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Excessive production of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) is linked to tissue damage and anastomotic leakage after large bowel surgery. Hence, the aim of this study was to verify whether different strategies of fluids administration can reduce MMP-9 expression.In the in vitro experiment, the authors tested the hypothesis of a direct inhibition of MMP-9 by the fluids used perioperatively, i.e., lactated Ringer's solution, 3.4% poligeline, and hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4. In the in vivo experiment, 36 patients undergoing surgery for colon cancer were randomly assigned to three groups to receive lactated Ringer's solution, poligeline, or hydroxyethyl starch. MMP-9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases were measured from venous blood samples; the MMP-9/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases ratio was calculated as an index of equilibrium between the action of MMP-9 and its inhibition.In the in vitro experiment, the presence of hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.4 in the MMP-9 assay system showed a strong inhibition of the enzymatic activity compared with lactated Ringer's solution. In the in vivo experiment, MMP-9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases plasma levels did not differ among the three groups at baseline, whereas those levels increased significantly at the end of surgery. At that time, the MMP-9 plasma levels and the MMP-9/tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases ratio were significantly higher in the lactated Ringer's solution and poligeline groups than in the hydroxyethyl starch group. These results were confirmed 72 h after surgery.This study demonstrates that hydroxyethyl starch 130/04 decreases the circulating levels of MMP-9 in patients undergoing abdominal surgery.

Current data regarding an association between cholelithiasis, cholecystectomy, or gastrectomy and pancreatic cancer are conflicting. We evaluated the frequency with which these factors were present in 720 patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer and in 720 matched controls. All subjects were interviewed personally and in detail about their clinical history. Cholelithiasis was present in 126 patients with pancreatic cancer (17.5%) and in 95 controls (13.2%), constituting a statistically significant association (odds ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.04–1.86); however, considering only the patients and controls in whom the diagnosis of cholelithiasis was made more than one year before cancer diagnosis or interview, the association was no longer significant (odds ratio, 1.04; 95% confidence interval, 0.75–1.44). Cholecystectomy had been performed in 93 patients with pancreatic cancer (12.9%) and in 71 controls (9.9%). When all subjects were considered, the odds ratio was mildly, although not significantly, increased (odds ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 0.97–1.87); when only subjects who underwent cholecystectomy one year or more before the cancer diagnosis or interview were considered, the odds ratio fell to unity. Gastrectomy had been performed in 28 patients with pancreatic cancer (3.9%) and in 25 controls (3.5%); analysis revealed no significant association between these two factors (odds ratio, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 0.64–2.05). In conclusion, our study, one of the largest on this topic, has found no evidence for an association between cholelithiasis, cholecystectomy, or gastrectomy and pancreatic cancer.

While cigarette smoking is a well-established risk factor for pancreatic cancer, the role of alcohol, coffee, and tea consumption remains controversial. In view of this, and because of the limited information on possible environmental risk factors of pancreatic cancer in Italy, we carried out this study. Five hundred seventy patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer and 570 controls from 14 Italian centers were studied. Using a standardized questionnaire, all were interviewed personally about their smoking habits, as well as habitual alcohol, coffee, and tea consumption throughout their lives prior to clinical onset of the disease. Details were also obtained on exposure to potential occupational carcinogens. A moderate association, statistically significant only in women (odds ratio, 2.18; 95% confidence interval, 1.30-3.68), was found between pancreatic cancer and cigarette smoking, but none was observed with alcohol or tea consumption or with any particular occupational exposure. Consumption of 1 or 2 cups of coffee per day was not associated with increased risk; 3 coffees per day increased the risk, but not significantly (odds ratio, 1.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-2.30); with consumption of more than 3 coffees per day the increase in risk was highly significant (odds ratio, 2.53; 95% confidence interval, 1.53-4.18). A statistically significant dose-response relationship (p < 0.001) was observed in each sex. The association between coffee use and pancreatic cancer still held after controlling for potential confounding factors such as cigarette smoking or alcohol use, and when the analysis was restricted to nonsmoking coffee drinkers. The results of this study, one of the largest of its type so far published, suggest that a causal relationship may exist between coffee consumption and pancreatic cancer.

