Minerva medica
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Abstract
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Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women and the most lethal gynecologic malignancy. Most women with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer will experience many episodes of recurrent disease with progressively shorter disease-free intervals. ⋯ A variety of combination strategies are being evaluated to leverage these agents. The objective of this review is to summarize results from clinical trials that tested cytotoxic drugs and target strategies for the treatment of ovarian cancer with particular attention to Phase III and ongoing trials.
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The sexual function (SF) in patients affected by malignancies represents an important aspect influencing the quality of life (QoL). The most frequent symptoms reported are the decreased sexual desire, dyspareunia, and/or problems with arousal or achieving orgasm. The present study is aimed at analyzing the available scientific evidence regarding the QoL and especially SF of patients affected by ovarian cancer who underwent surgical and medical treatment. ⋯ SF represents a fundamental aspect strictly related with QoL. Patients with ovarian cancer (as well all oncological patients) experience a reduction in their SF after diagnosis of malignancy and they should receive adequate counseling regarding this aspect.
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Observational Study
Sublingual sufentanil tablet system for postoperative analgesia after gynecological surgery.
Gynecological procedures are among the most frequent surgical interventions, and effective postoperative analgesia is associated with improved patient comfort. Despite the efficacy of neuraxial analgesia, limitations and potential complications have led to seek new strategies for pain relief. A novel, pre-programmed, non-invasive, hand-held system (Sufentanil Sublingual Tablet System [SSTS]) displayed good results in the orthopedic setting. However, it has never been applied in gynecological procedures. ⋯ SSTS may be an interesting option for postoperative analgesia in gynecologic procedures. The efficacy in the management of dynamic pain is an interesting outcome that needs to be compared with the other standards of pain management, such as neuraxial techniques. Rigorous studies are required to give conclusive evidence, but this is the first report, to our knowledge, of SSTS use in open gynecologic procedures. Our preliminary experience encourages the routine application of SSTS in gynecologic surgery and will help designing future randomized controlled trials on the topic.
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At present, the etiopathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, remains far to be fully deciphered. In the recent years, also the centrality of amyloid-β peptide in the pathogenesis of the neurodegenerative disease has been questioned and other hypotheses have been advanced. Notably, a common denominator of many of these theoretical models is represented by oxidative stress, which is widely proposed to play a role in the disease initiation and/or progression. ⋯ The peculiar multi-functionality nature of PON1 might be the key for explaining the vast epidemiological data showing a close association between low serum PON1 activity and risk of several diseases, including cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, in particular AD. In this review, we discuss the possible link between PON1 with AD pathogenesis and we hypothesize eventual mechanistic pathways that could account from epidemiological observations. We also highlight the methodological issue limitation in PON1 studies that still impede to give a definitive and certain picture of its effective biological impact on human health including AD.