Chirurgia italiana
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Comparative Study
[Impact of endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's esophagus on survival of patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma].
In an attempt to reduce mortality from oesophageal adenocarcinoma, it has been recommended to enroll patients with Barrett's oesophagus in endoscopic surveillance programs in order to detect malignant degeneration at an early and possibly curable stage. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of endoscopic biopsy surveillance on the outcome of Barrett's adenocarcinoma. From November 1992 to December 2000, 328 patients with histologically proven oesophageal adenocarcinoma were referred to our department. ⋯ Three out of five surveyed patients operated on for high grade dysplasia proved to have invasive carcinoma in the oesophagectomy specimen. All surveyed patients were alive after a median follow-up period of 50 months; the median survival in the non-surveyed group was 24 +/- 3 months (P < 0.01). Endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's oesophagus allows early detection of malignant degeneration and better long-term survival than in non-surveyed patients.
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Case Reports Comparative Study
[Drug-induced acute pancreatitis: a personal contribution].
Drugs are commonly considered a rare cause of acute pancreatitis but there are an increasing number of reports of numerous medications that seem to be involved in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis with different degrees of causative relationship to the disease (definite--probable--possible). The number of drugs that have been associated to date with acute pancreatitis exceeds 260. The authors report here on their personal series of four cases of drug-induced acute pancreatitis (warfarin, lysinopril/hydrochlorothiazide, lamivudine/stavudine/indinavir, valproic acid), focusing on a number of epidemiological and clinical aspects.