Summary Aims: Diabetes occurs more frequently in patients with pancreatic cancer than in the general population, and it has repeatedly been claimed that it is a risk factor for this tumor. However in most of the studies on this subject the duration of diabetes before the diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was not ascertained. In an attempt to clarify the cause of the association between these two pathologic conditions and to determine whether diabetes is a risk factor for pancreatic cancer we recently studied this association in a large number of patients with pancreatic cancer. Methods: A total of 720 patients with newly diagnosed pancreatic cancer (415 men and 305 women; mean age 62.6 years, range 22 to 79 years) and 720 controls matched for sex, age, social class, and geographic region, were enrolled in the study. All subjects were interviewed personally and in detail about their clinical history. The diagnosis of diabetes was based on criteria recommended by the American Diabetes Association. Results: One hundred sixty-four patients with pancreatic cancer (22.8 %) and 60 controls (8.3 %) had diabetes. In the majority of the patients with pancreatic cancer (56.1 %), diabetes was diagnosed either concomitantly with the cancer (in 40.2 %), or within two years before the diagnosis of cancer (in 15.9 %). The association between the two conditions was significant (odds ratio, 3.04; 95 % confidence interval, 2.21 to 4.17). However, when only patients with diabetes of three or more years' duration were considered, the association was no longer significant (odds ratio, 1.43; 95 % confidence interval, 0.98 to 2.07). All the patients with pancreatic cancer whose diabetes had been diagnosed before the cancer had non-insulin-dependent diabetes; all but one of the control patients with diabetes had the non-insulin-dependent form of the disease. Conclusions: Diabetes in patients with pancreatic cancer is frequently of recent onset and is presumably caused by the tumor. Diabetes is not a risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

General anesthesia could imply that the closing capacity exceed the functional residual capacity. This phenomenon, associated with a reduction of maximal expiratory flow, could lead to expiratory flow limitation (EFL). The aim of our study was to verify 1) a new method of determining EFL during anesthesia (PEEP test); 2) if anesthesia could be associated with the development of EFL; 3) if the use a small amount of PEEP is able to reverse the possible negative effects of low lung volume ventilation.Fifty two patients scheduled for abdominal surgery were prospectively randomized in: 1) group ZEEP, ventilated at PEEP 0 H(2)O and 2) group PEEP ventilated at PEEP 5 cm H2O. The presence of EFL was determined by the negative expiratory pressure (NEP) test the day before surgery and by the PEEP test during surgery. Data of respiratory mechanics were calculated at the beginning and at the end of anesthesia.1) The PEEP test allows the detection of EFL; 2) anesthesia was associated with EFL: 8 patients developed EFL after induction. At the end of surgery, 7 more patients became flow limited in the group ZEEP, while only 1 in the group PEEP. The group ZEEP exhibited a marked decrease of expiratory flow and a worsening of respiratory mechanics at the end of surgery.The PEEP test allowed to verify that EFL during anesthesia is a valuable phenomenon. The use of 5 cmH(2)O of PEEP was helpful to prevent the deterioration of lung mechanics that occurs during surgery.

