Irish journal of medical science
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The participation of inflammation in the progression of cancer for many years have been the subject of research. ⋯ In this article we present a brief history of the discovery mechanisms and potential links between acute and chronic inflammation and cancer.
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Large loop excision of the transformation zone (LLETZ) is the most common form of treatment for cervical pre-cancer. The majority of procedures should be performed under local anaesthesia (LA) in an outpatient setting. ⋯ The use of GA for LLETZ rarely confers benefits in terms of diagnostic or therapeutic quality indicators. The categorisation we propose is a simple audit tool that could be adopted by all colposcopy units to reduce the rate of GA.
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Medullary thyroid cancer consists of a spectrum of disease that ranges from extremely indolent tumors to aggressive types associated with a high mortality rate. The objective of our study is to evaluate the prognostic factors and outcomes of patients diagnosed with MTC in a homogenous population, and to examine patients diagnosed with MTC for mutations in the RET proto-oncogene from the same period. ⋯ Our patient cohort was substantially older and presented at an advanced T status than what is commonly seen in the literature. This may account for poor survival outcomes and the very low pick-up of RET mutations in sporadic medullary thyroid cancer.
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Sepsis is the most frequent cause of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) are well-known predictors of sepsis. Serum PCT levels are associated with blood culture positivity in patients with sepsis, but the magnitude of elevation of PCT and CRP levels at the onset of sepsis is unknown in Gram-negative (GN) bacteremia and in Gram-positive (GP) bacteremia. ⋯ Serum PCT levels are higher in GN sepsis than GP sepsis in 72 h. There are not differences in CRP. The separation of PCT and CRP phenomenon is helpful for early diagnosis of GP sepsis.
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Observational Study
Cardiac arrest secondary to acute coronary syndrome: a 4-year observational study of patient characteristics and outcomes.
Cardiac arrest due to ischaemia is frequently the first manifestation of cardiovascular disease. We sought to describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with a diagnosis of cardiac arrest secondary to acute coronary syndrome (ACS). ⋯ A significant proportion of patients admitted to the intensive care unit with a diagnosis of cardiac arrest secondary to acute coronary syndrome survive to hospital discharge with meaningful recovery in neurological and cardiac function.