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Summary: This work reports a clinical trial performed at palermo University Hospital "paolo Giaccone". From January 2004 to December 2011, 79 patients were enrolled (40 men and 39 women). All patients suffered from Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and were subjected to orthopedic consultation at the institute of Orthopaedics, University Hospital of palermo, for arthropathy to IBD. The patients were divided into two groups (A and B) and dealt with different therapies for the resolution of the inflammatory picture of the colonic mucosa and the treatment of the extraintestinal articular manifestations. Group A was treated with drug therapy: Diclofenac (75 mg im/ day for 10 days9 and Mesalazine (800 mg gastro-resistant tabletes, one tablet twice a day in mild forms, and one tablet three times per day in moderate forms). In group B, in addition to the previous treatment protocol, two probiotic mixture were added in a time of two weeks: in the first week, twice a day, one capsule containing mixture of Enterococcus faecium and saccharomices boluard was administered, with the main purpose to mitigate the intestinal inflammation; in the second week, twice a day too, one capsule containing a mixture of lactobacillus salivarius and lactobacillus acidophilus was administered, with the main purpose to mitigate the intestinal inflammation, in the second week, twice a day too, one capsule containing a mixture of lactobacillus salivarius and lactobacillus acidophilus was administered, with the aim to promote the restoration of a normal intestinal microenvironment. The attenuation of intestinal inflammation, improved by the presence of probiotics, could have important effects on the articular manifestations, resulting in a significant improvement of the arthropathy. All patients were evaluated with the Harvey-Bradshaw Index. Both Crohn Disease and Ulcerative Cholitis diagnosis was made with clinical, laboratory, endoscopic and instrumental tests; the degree of disease activity was evaluated using the criteria of Truelove and witts. The WOMAC-Score (Western Ontario Mcmaster) was used in our study to investigate the degree of articular involvement of the patients. The data were statistically evaluated and these are shown that the B group of patients treated with conventional therapy + probiotic mixture had a better resolution of the clinical and of this post-treatment parameters: WOMAC score, ESR, CRP and white blood cells; and also the B group of patients have a better response to standard therapy compared with patients who did not receive the probiotic with a remarkable statistic significance (p>0,0001).

The aim of this study is to evaluate long-term complications and patient's quality of life after the endoscopic treatment of benign anastomotic colo-colonic strictures. From January 2000 to November 2008,, 42 patients who had undergone surgery for colorectal cancer were endoscopically treated for a postoperative symptomatic stricture. The dilation were performed using a 20-30 mm pneumatic dilator. The clinical results were classified in relation to the abdominal symptomatology reported by the patients, and were evaluated in the short-term (one-week) and long-term (mean follow-up.36 months)period. Results: 15 patients underwent a total of 22 dilating sessions; 9 patients had a single dilating session, 18 patients underwent 5 dilating sessions. Three bowel peforations at the site of dilation, 1 septic complications and a transient mucosal bleeding were registered. immediate symptomatic relief was achieved in all the cases; the symptoms caused by the strictures disappeared after the first session. Normal defecation was immediately restored after the treatment. satisfactory good long-term clinical results were achieved in thirty-seven patients (88%). Conclusion: This study confirms the assumption that dilation with balloon may be considered the first-line therapeutic approach safe and effective for symptomatic benign anastomotic strictures after colorectal resection surgery for adenocarcinoma. The treatment of benign anastomotic strictures by standard endoscopic dilation is an effective contribution against stricture-related gastrointestinal symptoms. The standard criterion used to define successful anastomoses (10-13 mm in diameter)is sufficient for an optimal result.

Background: Some uremic patients suffering from diabetes, atherosclerosis or simple by absent or exhausted peripheral vascular bed require bigger effort in creating arteriovenous fistula. Although it is possible to use prosthetic graft for difficult cases, the use of native vessels falls always in the respect of patient’s quality of life. A help for these cases comes from the use of a microsurgical technique for creating vascular access. Patient and Methods: For this study we evaluated the 72 patients underwent microsurgical radiocephalic fistula comparing them to a homogeneous group of 72 patients underwent traditional surgery. The patients were followed up at 1, 2 months and 1 year. Results: From comparison between the two groups our findings suggested that microsurgical radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula is more effective than traditional surgery in term of functional patency with appropriate dialysis. Conclusion: The use of microsurgical technique in our experience provides an improvement for the success of distal radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula in term of primary patency in those cases with a poor prognosis according to quality of distal native vessels.

The term Diagnosis-related-Group (DRG) refers to a classification system used to assess hospital services with the aim of a better menagement of a health care costs and improving performance. The DRG system focuses on the utilization of resources, and is not concerned with the specific type of care provided to the patient. This system highlights any diseconomies and eventual critical aspectsof the hospital system. This article, starting from the history of heath care financing in Italy and pointing out the difficulty to define the "quality" of health care services, describes the variables used to evaluated correctly hospital performance based on the DRG system. These include Average Length of Stay, Average Daily Patient Load, Comparative Performance Index, and Case Mix Index.

In Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) the suspected etiological cause is a dysregulation of the intestinal immune system, in which it is possible to determine a cross-like immune reactivity against the resident microbiota; this mechanism explains the exsistence of Lesnioski-Chron's disease, a variant of IBD in which patients manifest osteoarticular problems that may also be the primary manifestation of the disease. The aim of this study was to compare some cases encountered by our research group at the University of Palermo with others reported in international literature on osteoarticular manifestations in IDB.

The term Diagnosis-Related Group DRG) refers to a classification system used to assess hospital services with the aim of streamling health care costs and improving performance. The DRG system focuses on the utilization of resources, and is not concerned with the specific type of care provided to the patient. This system highlights any diseconomies and eventual critical aspects of the hospital system. This article examines the variables used to correctly evaluate hospital performance based on the DRG system. These include: Average length of Stay, Average Daily Patients Load, Comparative Performance Index and Case Mix Index.

Background: Therapeutic treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may follow different approaches, systemic as well as local, especially when the target is the osteoarticular apparatus. Although some clinical trials have suggested benefits from probiotics administration in IBD, there is still a great deal of controversy on their use. The aim of this study was to further investigate the effects of probiotics in patients with IBD and related spondyloarthropathy. Material/Methods: Fifty-nine patients affected by IBD with extra-intestinal involvement where evaluated from 2006 to 2010. Twenty-eight patients received administration of a standard therapy with mesalazine and 31 where treated with the same therapy plus probiotic supplement. Results: Comparative analysis performed between the 2 groups showed a better clinical response and a reduction of occasional corticosteroids administration in patients receiving probiotic administration. Conclusions: This prospective study supports the beneficial effects of probiotic administration in improving the clinical response to standard therapy and in reducing the need for corticosteroids use. Large randomized trials would provide reliable and conclusive results in this field.

clinical evidence suggest that arthritis is one of the complications of inflammatori bowel disease (IBD) of which the etiological causes are still not completely understood. Among the possible explanations the most probable theory is poor regulation of the intestinal immune system, which causes a cross-like immune reactivity against the resident micro flora. Arthritis is these subjects involves different joints and is asymmetric, with greater involvement of the large joints of the lower limbs. Joints may also be involved with the spinal forms of sacroileitis and ankilosing spondylitis. This clinical evidence explains the existence of Lesnioski-Crohn's disease, a variant of IBD in which patients have bone joint problems that may also be the primary manifestations of the disease.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) characterized by damage of large bowel mucosa and frequent extra-intestinal autoimmune comorbidities. The role played in IBD pathogenesis by molecular chaperones known to interact with components of the immune system involved in inflammation is unclear. We previously demonstrated that mucosal Hsp60 decreases in UC patients treated with conventional therapies (mesalazine, probiotics), suggesting that this chaperonin could be a reliable biomarker useful for monitoring response to treatment, and that it might play a role in pathogenesis. In the present work we investigated three other heat shock protein/molecular chaperones: Hsp10, Hsp70, and Hsp90. We found that the levels of these proteins are increased in UC patients at the time of diagnosis and decrease after therapy, supporting the notion that these proteins deserve attention in the study of the mechanisms that promote the development and maintenance of IBD, and as biomarkers of this disease (e.g., to monitor response to treatment at the histological level).

Background and aim: Major intra-abdominal surgery is estimated to have high costs annually in Italy. In an attempt to decrease surgery costs and improve outcome for patients, fast-track programs have become popular. This is especially due both to the improvement of surgery and to the new anesthetic agents (regarding pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic) resulting in better care for patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate two different anesthetic protocols in patients undergoing scheduled anesthesia including the combination of two different opioids (fentanyl or sufentanil) with the same hypnotic and muscle relaxant. Material and Methods: 40 patients, with an American Society of Anesthesiology score (ASA) 3-4 undergoing surgery, were randomly divided in two equal groups. Group F (fentanyl) received 7-10 mcg/kg and propofol, midazolam and cis-atracurium. Group S (sufentanil) received propofol, midazolam, cis-atracurium and sufentanil 1,5-2 mcg/kg. Results: we measured post-operative pain, median ventilation time, time in intensive care unit (ICU) stay, time to hospital discharge, hemodynamics data and overall safety and satisfaction by the patients. Conclusions: our results suggest that both fentanyl and sufentanil can be recommended for fast-track anesthesia. Sufentanil, because of its pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics aspects, produce equally rapid extubation, similar stays and similar costs when compared to fentanyl and can be recommended for fast track anesthesia.