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Biomedical subjects

S Poma

Publications and source records attributed to S Poma.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

[Territorial emergency: physician or nurse?].

This study was conceived to assess a pattern of Italian prehospital critical care team, especially referring to the advanced life support (ALS) rescue team. Function and management of ALS rescue team and its relationship with other members of the emergency medical system (intra hospital physician, basic life support team, general practitioner) are analysed; stress is laidon the knowledge, the background and the complexity of the emergency procedures. The benefit of 2 major prehospital options of the ALS team, composed by 1 physician and 1 nurse staffing or by 2 trained nurse staffing, is discussed; the importance of educational programs for ambulance teams, a comparison of cost-effectiveness and the number of emergency teams availability is underlined. The authors, finally emphasize the advantages of a territorial coverage with an integrated system of ambulances staffed with specially trained rescuers or technicians, ambulances with rescuers and nurses, and ALS teams staffed with emergency physician and 1 nurse (integrated or not with ambulances with 2 trained nurses), being perfectly capable to face up any background in pre-hospital emergency medicine setting.

Emergency Medical Services↗

[Non-palpable lesions of the breast. Preoperative location techniques with vegetable charcoal].

PURPOSE: Mammography and US increase the rate of early breast cancer diagnoses. The difficult intraoperative location of nonpalpable lesions has led to the development of various techniques suitable to this purpose. We investigated the effectiveness of free-hand vegetable charcoal lesion marking during both mammography and US and compared this technique with other more commonly used methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Our series consisted of 485 consecutive charcoal markings of nonpalpable breast lesions submitted to histologic examination. Marking was carried out free-hand under mammographic guidance in 392 cases and under US guidance in 93 cases. The technique, presented in the paper with schematic drawings, was successful because the surgeon correctly identified the charcoal tracing in all 485 cases. There were no complications, neither during charcoal introduction nor during surgery. RESULTS: The comparison with other marking techniques showed the following advantages of our method: 1) it is rapid and easy to perform; 2) patient discomfort is minimal and no local anesthesia is needed; 3) it is accurate and there are no risks of charcoal displacement or spread; 4) the tracing charcoal is easy to find; 5) the most appropriate surgical route can be followed, with consequently better cosmetic results in the patients not undergoing quadrantectomy; 6) surgery can be performed on an outpatient basis under local anesthesia; 7) a minimal amount of glandular tissue is removed; 8) there are absolutely no side-effects; 9) cost is low; 10) surgery can be planned over time; 11) there is no risk of cutting the wire with an electrotome; 12) no particular equipment or instruments are needed; 13) there are no problems in very superficial lesions. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, on account of our results and of so many advantages, we believe that free-hand vegetable charcoal marking during mammography and US is now the best possible solution to the problem of surgical identification of nonpalpable breast lesions.

Adult↗

[The phantom breast syndrome].

BACKGROUND: The phantom breast syndrome (PBS) is a complication of mastectomy which consists of a sensation of breast persistence after mastectomy. MATERIALS, PATIENTS AND METHODS: The incidence, clinical course and location of PBS in 97 operated women were studied for a 15-year period. All women were interviewed in postoperative follow-up controls after mastectomy. RESULTS: The incidence of PBS was 29 patients out of the 97 total. The syndrome was present for more than 48 months in eleven of these patients. In most cases the location of "phantom sensations" was the nipple (15 cases) and the entire breast in five patients. In only three patients was phantom breast pain (PBP) reported whereas some discomfort was reported by the other patients. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of PBS in our series was similar to that reported by other authors, but PBP was less common. Neither postoperative sequelae nor the antitumoral specific therapy seemed to have influence on the emergence of PBS.

Adult↗

[Color Doppler ultrasonography in the diagnosis of solid breast lesions].

The color-Doppler signals in 50 patients with breast lumps were assessed subjectively. Number and location of vessels within the masses were recorded and compared with histologic diagnosis and lesion size. All the malignancies were vascularized but only 16/37 of the benign ones showed vessels. All malignancies but one displayed > or = 2 vessels, which on the other hand occurred in only 4/16 vascularized benignancies. There was a relation between size of the lesion and number of the observed vessels, and color-Doppler proved more reliable in the differential diagnosis of breast masses when lesions less than 2 cm were considered.

Adolescent↗

Plasma steroid transport in subjects with tumors of hormonal target organs: a review.

