The burden of incidental findings in clinical practice in a tertiary care center

Backround To evaluate the prevalence and clinical burden of serendipitously discovered abnormalities in hospitalized patients, unrelated to their presenting symptoms and physical signs Methods A total of 478 patients consecutively admitted in the Department of Medicine were enrolled in the study In the end of first diagnostic work-up, the previously undetected imaging or endoscopic asymptomatic abnormalities termed as incidental findings (IFs) were recorded and some of them were fur diet investigated Results One hunched thirty eight (28 8%) patients had IFs The most common IFs were located in the kidney and genitourinary system followed by liver and gallbladder The most common method of detection of IFs was ultrasonography (US) of the abdomen The patients with IFs compared with those without, were older (P = 0.007). had no pi emus hospitalizations (P<0 001) and stayed longer in the hospital (P<0 001) The 25 (18 1%) patients with IFs were not evaluated further One hundred seventy seven IFs discovered in 113 patients were further evaluated by medical specialists and additional tests were performed if warranted In the end of the diagnostic work-up. in a total of 113 patients with IFs, 78 7% had insignificant and 21 2% potentially significant IFs The latter group had higher rate of IFs compared with the former group, usually more than 3 (P = 0 017) Conclusions IFs were prevalent in a hospital population Hospitalized patients with IFs were more than 60 years old and had no previous hospitalization A large number of IFs were potentially significant deserving further clinical management (C) 2010 European Federation of Internal Medicine Published by Elsevier B V All rights reserve

Electrochemical promotion of CH4 oxidation on Pd nanoparticles, Pd/Co3O4 and Pd/MnO2 nanodispersed catalysts deposited on O2- conductors (YSZ, CGO)

SSCI-VIDE+CARE+IKL:PVEInternational audienceStudies of CH4 oxidation are of special interest due to the difficulty in activating this particular hydrocarbon, to the demand of an active catalyst at low temperatures (T50 at 300oC) as well as due to possible deactivation of the catalyst upon exposure at higher temperatures. To address these issues, we have used Electrochemical Promotion of Catalysis (EPOC) which was discovered in the early 80's and has been studied for more than 100 catalytic systems. EPOC allows the controlled enhancement of the catalytic activity by potential or small current application between a catalyst (working electrode) supported on a solid electrolyte and an auxiliary electrode. In this study, the use of Pd nanoparticles (2-4 nm) as well as the use of nanodispersed Pd/Co3O4 and Pd/MnO2 catalysts deposited on O2- conductors (YSZ and CGO) is described. The aim is to demonstrate the feasibility of EPOC with nanodispersed catalysts and to enhance the reaction rate at temperatures lower than those that have been observed in previous studies

Electrochemical promotion of methane oxidation over nanodispersed Pd/Co3O4 catalysts

International audienc

An extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, nasal type, with specific immunophenotypic and genotypic features

Extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, ‘nasal type,’ is a rare clinicopathological entity in Europe. The main clinical features are nasal congestion, sore throat, dysphagia and epistaxis, due to a destructive mass involving the midline facial tissues. Pathologically, lymphoma cells exhibit angioinvasion, angiodestruction and coagulative necrosis. We report the case of a patient who presented with fever, dyspnea, nasal congestion, headache, distention of right nasal turbinates and exophytic lower leg ulcerating lesions. A CT scan of visceral scull demonstrated a filling mass of right frontal, ethmoidal and maxillary sinuses with erosion of the wall of right maxillary sinus and ventral portion of the diaphragm. A biopsy was performed in the skin lesion and showed an angioinvasive NK/T cell lymphoma CD56 negative with clonal rearrangement of the T-cell-receptor gamma gene. Up to our knowledge, this is a rare immunophenotype for NK/T-cell, ‘nasal type,’ lymphomas. However, the lymphoma may be classified as extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, ‘nasal type,’ due to typical clinical presentation, radiologic findings and pathological characteristics of polymorphism, angioinvasion, angiodestruction and coagulative necrosis

Mini-laparoscopic cholecystectomy with the MiniLap® percutaneous surgical system: a series of 32 patients

Konstantinos Sapalidis,1 Christoforos Kosmidis,1 Nikos Michalopoulos,1 Stylianni Laskou,1 Efstathios Pavlidis,1 Stelios Mantalovas,1 Dimitrios Giannakidis,1 Aikaterini Amaniti,1 Charilaos Koulouris,1 Athanasios Katsaounis,1 Alexandru C Munteanu,1 Valeriou Surlin,1 Paul Zarogoulidis,2 Isaak Kesisoglou1 1Third Department of Surgery, AHEPA Hospital, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece; 2Pulmonary-Oncology Department, “Theageneio” Cancer Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece Background: In recent years, mini-laparoscopic procedures are gaining the preference of most surgeons due to their potentially better surgical outcomes. The Mini Lap Percutaneous Surgical System with MiniGrip® Handle is currently the less invasive instrument and can be applied to a wide range of operations. The current paper presents its application on percutaneous laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Materials and methods: From January 2017 to June 2017, 32 patients underwent percutaneous laparoscopic cholecystectomy with the MiniLap® system. All operations were performed by the same surgical team. Results: No conversions and no overall complications were reported. Drainage were not necessary. Mean surgical time was 35 minutes, while patients were released in <24 hours after the operation. Conclusion: The MiniLap system with the use of the mini grip handle seems to sustain the benefits of performing laparoscopically. However, further trials should be conducted so as to establish its safety on cholecystectomies. Keywords: cholecystectomy, minimally invasive surgery, MiniGrip handle, percutaneous cholecystectomy, mini-laparoscop

Nab-paclitaxel as second-line treatment in advanced gastric cancer: A multicenter phase II study of the hellenic oncology research group

Background This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of nab-paclitaxel as second-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric adenocarcinoma. Methods Thirty-nine pretreated patients [33 with taxane-based regimens (docetaxel, cisplatin, and fluorouracil)] and 6 with combination of fluoropyrimidines plus cisplatin with locally advanced inoperable and metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma were treated with weekly nab-paclitaxel (150 mg/m2 d1, d8, d15 in cycles of 28 days). Results Partial response (PR) was documented in nine patients (23.1%; 95% confidence interval 10.1-37.2%), stable disease (SD) in 11 (28.2%) and disease progression in 18 (46.2%). The disease control rate (SD + PR + complete response) was 51.3%. Grade 3 and 4 neutropenia occurred in 10.2% and 5.1% of patients, respectively; grade 3 anemia in 5.1%; grade 3 neurotoxicity in 5.1%; and grade 2 pain in 5.1%. The median progression-free survival was 3.0 months (range 0.3-13.6) and the median overall survival 6.8 months (range 0.3-22). Conclusion Nab-paclitaxel as second-line treatment in locally advanced inoperable or metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction carcinoma is an active chemotherapy regimen with a manageable toxicity profile and merits further evaluation. © 2018 Hellenic Society of Gastroenterolog