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PubMed1996

Evaluation and management of multinodular goiter.

Nodular goiters are encountered commonly in clinical practice by primary care physicians, endocrinologists, surgeons, and otolaryngologists. Epidemiologic data suggest that in the United States, the incidence of such goiters is approximately 0.1% to 1.5% per year, translating into 250,000 new nodules annually. Nodular goiters are more common in women than in men, with advancing age, and after exposure to external irradiation. These goiters may be asymptomatic, with normal TSH levels (nontoxic), or may be associated with systemic thyrotoxic symptoms (toxic MNG or Plummer's disease). Diagnostic evaluation of patients with nodular goiters consists of clinical evaluation, biochemical testing, FNA, and imaging studies. The serum TSH level is a sensitive and reliable index of thyroid function. FNA results are pivotal to assess cancer risk in patient management for prominent palpable and suspicious nodules. Chest radiography, high-resolution ultrasonography, and computed tomography help to delineate the size and extent of a goiter in evaluating compression symptoms. Indications for treatment in patients with MNG include hyperthyroidism, local compression symptoms attributed to the goiter, cosmesis, and concern about malignancy based on FNA results. The use of levothyroxine suppression therapy to effectively decrease and control MNG size is controversial. Thyroid hormone should not be used, however, in patients with suppressed serum TSH levels, to avoid the development of toxic symptoms. Management of toxic MNG by surgery is well established. Radioiodine is also effective therapy for many of these patients. When treatment is necessary for nontoxic MNG, surgical excision is preferred. Our recommendations are as follows. For patients who have small, nontoxic multinodular goiters that are clinically asymptomatic, who are biochemically euthyroid according to serum TSH levels, and who have prominent palpable or suspicious nodules benign by FNA, yearly evaluation with serum TSH determinations and thyroid palpation is sufficient. Patients with modest but stable MNG size and normal serum TSH levels may also be managed by yearly clinical observation. In this second group, levothyroxine suppression therapy is often unsuccessful and has the potential for untoward effects from exogenous hyperthyroidism. For large nontoxic multinodular goiters with local compression symptoms, the preferred treatment is surgery. In patients with toxic MNG, treatment with either surgery or radioiodine is recommended, although patients with large goiters and large, autonomously functioning nodules become euthyroid more quickly following surgery.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2002

Special article: physiologic consequences of pneumonectomy. Consequences on the esophageal function. 1999.

Pneumonectomy is associated with gross anatomic and physiologic changes of the esophagus. So far, only a few studies have examined the influences of anatomic changes of the esophagus and the resulting physiologic consequences. When pneumonectomy is performed without pulmonary replacement, the esophagus is displaced to the side of pneumonectomy and posteriorly. Indentation of the esophagus by the trachea, bronchus, or aortic arch and dilatation at various levels are present. After pneumonectomy, the peak amplitude of esophageal peristaltic contractions is reduced. This feature is more pronounced in patients who are more than 60 years old and in patients who had their pneumonectomy performed more than 6 years ago. Injury of the vagal nerves, local ischemia, scarring of the esophagus and mediastinum after surgery, and disturbance of the autonomic nervous systems are the major reasons leading to esophageal dysmotility and delayed gastric emptying. Despite the severe morphologic and physiologic changes of the esophagus observed after pneumonectomy, few patients complain of gastrointestinal symptoms after pneumonectomy. Esophageal functional abnormalities may be present in patients with lung cancers before pneumonectomy because of a close anatomic relationship between the esophageal vagal nerve supply and the pulmonary hilum, making the vagal nerves susceptible to disturbances by the tumors or by involved hilar or mediastinal lymph nodes. After pneumonectomy, esophageal dysmotility is exaggerated. After recipient pneumonectomy for thoracic organ transplantation, esophageal dysmotility and delayed gastric emptying are common, but their relationship to gastroesophageal reflux, chronic aspiration, or subsequent development of bronchiectasis and obliterative bronchiolitis is controversial. To reduce the incidence of esophageal dysmotility after pneumonectomy, every effort should be made during surgery to prevent direct injury of the esophagus or the vagal nerves. A prospective study involving a larger patient population is needed to precisely define the problem and its management.

Esophageal Motility Disorders↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Laser epithelial keratomileusis for myopia with the autonomous laser.

