Adenocarcinoma of the third duodenal portion: Case report and review of literature

We focus on the diagnostic and therapeutic problems of duodenal adenocarcinoma, reporting a case and reviewing the literature. A 65-year old man with adenocarcinoma in the third duodenal portion was successfully treated with a segmental resection of the third part of the duodenum, avoiding a duodeno-cephalo-pancreatectomy. This tumor is very rare and frequently affects the III and IV duodenal portion. A precocious diagnosis and the exact localization of this neoplasia are crucial factors in order to decide the surgical strategy. Given a non-specificity of symptoms, endoscopy with biopsy is the diagnostic gold standard. Duodeno-cephalo-pancreatectomy (DCP) and segmental resection of the duodenum (SRD) are the two surgical options, with overlapping morbidity (27% vs 18%) and post operative mortality (3% vs 1%). The average incidence of postoperative long-term survival is 100%, 73.3% and 31.6% of cases after 1, 3 and 5 years from surgery, respectively. Long-term survival is made worse by two factors: the presence of metastatic lymph nodes and tumor localization in the proximal duodenum. The two surgical options are radical: DCP should be used only for proximal localizations while SRD should be chosen for distal localizations

Prognostic value of the non-stress test in the presence of maternal hypertension in pregnancy]. [Article in Italian]

Prognostic value of the non-stress test in the presence of maternal hypertension in pregnancy]. [Article in Italian

Urinary kallikrein and kininase activity in normal and complicated by hypertension pregnancy

Kallikrein and kininase activities were determined in urine of 58 hospitalized pregnant patients: 15 with E.P.H. gestosis, 10 with chronic hypertension, 18 with non proteinuric pregnancy induced hypertension, 15 with no hemodynamic disease as controls. All our cases with hypertension were treated with alpha-methyl-dopa. A significant increase in urinary kininase activity was shown by only E.P.H. gestosis group vs. controls. In the same group we found a significant decrease in urinary kallikrein activity vs. controls, in contrast with the results obtained previously, perhaps because of the different measuring method. The kininase/kallikrein ratio, theoretically indicative of kinins activity, increased significantly only in the E.P.H. gestosis group

Clinical significance of echocardiographic monitoring in pregnancies complicated by maternal hypertension

Clinical significance of echocardiographic monitoring in pregnancies complicated by maternal hypertensio

Aldosterone, kallikrein, kininase I and II in normal and hypertension complicated pregnancy.

Aldosterone, kallikrein, kininase I and II in normal and hypertension complicated pregnancy