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W Piubello

Publications and source records attributed to W Piubello.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Chronic pancreatitis in north-east Italy: a clinical and pathological study.

The clinical and pathological features of 132 patients of North-Eastern Italy with proven chronic pancreatitis (presence of radiological pancreatic calcification and/or surgical and histological data) have been studied. The disease appeared to be associated with chronic and regular alcoholic habits in most cases. Histo-pathological examinations showed calcifying pancreatitis also in patients without radiological pancreatic calcification. Chronic pancreatitis in North-Eastern Italy seems to be similar to that described in France, except for a high frequency of associated gallstones.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Angiography in chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. A critical evaluation.

A critical "blind" evaluation of 129 randomly selected angiographic examinations was carried out including 37 control patients, 58 patients affected by proven chronic relapsing pancreatitis and 34 patients with cancer of the pancreas. In 48.5% of the control patients a completely normal angiographic picture was found. The false positives were found in 10.8% of chronic pancreatitis and in pancreatic carcinoma in 5.5% of the cases. Equivocal signs were found in 35.2%. The percentage of the false negative results in chronic pancreatitis was 34.4% (of which 8.6% were suggestive of pancreatic cancer). In pancreatic cancer positive results were seen in 70.6% of the cases. The percentage of the false negatives was 26.5% (suggestive of chronic pancreatitis); equivocal signs were found in 2.9% of these patients. Notwithstanding the not-negligible percentage of errors, angiography can be usefully employed in diagnosis of pancreatic disorders.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Correspondence analysis in a study of the clinical evolution of uncomplicated chronic relapsing alcoholic pancreatitis.

This paper gives an example of the use of correspondence analysis in a study of the risk factors of surgery in uncomplicated chronic relapsing alcoholic pancreatitis (UCRAP) where censored observations are present. Ninety-seven patients were admitted to a long-term follow-up project on the clinical evolution of UCRAP. During follow-up 61 patients underwent surgery, while the observations for the remaining 36 patients were censored. Correspondence analysis was performed on three prognostic variables, selected by a preliminary univariate analysis. A supplementary variable indicating the state of each patient at a particular time (still in follow-up, operated on, lost to follow-up), was projected onto the best factor plane chosen by correspondence analysis. Cox's proportional hazards regression model was also used with the scores of patients on the factor axes as independent variables to evaluate their prognostic importance. Both correspondence analysis and the Cox model showed that the first two axes provide important prognostic information. Furthermore, the former suggested a pattern of censorship for patients with observations censored after 5 years of follow-up. The results of this study confirm that correspondence analysis may be useful in follow-up studies by providing graphic display of important information relative both about the event under study and about censored observations.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Frequency of pancreatographic changes in subjects with upper abdominal symptoms and its relationship with alcohol intake.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the endoscopic retrograde pancreatographic (ERP) findings in respect of alcohol intake. Two hundred eleven patients consecutively submitted to ERP for upper abdominal symptomatology, with suspected pancreatic disease (SPD; 79 patients) or without (NSPD; 132 subjects), were classified in 3 groups of different ethanol intake: 1 (0-40 g/day), 2 (41-80 g/day), 3 (more than 80 g/day). The following conclusions could be drawn: (1) the frequency of ERP changes increases with the increase of alcohol intake both in SPD (34.6-63.8%) and NSPD (8.2-29.8%); (2) the frequency of pancreatic cancer was not related to alcohol intake, but in NSPD it was about 2-fold that in SPD: 12/132 (9.1%) vs 4/79 (5.06%); (3) a pancreatic morphological assessment, by means of ERP or other imaging techniques, should be performed in every subject with upper abdominal pain of unknown origin both in alcoholics (for the high incidence of chronic pancreatitis) and in non-alcoholics (for the risk of pancreatic cancer, which approximates 10%).

Abdomen↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Fasting serum cholecystokinin immunoreactivity in chronic relapsing pancreatitis.

An increase in fasting cholecystokinin (CCK) levels has been reported in patients with pancreatic insufficiency, but the relationship of these findings to the clinical conditions has not been established. We, therefore, measured fasting serum CCK-like immunoreactivity in 70 patients with chronic relapsing pancreatitis (CRP) (38 non-surgically treated and 32 previously surgically treated) and in 44 healthy subjects. The radioimmunoassay detected three circulating forms of CCK. The mean value of the CCK levels in CRP (260.3 +/- 300.8 pg/ml) was significantly higher than that of the controls (56.6 +/- 61.7 pg/ml) (p less than 0.001), but in 39 (56.7%) of the 70 CRP cases the CCK was in the normal range. A smaller overlap with the controls was observed in the non-surgically than in the surgically treated patients (45 vs. 71.8%). In the 38 non-surgically treated CRP cases no relationship was observed between the CCK levels and each of the following parameters: age, length of history, presence or absence of pancreatic calcification, nutritional and alcoholic habits, and the results of exocrine function tests. The absence of the last-mentioned correlation is somewhat unexpected if the high CCK levels are due to the interruption of a feedback loop for CCK secretion. However, previous pancreatic surgical drainage and/or treatment with pancreatic enzymes, present in almost all these patients, could have an effect on CCK behaviour.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

T4+ cell depletion as a major risk factor for AIDS-related complex and AIDS. Longitudinal study of 253 HIV-antibody positive heroin addicts from northern Italy.

We enrolled 253 HIV-antibody positive heroin addicts without HIV-related disease (n = 81) or with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (n = 172) in a prospective study to evaluate clinical progression to AIDS related complex (ARC) or AIDS and to identify factors of possible prognostic relevance. Follow-up lasted between 6 and 40 months (median 12 months). According to the non-parametric Cox's model the only significant (P less than 0.001) prognostic variable was T4+ cell count considered in three classes: greater than 800/microliters (no depletion), 400-800/microliters (moderate depletion) and less than 400/microliters (absolute depletion). Subjects with T4+ cell count of less than 400/microliters had a risk of developing ARC or AIDS that was 6.46 and 1.98 higher than those with values of greater than 800/microliters or between 400 and 800/microliters respectively. The estimated probability of progression to ARC or AIDS was 0.029, 0.056 and 0.172 at one year in subjects with T4+ cell count of greater than 800/microliters 400-800/microliters and less than 400/microliters, respectively, and 0.296, 0.501, and 0.896 at two years.

AIDS-Related Complex↗