CA-125; a new marker for diagnosis and follow-up of patients with tuberculous peritonitis

Background. Most malignancies with peritoneal infiltration, especially ovarian cancers and chronic liver diseases associated with ascites give rise to high serum CA-125 levels. Tuberculous peritonitis is another cause for high serum CA-125 levels

The relationship between age and carotid artery intima-media thickness, hemoglobin A1c in nondiabetic, healthy geriatric population

The aim of the study was to investigate a casual relationship between age and carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and hemoglobin Ale (HbA1c) levels and to assess the effects of possible risk factors in healthy nondiabetic elderly. Seventy-two healthy, well-educated, nondiabetic, healthy elderlies (mean age: 71.5 +/- 5.01 years; 43 male, 29 female) were enrolled in the study. Comprehensive assessments including a battery of psychosocial and functional performance tests were performed to all subjects. All of them were also asked about health prevention topics including exercise, dietary habits, smoking, vaccination, cholesterol screening, etc. Carotid artery IMT was measured by ultrasound. Blood samples were obtained for fasting glucose, HbA1c, cholesterol, triglyceride and fibrinogen. The mean carotid artery IMT was 0.94 +/- 0.13 mm and the mean HbA1c level was 5.29 +/- 0.65 mg/dl. There was no significant correlation between age and carotid artery IMT (r(s) = 0.15), HbA1c levels (r(s) = -0.08) and other possible atherosclerosis risk factors. Also there was no correlation between carotid artery IMT and HbA1c levels (r(s) = 0.14). Our data indicated that the carotid artery IMT, HbA1c and age are not associated in a geriatric healthy, well-educated population. Comparative studies done on the elderly who do not benefit from preventive health care programs are needed to establish if preventive health care measures and risk factor modification are important in the elderly age group. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Is late antibiotic prophylaxis effective in the prevention of secondary pancreatic infection?

Background: Secondary infection of the inflamed pancreas is the principal cause of death after severe acute pancreatitis (AP). Although patients are not always managed early in the course of AP in clinical practice, prophylactic antibiotics that were used in experimental studies in rats were always initiated early after induction of pancreatitis. The effectiveness of antibiotics initiated later is unknown. Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of ciprofloxacin and meropenem initiated early versus later in the course of acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) in rats. Methods: 100 Sprague-Dawley rats were studied. ANP was induced in rats by intraductal injection of 3% taurocholate. Rats were divided randomly into five groups: group I rats received normal saline as a placebo, group II and IV rats received three times daily meropenem 60 mg/kg i.p. at 2 and 24 h, respectively and group III and V rats received twice daily ciprofloxacin 50 mg/kg i.p. at 2 and 24 h, respectively, after induction. At 96 h, all rats were killed for quantitative bacteriologic study. A point-scoring system of histological features was used to evaluate the severity of pancreatitis. Results: Meropenem and ciprofloxacin initiated 2 h after induction of pancreatitis significantly reduced the prevalence of pancreatic infection (p 0.05). Although the rats treated early infected less frequently than the rats treated later, the comparison reached statistical significance only in the meropenem group (p < 0.02). Conclusion: Early antibiotic treatment reduces pancreatic infection more efficiently than late antibiotic treatment in ANP in rats. Copyright (C) 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel and IAP

Deferoxamine and meropenem combination therapy in experimental acute pancreatitis.

Introduction: Recent data from the experimental clinical studies suggest that antibiotics having good penetration to pancreas may reduce mortality by preventing pancreatic infection, which is the most important prognostic factor in acute pancreatitis (AP). Deferoxamine is an active free oxygen radical scavenger, which has been shown to have a protective role in development of acute pancreatitis