PURPOSE: Hepatic hydrothorax is defined as the accumulation of pleural effusion in a cirrhotic patient in the absence of pulmonary or cardiac disease. Peritoneal fluid can pass into the pleural space through diaphragmatic fenestrations. The demonstration of such passage is important to establish the diagnosis of hepatic hydrothorax and can be achieved by intraperitoneal injection of nuclear contrast agents. Our aim was to evaluate the ability of contrast enhanced ultrasound in the detection of peritoneal-pleural communications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven patients with cirrhotic ascites and pleural effusion were studied in order to make a diagnosis of hepatic hydrothorax. SonoVue was injected into the peritoneal cavity (9.8 mL), and the peritoneal and pleural cavities were monitored by ultrasound. All patients were then studied using a nuclear scan. RESULTS: Passage of SonoVue from the peritoneal to the pleural cavities was seen in 5 patients. In 2 patients, no passage of contrast agent was detectable. Nuclear scan was consistent with contrast enhanced ultrasound in all patients. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the presence of peritoneal-pleural communications can be demonstrated by real time contrast enhanced ultrasound, whose results are comparable to those of nuclear scan. Contrast enhanced ultrasound is cheaper and could theoretically be performed wherever ultrasound facilities are available.

Impaired gallbladder motility is a contributing factor to gallstone formation. Since many drugs delaying intestinal motility inhibit gallbladder emptying, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect on gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi motility of a Natural Chestnut Wood Extract (NEC) that reduces intestinal motility. In order to evaluate the effect of the extract in normal- and high-risk gallstone conditions, the investigation was performed using tissues from animals fed normal and lithogenic diet. Fifty guinea pigs were administered either control or lithogenic diet. The spontaneous motility of the gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi were recorded on isolated gallbladder tissues; thereafter, the effect of NEC on motility was tested and compared with carbachol (CCh), potassium chloride (KCl), noradrenaline (NA), and A71623. Compared to controls, the lithogenic diet induced an irregular and disordered motor pattern in both the gallbladder and sphincter of Oddi. NEC increased gallbladder and decreased sphincter of Oddi spontaneous motility independently of cholinergic, adrenergic, and CCK-1 receptor-mediated pathways both in controls and in lithogenic diet-fed animals, although the effect was lower in the latter group. The effect was reversible and mediated by calcium channels. The natural extract of chestnut increasing gallbladder contraction and inducing the relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi can be of benefit in pathological conditions associated with increased transit time at risk of gallstones.

To the Editor: Gastroesophageal re ux disease (GERD) is an extremely common condition characterized by symptoms of heartburn and acid regurgitation. ˜ e etiopathogenetic steps of GERD remain largely unknown even though up to 20 % of the adult population in Western coun-tries is thought to be a( ected by re ux symptoms on a weekly basis (1) , natural-history studies indicate that patients with GERD symptoms su er from a chronic relapsing course of disease, with at least 50 % remaining on continuous medical therapy (2) , and the condition is known to predispose to an increased cancer risk. We know that GERD is caused by an abnormal contact of gastrointestinal contents with esophageal mucosa, and insu cient clearance of the esophageal body, lower esophageal sphinter incom-petence, and delayed gastric emptying have been identi- ed as putative patho-physiological mechanisms of disease, but the exact etiology of this backward displacement of gastrointestinal contents has yet to be elucidated. Because a possible role for food intol-erance in the etiology of GERD has not, to our knowledge, been investigated, and the so-called typical symptoms are con-sidered speci c, although not sensitive, for the diagnosis (3) , we decided to retro-spectively evaluate the results of a leuko-cytotoxic test for food intolerance using a panel of 60 foods (Allergoline Biotech & Research, Modena, Italy). ˜ e test was performed at the local center of a food ple that has come into direct contact with speci c food substances. On the basis of observation of the leukocytes, degrees of reaction to the food extracts are rated according to the following scale: level 0 = n egative ,level 1 = s lightly positive, level 2 = m oderately positive ,and level 3 = highly positive .˜ ese levels corre-spond to (i) the state of the leukocytes, which react by swelling, then developing research group, ACSIAN (Associazione Centro Studie Ricerche delle Intolleranze Alimentari e della Nutrizione) , from the date of the opening of the center in April 2007 to April 2008, in 16 patients su ering from typical GERD symp-toms (heartburn and regurgitation, in the absence of dysphagia) and 7 healthy subjects. ˜ is test is based on the optical evaluation of leukocytes in a blood sam