PURPOSE: To describe the refractive outcome, objective clinical data, and subjective patient experiences after laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK) at 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery. METHODS: This was a retrospective, nonrandomized, comparative study of 58 LASEK-treated eyes (36 patients) with myopia (with and without astigmatism) between -1.50 and -14.75 D (mean -7.80 +/- 2.90 D, median -7.90 D). Refractive surgery was performed using the Alcon Summit Autonomous LADAR Vision excimer laser. Manifest refraction, best-spectacle and uncorrected Snellen visual acuity, stability of refraction, and corneal haze were evaluated before surgery and up to 6 months after surgery. A group of randomly selected LASIK-treated eyes were compared at each time point. RESULTS: Patients who opted for monovision (n=12) were excluded. In the emmetropia targeted eyes (n=46), 45%, 83%, 85%, and 89% achieved 20/40 or better uncorrected Snellen visual acuity (UCVA) at 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, and 1 month respectively. At 6 months, 73% (n=28) of eyes treated achieved UCVA 20/20 with 97% achieving 20/40 or better (mean, -0.51 D). At 3 and 6 months, 71% (n=46) and 68% (n=28) were within +/- 0.50 D of emmetropia. The percentage of eyes that achieved UCVA 20/40 or better at 6 months was 97% (n=28). Visually significant corneal haze was evident in two LASEK-treated patients (four eyes) at 6 months. No eyes lost two or more lines of best spectacle-corrected Snellen visual acuity. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary data suggest that LASEK appears to be a safe, effective, and comparable alternative to LASIK, even for higher amounts of myopia. A prospective, randomized clinical trial is needed to better define the role of LASEK as it compares to other refractive procedures, specifically LASIK and PRK.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Surgical treatment of autonomous chronic pancreatitis (apropos of 147 cases)].

Surgery in chronic pancreatitis gives only poor results: 40 p. 100 of cures or long-term improvements. Apart from certain mistaken indications, three factors are associated with a poor prognosis: calcification, late operation, persistence of alcoholism. However, mechanical complications, such as jaundice, pyloric stenosis, digestive hemorrhage and pseudo-cyst, are the main undoubted indications for operation. The choice of operation depends mainly on the state of Wirsung's duct. Usually, either part of the gland is removed or an internal digestive fistula is performed. Removal of the left lobe of the pancreas gives good results. Cephalic duodeno-pancreatectomy which is satisfactory in the short term, does not give, in the long run, better results than those of drainage operations. Pseudo-cysts are treated by removal when situated in the body or the tail and a drainage operation in the cephalic form. Simple operations should be preferred.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Five-year follow-up of percutaneous ethanol injection for the treatment of hyperfunctioning thyroid nodules: a study of 117 patients.

UNLABELLED: Percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) has been suggested as an alternative to radioiodine and surgery for the treatment of autonomous thyroid nodules (ATN). OBJECTIVE: In this study we have defined the long-term efficacy and safety of PEI for the treatment of ATN, and we have attempted to optimize the clinical usefulness and improve the technical approach to PEI treatment. PATIENTS: One hundred and seventeen patients with ATN, 26 males and 91 females, aged 48 +/- 12.9 years (mean +/- SD), were offered PEI when other established treatments were refused or contraindicated. Seventy-seven patients were affected by toxic adenoma (60 with a single nodule, 17 with a multinodular goitre); 40 patients suffered from a pretoxic single nodule. METHODS: Sterile 95% ethanol was administered weekly under sonographic control by a 20-22 gauge needle without anaesthesia or pharmacological sedation. During PEI treatment, 26 toxic elderly patients were treated with methimazole and propranolol. According to hormone and scintigraphic data, three possible outcomes were identified for statistical analysis: failure (persistent suppression of extra-nodular tissue uptake, along with elevated free T4 (FT4) and free T3 (FT3) and undetectable TSH levels); partial cure (normalization of FT4 and FT3 levels, with low/ undetectable TSH levels; persistent suppression of extra-nodular uptake); complete cure (normal thyroid hormone and TSH levels; restored extra-nodular uptake). RESULTS: The patients were followed for up to 5 years (median 2.5). PEI therapy was well tolerated by all patients. Complete cure was achieved in all pretoxic patients and in 60 (77.9%) patients with toxic adenoma, while partial cure was observed in 7 cases (9.1%) and failure in 10 (13%). PEI treatment proved similarly effective in toxic patients with a single nodule or with multinodular goitre (87 vs 88.2%, respectively). At the end of treatment, a significant shrinkage of nodule volume was observed in all patients (P = 0.0001). Toxic patients with pretreatment volume > 40 ml (n = 8) did not show a significant difference in treatment response rate as compared to those with volume < 40 ml. Recurrence of hyperthyroidism was never observed during follow-up, independently of thyroid status before treatment. Only one patient with significant thyroid autoantibody serum levels before PEI treatment, developed sub-clinical hypothyroidism at 3 years. The administration of methimazole and/or propranolol did not modify PEI outcome. CONCLUSION: Our data confirm the efficacy and safety of percutaneous ethanol injection for the therapy of autonomous thyroid nodules. The very low incidence of hypothyroidism along with the absence of recurrence of hyperthyroidism suggests that percutaneous ethanol injection is the treatment of choice in patients with pretoxic thyroid adenoma. Percutaneous ethanol injection appears an effective alternative procedure in toxic patients with a high surgical risk even if they have large nodules, and in younger ones in whom radioiodine is contraindicated. Patients may be submitted to anti-thyroid drug and/or beta-blocker therapy if it is necessary, but this does not affect percutaneous ethanol injection treatment outcome. Finally, not only single autonomous thyroid nodules but also toxic multinodular goitre may be successfully treated by percutaneous ethanol injection.

