

Animals↗

Bilateral neck exploration for parathyroidectomy under local anesthesia: a viable technique for patients with coexisting thyroid disease with or without sestamibi scanning.

BACKGROUND: Bilateral neck exploration (BNE) with the patient under general anesthesia has been the standard for parathyroidectomy. In efforts to minimize invasiveness and recovery from the procedure, unilateral neck exploration with the patient under local anesthesia in combination with sestamibi scanning is being done. Patients with a nonlocalized adenoma, concurrent thyroid disease, and/or multiple parathyroid adenomas have been excluded from this minimally invasive procedure. METHODS: Two hundred thirty-six patients underwent BNE under local anesthesia for primary hyperparathyroidism that was performed by a single surgeon between 1988 and April 1999. RESULTS: The percentage of patients who underwent parathyroidectomy under local anesthesia increased from 3% in 1988 to 97% in 1999. Twenty-three percent of patients underwent a concurrent thyroid procedure, and 84% of patients had a single adenoma removed. Sixty-two percent of patients had a negative preoperative sestamibi scan or did not have a scan at all. The incidence of frozen section decreased in the initial 50 cases from 100% to 39% during the last 100 cases. Average operative time was 43 minutes without a thyroid procedure and 66 minutes with a thyroid procedure. Overall, 70% of patients were discharged within 6 hours of the surgical procedure; this percentage increased to 91% during the last 5 months. CONCLUSIONS: BNE with the patient under local anesthesia can be performed safely and effectively in patients with coexisting thyroid disease and a nonlocalized adenoma.

Adenoma↗

Local/regional anesthesia for thyroidectomy: evaluation as an outpatient procedure.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this paper was to review my evolving experience with local/regional anesthesia in an outpatient setting. METHODS: Two hundred three consecutive patients during a 9-year period who chose to undergo thyroid operation under regional/local anesthesia were reviewed. Early discharge was offered to patients who were observed for 6 hours without neck swelling and who had no surgical reasons for delaying discharge. RESULTS: In group A there were 2 patients who were given inhalation anesthesia during operation compared with none in groups B and C. The average length of stay in group A was 0.49 days, 0.55 days in group B, and 0.24 days in group C. Eighty-five percent of the patients whose operation began before 1300 hours were discharged within 6 hours versus only 50% of those operated on later in the day. Forty-seven percent of patients in group A, 65% of group B, and 77% of patients in group C were discharged within 6 hours of operation. On the basis of previous experience with general anesthesia, discharge time is not significantly influenced by the type of anesthesia chosen. There were no readmissions to the hospital, but 2 episodes of postoperative bleeding required reoperation. Survey showed that 95% of patients rated the level of pain equivalent or less severe than dental procedures under local anesthesia, and all patients would choose local again. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that thyroidectomy can be performed with the patient under local/regional anesthesia, with low morbidity and high patient satisfaction. Most patients can be discharged within 6 to 8 hours, and these discharges were not associated with readmissions.

Adult↗

Parathyroid surgery using monitored anesthesia care as an alternative to general anesthesia.

BACKGROUND: Although there have been several reports in the literature describing a renewed interest in performing thyroid surgery under local anesthesia (LA), there has been little information regarding parathyroid surgery under local anesthesia. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed our experience of 49 LA parathyroid patients over a 9-year period at a single institution. A bilateral cervical block (C2-C3) was administered by a single surgeon using lidocaine and bupivacaine. RESULTS: The study included 39 females and 10 males with an average age of 62 years (range, 35-89 years). Every surgery was curative and the final pathology revealed 46 parathyroid adenomas and 3 cases of parathyroid hyperplasia. Forty-seven percent of the patients were discharged within 6 hours of operation and the remaining patients had a 1.4-day average length of hospital stay. A group of age- and sex-matched controls who underwent parathyroid surgery using general anesthesia (GA) served as a control group with 27% of operations performed as outpatients and an average length of stay of 1.6 days. Return to work averaged 6 days for the LA group versus 8 days for the GA. In the LA group, there was one instance of postoperative hemorrhage requiring reoperation and one instance of conversion to GA secondary to an inability to tolerate LA. There were no instances of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury or permanent hypoparathyroidism in either group. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that experienced surgeons can perform parathyroid surgery safely and effectively using LA as an alternative to GA.

Adult↗

Thyroid surgery using monitored anesthesia care: an alternative to general anesthesia.

Forty consecutive patients undergoing thyroid surgery under local anesthesia (LA) by a single surgeon over a 5-year period were included in this retrospective review. In all cases, the indication for LA was patient request. The study included 29 females and 11 males with an average age of 44 years (range 22-66 years). Body habitus was thin in 12.5%, average in 67.5%, and obese in 20%. Operations consisted of 21 unilateral thyroid lobectomies, 3 partial thyroidectomies, 3 subtotal thyroidectomies, and 13 total thyroidectomies. The pathology revealed benign disease in 45% and malignant disease in 55%. All procedures were performed using lidocaine and/or bupivacaine to administer a deep cervical plexus block as well as a field block. Mild additional intraoperative intravenous sedation was provided in most cases. Two patients were converted emergently to general endotracheal anesthesia because of inability to tolerate LA in one and a seizure secondary to intraarterial injection of lidocaine in the other patient. There were no instances of wound infection hemorrhage, recurrent laryngeal nerve injury, or hypoparathyroidism. In conclusion, thyroid surgery in selected patients can be performed safely using LA by experienced surgeons. If patients are carefully prepared preoperatively, LA offers a simple and reasonable alternative to general anesthesia.

Adult↗

The value of coarse needle biopsy in evaluating thyroid nodules.

At Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center, CPMC, the incidence of thyroid cancer found at surgery (CI) has recently changed. CI prior to 1950 was 3-4%. The CI gradually increased to 29% in 1975 without the use of needle biopsy. Fine needle biopsy (FNB) was introduced in 1976. The CI did not change during the next 7 years but remained stable at 27% in patients who did not undergo coarse needle biopsy (CNB). The overall CI using both FNB and CNB in 1982 was 42% and with CNB alone, 47%. Since that time, extensive experience using both CNB and FNB has led to a CI of 51%. The CI in patients who only received FNB remains at 28%. The increase in CI seen in patients undergoing CNB are a result of better distinction between hyperplastic lesions and microfollicular neoplasms. 78 patients, referred for surgery because of suspicion of a follicular neoplasm determined on FNB alone, underwent CNB. 35 of these patients were shown to have benign macro-micro follicular lesions (hyperplastic). In a review of 1,625 patients who have undergone CNB there were 3 complications which required surgical intervention (.018%). All of these were for bleeding 6-72 hours after CNB. These 3 patients underwent total thyroidectomy for follicular cancer without complications. There were no other significant complications. These experiences demonstrate that CNB is extremely useful in evaluating thyroid nodules. The complication rate is low and is offset by a large decrease (40%) in the number of patients referred for operation. The primary value of CNB is in differentiating between true microfollicular neoplasms and hyperplastic ones.

Biopsy, Needle↗

Incidence of cancer in surgically treated thyroid nodules based on method of selection.

A retrospective review of thyroidectomies to rule out cancer at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center indicated that the maximum cancer incidence achievable in surgical specimens was only 57% if all microfollicular adenomas and thyroid cancers were removed. The size distribution of follicular cancer and microfollicular adenoma was similar and it does not appear to be useful in deciding which microfollicular lesions need to be surgically excised to exclude carcinoma. The incidence of thyroid cancer in patients undergoing thyroidectomy was not influenced by the introduction of fine-needle biopsy (FNB) at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. FNB did appear to increase the incidence of cancer at an affiliated community hospital. Coarse-needle biopsy definitely improved the incidence of cancer in patients undergoing thyroidectomy and was superior to FNB and clinical selection alone. A combination of FNB and coarse-needle biopsy when possible yielded a 41% incidence of cancer and appears to be the most useful technique for patient selection.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Method for biopsy of the wall of a thyroid cyst.

Cystic thyroid lesions can arise from benign and malignant or potentially malignant thyroid tumors that have undergone cystic degeneration. In this paper we described a method for biopsing the wall of these cystic lesions to help determine the underlying pathologic abnormality that leads to cyst formation. Initial results have shown that most cysts arise from benign thyroid disease. Twenty five percent of the cysts, however, did arise from degeneration of thyroid adenomas.

Biopsy↗

Kaposi's sarcoma following chemotherapy for testicular cancer in a homosexual man: demonstration of cytomegalovirus RNA in sarcoma cells.

A 35-year-old white Jewish homosexual man who had undergone surgery and chemotherapy for an embryonal carcinoma of the testis subsequently developed Kaposi's sarcoma. The neoplasm involved the skin as well as visceral tissues. Tissue derived from a biopsy specimen of one of the skin lesions was used in the in situ hybridization technique for the detection of genetic material. Cytomegalovirus messenger RNA was identified in the neoplastic Kaposi cells in the skin. The significance of this finding is discussed.

Cytomegalovirus↗

Comparison of fine-needle and coarse-needle biopsies in evaluating thyroid nodules.

The purpose of this study was to compare the results of fine-needle biopsy (FNB) and coarse-needle biopsy (CNB) in evaluating patients with dominant thyroid nodules. Five hundred twenty-six patients were seen because of solitary thyroid nodules. Three hundred of these underwent satisfactory CNB and FNB. Using the incidence of cancer found at operation as a guide to the specificity of the biopsy, CNB was better than FNB in determining underlying pathologic condition. The main difference between the two techniques was the inability of FNB to distinguish adenomatous hyperplasia from true adenoma. FNB, however, was as good as most older techniques in selecting patients for surgery. The main limitation of CNB was that it could only be applied on 69% of solid lesions.

Biopsy, Needle↗

Effect of TSH stimulation on serum thyroglobulin in metastatic thyroid cancer.

Thyroglobulin (TG) is a glycoprotein which has been found to be produced by almost all nonmedullary thyroid cancers, and is present in elevated levels in the serum of most patients with metastatic thyroid cancer. It has long been a clinical impression that many metastatic thyroid cancers are "responsive" to TSH suppression as manifested by a decrease in the size and/or symptoms of the tumor. Five athyroid patients with metastatic thyroid cancer were studied to determine the effect of TSH stimulation on their serum TG levels and attempt to correlate this effect with their clinical response. Three of the five patients showed a definite rise in their serum TG once serum thyroxine (T4Y replacement was withdrawn, which correlated with an increase in TSH, and two of these patients have had no progression of their disease while on T4 suppression. The remaining two patients have shown no change in their TG levels after T4 withdrawal, and both have had progression of their metastatic disease while on T4 suppression. Thus, we see that in some patients, TG production by their metastatic thyroid cancer is responsive to TSH suppression, and there is some suggestion that TSH-responsive cancers are less aggressive; but it will require further studies to determine this.

Adult↗

Combination chemotherapy for advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.

Seven patients with advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphomas were treated with a combination chemotherapy regimen of vincristine, doxorubicin (Adriamycin), bleomycin, methotrexate, leucovorin factor, 5-FU, and hydrocortisone. All patients had an objective response but only one had a complete clinical remission. Our results are compared to other regimens reported in the literature.

Adult↗