Acta clinica Croatica
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
ASPARTATE AMINOTRANSFERASE AND GAMMA-GLUTAMYL TRANSFERASE: INTRIGUING CLINICAL BIOMARKERS IN DISCRIMINATION OF HEPATIC LESION BETWEEN HEPATITIS C INFECTED PATIENTS AND HEALTHY CONTROLS.
Over 1.5 million new cases of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occur each year, infecting an estimated 58 million people worldwide. We aimed to find differences in peripheral blood count, liver enzymes and degradation products between HCV infected and healthy controls, and their impact on detection of the disease and discrimination of the diseased from non-diseased subjects. We performed laboratory testing for peripheral blood count, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) and bilirubin in 40 HCV patients and 40 healthy controls. ⋯ On logistic regression, only AST [p=0.0112, odds ratio (OR)1.2161, area under the curve (AUC) 0.887] and γ-GT (p=0.0283, OR 1.1041, AUC 0.815) showed a statistically significantly positive predicting value when discriminating healthy subjects and diseased patients. In conclusion, HCV titer, granulocytes and total bilirubin did not show a statistically significant impact on hepatic lesion expressed by γ-GT, whereas only AST and γ-GT showed a statistically significant positive predicting value to discriminate infected patients from healthy controls. Each unit increase in AST and γ-GT resulted in 21.6% and 10.4% higher possibility of HCV infection, respectively.
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Hypertensive nephropathy (HN) is characterized by kidney damage due to chronic high blood pressure. Podocytes play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of HN, thus, nephrin could be important in the early diagnosis of HN. The aim of the study was to investigate the association of urinary nephrin (u-nephrin) levels with clinical and laboratory characteristics in patients with HN and to test diagnostic relevance of u-nephrin as an early biomarker of HN. ⋯ The levels of u-nephrin increased gradually with the stage of CKD. ROC curve plotted for u-nephrin showed 89.7% sensitivity and 88.8% specificity, while UM/CR showed a sensitivity of 44.8% and specificity of 86.1% to detect HN in the early stage. It is concluded that u-nephrin can be useful as an early biomarker of HN.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS IN PATIENTS WITH TRIGEMINAL NEURALGIA - A PRELIMINARY STUDY.
Although earlier studies showed higher values of wall shear stress in neurovascular conflict, hemodynamic patterns in the blood vessel after microvascular decompression are unknown. This study aimed to analyze the hemodynamic features of the offending artery preoperatively and postoperatively using computational fluid dynamics. We retrospectively analyzed 11 patients with trigeminal neuralgia who were surgically treated in our department during 2022. ⋯ In all 11 patients, elevated values of wall shear stress were found in the area of neurovascular contact. Postoperatively, with improvement of the patient clinical status, there was also a decrease in wall shear stress. Computational fluid dynamics analysis of offending vessels in trigeminal neuralgia can be a useful tool in preoperative planning and in assessing treatment outcomes and prognosis.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
REBLEEDING RATE AND THE NEED OF BLOOD TRANSFUSION ARE HIGHER IN PATIENTS WITH UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL TUMOR BLEEDING THAN IN PATIENTS WITH PEPTIC ULCER BLEEDING.
The aim of our 5-year study (from January 2008 to December 2012) was to compare the incidence of peptic ulcer bleeding (PUB) to bleeding from tumors of the upper gastrointestinal tract. The percentage of re-bleeding within the first 30 days of hospital admission, as well as the need of blood transfusions, are also reported. Statistical data were collected on 2198 patients who were treated in our emergency department due to upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) in the form of melena or hematemesis. ⋯ The percentage of re-bleeding was lower (9.7% vs. 19.7%, p<0.01) and blood transfusions were less often required (49.5% vs. 75.4%, p<0.01) in PUB. Due to uncontrolled bleeding (5.9% vs. 3.3%, p<0.01), surgical treatment was more often required in cases of PUB, as well as larger volumes of blood transfusion. Patients with PUB had a lower rate of re-bleeding, required surgical intervention more often, and required red blood cell transfusions less frequently.
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Acta clinica Croatica · Dec 2023
Case ReportsSEBACEOUS CARCINOMA OF THE EYELID AND MUIR-TORRE SYNDROME.
Muir-Torre syndrome is a rare form of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome; simplified, it is an association of at least one sebaceous skin tumor and at least one visceral malignancy. It follows an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. ⋯ During his treatments, he was examined by experts in different medical fields. After genetic counseling, he also underwent genetic testing.