Adenoma↗
PubMed2004

The sodium-iodide symporter protein is always present at a low expression and confined to the cell membrane in nonfunctioning nonadenomatous nodules of toxic nodular goitre.

OBJECTIVE: The sodium-iodide (Na(+)/I(-)) symporter (NIS) is known to be overexpressed in toxic adenomas and in about half of benign solitary nonfunctioning adenomas of the thyroid. In nonfunctioning adenomas, however, the protein is localized mainly in the cytoplasm and fails to reach the basolateral membrane of the follicular cell where it is found in normal thyroid tissue and in hyperfunctioning adenomas. Our aim was to study both the level of expression and the cell localization of NIS in nonfunctioning nonadenomatous nodules of toxic nodular goitre. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Tissue specimens from nine patients who were submitted to surgery for toxic or functionally autonomous goitre were studied. Tissues from 12 patients who underwent lobectomy for a toxic thyroid adenoma were used as controls. MEASUREMENTS: Tissue sections embedded in paraffin were stained with haematoxylin-eosin for histological evaluation and for immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody that recognized human (h) NIS. RESULTS: Functioning and nonfunctioning nodules scattered in multinodular goitres consisted of unencapsulated micro/macrofollicular aggregates. All toxic adenomas were characterized by a micro/macrofollicular pattern of growth and histological examination showed that they were surrounded by a capsule. Like the 12 toxic adenomas, all the 14 functioning hyperplastic nodules and two adenomas of toxic multinodular goitre showed a high level of hNIS protein expression with respect to the normal collateral parenchyma and, in all cases, the protein was confined to the cell membrane. CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to what was observed for solitary nonfunctioning thyroid adenomas, all the 19 nonfunctioning hyperplastic nodules showed a very low hNIS and this was always confined to the cell membrane. These data suggest that the mechanisms leading to loss of iodide uptake in nonfunctioning hyperplastic nodules of toxic multinodular goitre are different from those that act on solitary nonfunctioning follicular adenomas.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

[Basedown disease, thyroid gland autonomy, nodular goiter. When is radiotherapy indicated?].

Treatment options for benign diseases of the thyroid include medication, radioiodine therapy and surgery. Patients with hyperthyroidism initially receive antithyroid drugs, with further treatment determined by the relapse risk. In the case of Graves' disease this is determined by a number of risk factors, including the volume of the thyroid gland or the presence of endocrinal ophthalmopathy. In such cases with a high relapse risk, radioiodine therapy is the recommended first-line treatment. Further indications--if surgery is not necessary--are autonomous goiter, recurrent (autonomous) goiter and latent hyperthyroidism. A single radioiodine treatment suffices to control the situation in more than 90% of the cases, and the goiter clearly diminishes in size. Radiation-induced malignancies or malformations have not been seen, but iodine treatment is contraindicated in pregnancy. In view of the short hospital stay of only four to five days, and the ready availability of treatment units, the authors consider radioiodine therapy a suitable first-line option in patients with Graves' hyperthyroidism.

Antithyroid Agents↗
PubMed1993

[Electrophysiological properties of the transplanted heart. Clinical applications].

With the improvement in the results of cardiac transplantation, more and more cardiologists are called on to follow up cardiac transplant patients. Cardiological follow-up requires a knowledge of the electrocardiographic and electrophysiological features of the transplanted heart after surgery and the suppression of autonomic innervation. The transplanted heart ECG is characterised by the presence of 2 P waves of different morphology and frequency (from the native and transplanted atria), an acceleration of the sinus rhythm, clockwise rotation of the longitudinal axis, right bundle branch block and ST-T segment changes. The increase in heart rate during exercise is catecholamine-dependent, more progressive and less important than in normal subjects, as is the deceleration of the cardiac rhythm when exercise is stopped. The observation of early sinus node dysfunction is not rare (6.6%) and though usually asymptomatic and transient, implantation of a pacemaker is commonly proposed with different modes of stimulation (VVI, VVIR, AAIR, AAT). The authors have observed changes in the electrophysiological properties of experimental transplanted hearts during acute rejection. The most important of these were in the conduction of the activation within the atrium and in the atrioventricular node, and a reduction in the amplitude of the ventricular potential. The recording of these changes in humans by a non-invasive method could help early diagnosis of acute rejection and limit the number of endomyocardial biopsies. Of the non-invasive techniques under assessment, signal-averaged electrocardiography (temporal and/or frequency analysis) seems to be the most promising.

Animals↗