Arch Iran Med
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Pneumatic balloon dilation (PBD) is a first line treatment for idiopathic achalasia. Here we report the safety and efficacy of graded gradual PBD on short and long-term follow-up. ⋯ Our results show that graded gradual PBD is a safe and effective method for treatment of achalasia patients, and achieves sufficient short and long-term symptomatic remission with high cumulative success rate.
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Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is an integral part of breast cancer treatment. Determination of the factors that can distinguish patients who will have best response to NAC is invaluable. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the factors influencing patient response to NAC. ⋯ In our study, tumor grade, PR status, and HER2 status was associated with response to NAC. PCR was more prevalent in non-luminal tumors; however, PCR rate in luminal B patients-especially those with HER2 positive status- was slightly less than non-luminals.
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Gastric cancer has been one of the major causes of death in the past decades. It is the fifth most prevalent cancer and the third leading cause of neoplasm death worldwide. Thus, to know more about this health problem, assessing the burden of this cancer and its association with socioeconomic status of countries is of great importance. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the mean trend of gastric cancer mortality-to-incidence ratio (GCMIR) in different super regions defined by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and investigate the relationship between GCMIR and Human Development Index (HDI) in the period 2000-2016. ⋯ Our findings revealed that gastric cancer could be thought not only as a biological disease but also as a social event that will be more controllable with the improvement of economic status and other social determinants of health.
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Systemic therapies commonly used in adult psoriasis are mostly used only off-label in children and little is known about the efficacy and tolerability of these drugs in this population. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of systemic treatments in pediatric patients with psoriasis. ⋯ All treatments were effective and none of them was superior in terms of the healing period. Systemic treatments used in adults can also be used in pediatric patients with psoriasis with similar efficacy and safety rates as long as routine monitoring is provided.