Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomédecine & pharmacothérapie
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Biomed. Pharmacother. · Apr 2004
Editorial Historical ArticleDossier: Drug delivery and drug efficacy.
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Biomed. Pharmacother. · Mar 2004
ReviewAlcohol and tobacco consumption as risk factors of dementia: a review of epidemiological studies.
The association between dementia and smoking or alcohol use has been examined in several epidemiological studies. In many case-control studies, a decreased risk of dementia or Alzheimer's disease (AD) was observed among smokers. However, when this association was analysed in prospective studies, an increased risk of AD was observed. ⋯ The association between moderate alcohol consumption and risk of developing a dementia or AD was recently confirmed by prospective studies. In some studies, wine consumption was more specifically associated with a decreased risk, whereas beer or spirit consumption was not associated. These results suggest that tobacco consumption is not associated with a lower risk of dementia and that moderate alcohol intake does not increase the risk of developing dementia.
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Endoscopic surgery has now become a well-established modality for the treatment of various organ diseases. In the present study, we analyzed the surgical results achieved by video-assisted neck surgery (VANS) in thyroid and parathyroid diseases. ⋯ VANS for thyroid and parathyroid diseases was found to be safe and effective. From a cosmetic point of view, a high degree of patient satisfaction was obtained. VANS is thus considered to be an excellent option for selected patients with thyroid and parathyroid diseases.
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Biomed. Pharmacother. · Jan 2002
ReviewMini review: surgical indications for adrenal incidentaloma.
The detection of an adrenal mass as an incidental finding has become so frequent that this trend is considered to be an endocrine epidemic. In these adrenal incidentalomas, a difficult problem is to distinguish between benign and malignant primary or secondary tumors. Another major problem in the management of patients with incidentally discovered adrenal mass is whether and when the mass puts the patient at increased risk of an adverse outcome. ⋯ In conclusion, accurate assessment of tumor size is an important consideration during preoperative evaluation of adrenal tumors in order to rule out malignancy. Careful evaluation of endocrine functions of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis is necessary before surgical treatment in patients with adrenal incidentaloma. Patients with adrenal incidentaloma should be carefully followed, especially regarding size and hormonal conditions.
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Biomed. Pharmacother. · Jan 2002
Comparative StudyVideo-assisted minimally invasive endoscopic thyroid surgery using a gasless neck skin lifting method--153 cases of benign thyroid tumors and applicability for large tumors.
Endoscopic surgery is often considered to be 'minimally invasive surgery' in the light of recent developments. In particular, endoscopic endocrine neck surgery is desirable from a cosmetic viewpoint. Here we compared the usefulness of our original endoscopic method of video-assisted neck surgery (the VANS method) with conventional surgery when challenged with the removal of thyroid tumors measuring more than 5 cm in diameter, based on our experience with 167 cases (162 thyroid tumors, five parathyroid tumors). ⋯ Total lobectomy with lymph node clearance was performed for all malignant tumors. Although the operating time and the blood loss were statistically greater in the large-tumor group than the small-tumor group, with increased experience it was possible to remove tumors of up to 7.4 cm safely. Our findings support the idea that the VANS method is feasible, practical, and safe, and has great cosmetic benefits, even for the removal of large benign tumors.