Tumors derived from a hormonal target organ are assumed to be stimulated by the same hormone that stimulates the normal target tissue. In spite of attempts to acquire direct indications of a correlation between hormones and cancer, none have been definitive because studies of total and free hormone levels have given contradictory results. For this reason, attention has shifted to the study of plasma binding and transport of hormones, that is, of the proteins responsible for modulation of the hormone effect and thus of hormone bioavailability. The data reviewed indicate that in-depth study of the transport and binding system of sex steroids would give new information about the endocrine characteristics of cancer patients.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Breast carcinoma and skeletal formation.

We have studied skeletal structure in 67 women with breast carcinoma and in 59 women without breast carcinoma, looking for differences of development that might be correlated with hormonal, metabolic or genetic abnormalities. We have measured the lengths of the limbs and of their segments (upper arm, forearm, thigh, leg), of the bisacromial and bitrochanteric transverse diameters and total height and height divided into the parts from vertex to pubis and from pubis to the ground. The analysis showed statistically significant coefficients of regression with presence of mammary carcinoma for height (0.0904262, S.D. 0.0461), length of thigh (0.12989, S.D. 0.03981) and length of lower leg (-0.68475, S.D. 0.1390). This skeletal type might be the expression of a genetic condition that is associated with the existence of mechanisms that permit development of mammary cancer.

Adult↗

Breast carcinoma and plasma 17-beta-estradiol binding.

The data relating to plasma steroid binding and transport (usually measured with dehydrotestosterone) are controversial. The plasma E2 binding of 79 breast carcinoma patients, 19 premenopausal and 60 postmenopausal, were compared to 46 controls, 21 premenopausal and 25 postmenopausal. In this study the authors removed the endogenous steroids with charcoal, incubated the plasma with 17-beta-E2 in non-saturation conditions, and used ammonium sulfate to precipitate the complex. The authors chose 17-beta-E2 as ligand because the plasma steroid binding system has not been shown to be homogeneous and because this binding function may vary independently for the different steroids. In these patients, the E2 binding was significantly (P less than 0.01) increased (85 +/- 11 pg/ml and 73 +/- 13 pg/ml in premenopausal and postmenopausal) compared to the normal controls (59 +/- 7 pg/ml and 58 +/- 5 pg/ml in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. It is still unclear whether this is a primary increase of the binding capacity or a reaction of the host for sequestering excess circulating E2. However, the small percentage of false-positives and false-negatives suggests that E2 binding could be used as a tumor marker in breast carcinoma.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Current status of hormone receptor measurements in cancer patients.

Despite increasingly sophisticated techniques, improvements in the correlation between laboratory findings and tumor response to endocrine therapy have not been obtained by hormone receptor studies. A possible explanation is that present knowledge of the mechanisms of the endocrine stimulus is incomplete. Some aspects of the present model, (elevated conjugated steroid levels, multiplicity of the plasma proteins capable of binding hormones, pulsatility of the plasma protein bond and of the receptor system for steroids), are still unclear and thus are not used in diagnosis. By evaluating these factors it will probably be possible to correlate better laboratory data with clinical findings.

Blood Proteins↗

Isoelectric focusing studies on human pancreatic secretion.

Pure bile, pancreatic and duodenal human juices have been analyzed by isoelectric focusing, either at rest or upon stimulation with caerulein. In rats, stimulation has also been performed by secretin. Twenty bands have been resolved and quantified in the pancreatic secretion. By developing zymograms, a number of isozymes have been identified: 6 iso-amylases [pl's 7.2, 7.1 and 6.6 (major) and pl's 7.4, 6.7 and 5.8 (minor)], 3 lipases [pl's 7.0 and 6.8 (major) and 6.4 (minor)], two major alkaline proteases (pl's 9.8 and 8.4) and one major acidic protease (pl 4.3) and one band of RNAase activity (pl 8.6). The stimulation kinetics follow a mechanism according to Palade, indicating uniform response to secretogogues, parallel intracellular transport and parallel discharge of pancreatic exocrine proteins.

Adult↗

[Barium peritonitis: experimental study using barium sulfate and radioactive barium].

Barium peritonites are known to be a serious complication of barium enema examinations, being accompanied by a high mortality rate. The authors made their study injecting barium and radioactive 133Ba in the peritoneum of 68 rats without causing damages to the colon, in order to verify the toxicity of barium if injected in the peritoneum, and to evaluate the various extraperitoneal locations. Moreover, they compared the alterations caused by this agent with those consequent to a similar agent, such as talcum. The results show that barium is not toxic on its own: it gives in fact origin to granulomas similar to those caused by talcum; a particular tropism for the lymphatic tissues is present as well.

Animals↗