Methods of treating obesity, such as changes in lifestyle, physical activity, restrictive diets, and psychotherapy, are not sufficient. Currently, it is considered that in the case of patients who meet the eligibility criteria for surgery, the treatment of choice should be bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to assess the weight loss and metabolic changes in a group of adults with obesity undergoing bariatric surgery. The study involved 163 patients whose body mass index (BMI) exceeded 40 or 35 kg/m², concurrent with at least one metabolic sequelae. In 120 of the cases (74%), sleeve gastrectomy was used; in 35 (21%), gastric banding was used; and in 8 (5%), laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass was used. Metabolic parameters such as total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), HDL-cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), triglycerides, and glucose were measured preoperatively and postoperatively, as well as the creatinine, creatine kinase (CK-MB), and leptin activity. In patients undergoing bariatric surgery, a significant decrease in excess weight (p < 0.001) was observed at all the analyzed time points, compared to the pre-surgery value. Weight loss after surgery was associated with a significant improvement in glycemia (109.6 ± 48.0 vs. 86.6 ± 7.9 mg/dL >24 months after surgery; p = 0.003), triglycerides (156.9 ± 79.6 vs. 112.7 ± 44.3 mg/dL >24 months after surgery; p = 0.043) and leptin (197.50 ± 257.3 vs. 75.98 ± 117.7 pg/mL 12 months after surgery; p = 0.0116) concentration. The results of the research confirm the thesis on the effectiveness of bariatric surgery in reducing excess body weight and improving metabolic parameters in patients with extreme obesity.

Haemodialysis (HD) is currently the most commonly used method of renal replacement therapy. The process of dialysis involves numerous changes that affect many systems, including the eye. The changes occurring in the course of HD may affect the ocular parameters, such as intraocular pressure, central corneal thickness, retinal thickness, retinal nerve fibre layer thickness, and choroidal thickness (CT). The choroid, being one of the most vascularized tissues, is characterized by the highest ratio of blood flow to tissue volume in the entire body, may be particularly susceptible to changes occurring during HD, and at the same time reflect the microcirculatory status and its response to HD. Patients with end-stage renal disease subjected to dialysis are highly susceptible to systemic microvascular dysfunction. Moreover, it is considered that the process of HD itself contributes to vascular dysfunction. Nowadays, thanks to the development of imaging techniques, the widely available optical coherence tomography (OCT) tests allow for the assessment of CT, while OCT-angiography allows for a quick, non-invasive, and repeatable assessment of the condition of retinal and choroidal microcirculation, which significantly expands our knowledge regarding the reaction of ocular microcirculation due to HD. The assessment of both retinal and choroidal circulation is even more attractive because retinal circulation is autoregulated, while choroidal circulation is mainly controlled by extrinsic autonomic innervation. Thus, assessment of the choroidal response to an HD session may provide the possibility to indirectly evaluate the functions of the autonomic system in patients subjected to HD. At a time when the importance of microcirculation in systemic and renal diseases is becoming increasingly evident, the assessment of ocular microcirculation appears to be a potential biomarker for assessing the condition of systemic microcirculation. In this work, we present a review of the literature on the effect of the HD session on CT and the retinal and choroidal microcirculation.

Introduction. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a leading cause of death in chronically hemodialyzed (HD) patients. In this group, inflammation exerts significant impact on the prevalence of CVD morbidity and mortality. Spatial QRS-T angle is an independent and strong predictor of CV events, including sudden cardiac death (SCD), both in general population and HD patients. Pathogenesis of widened QRS-T angle is complicated and is not well established. Objectives. The study is aimed at evaluating whether inflammation process can contribute to the wide QRS-T angle. Patients and Methods. The retrospective study was performed on 183 HD patients. The control group consisted of 38 patients. Demographic, biochemical, vectorcardiographic, and echocardiographic data were evaluated in all patients. Inflammation process was expressed as neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), as well as C-reactive protein (CRP). Results. Both NLR (3.40 vs. 1.95 (p<0.0001)) and spatial QRS-T angle (50.76 vs. 93.56 (p<0.001)) were higher in the examined group, compared to the control group. Similarly, CRP was higher in the examined group than in the control group (8.35 vs. 4.06 (p<0.001), respectively). The QRS-T angle correlated with NLR, CRP, some structural echocardiographic parameters, parathormone (PTH), and calcium (Ca) concentrations. Multiple regression analysis showed that NLR is an independent QRS-T angle predictor (r=0.498, p=0.0027). The ROC curve analysis indicated the cut-off point of NLR equaled 4.59, where the sensitivity and specificity were the highest for predicting myocardial inhomogeneities expressed as widened QRS-T angle. Conclusion. The NLR, as an inflammation marker, may indicate myocardial inhomogeneities in HD patients.

Zaburzenia psychosomatyczne to zaburzenia organiczne, w których etiopatogenezie znaczący udział mają czynniki psychospołeczne. W niniejszej pracy przeanalizowano wpływ depresji, zaburzeń snu, samopoczucia, zadowolenia z jakości życia, stosowania substancji uzależniających, sytuacji w miejscu pracy, sytuacji rodzinnej i stresu na występowanie migotania przedsionków, kołatania serca, omdleń, bólów w klatce piersiowej, a także choroby wieńcowej i niewydolności serca. Stwierdzono istnienie korelacji między zaburzeniami psychosomatycznymi a występowaniem wybranych schorzeń układu sercowo-naczyniowego. Pozwala to na wysunięcie wniosku, że podczas zbierania wywiadów u pacjentów kardiologicznych należy uwzględnić również czynniki mające potencjalnie negatywny wpływ na ich zdrowie psychiczne, będące jednocześ­nie czynnikami ryzyka wystąpienia lub zaostrzenia już istniejących chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego.

Heading objectives: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is an antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) that may involve any organ. Rarely, clinical manifestation of inflammatory changes may resemble tumours, which, combined with untypical ovarian localization, may cause misdiagnosis and treatment delay. Case report: In this paper, we present the case of ovarian tumour-like lesion being the first manifestation of GPA and mimicking ovarian cancer. Conclusion: In case of a patient presenting with a tumour of untypical features, differential diagnosis should include inflammatory processes, including vasculitis.

Background: The aim of the study was to assess the influence of a single haemodialysis (HD) session on the retinal and optic nerve morphology in end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) patients. Methods: It is a prospective study including only the right eye of 35 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients subjected to HD. Each patient underwent a full eye examination 30 min before HD (8 a.m.) and 15 min after HD. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to assess the peripapillary retinal nerve fibre layer (pRNFL) thickness, macular nerve fibre layer (mRNFL) thickness, ganglion cell layer with inner plexiform layer thickness (GCL+), GCL++ (mRNFL and GCL+) thickness, total retinal thickness (RT) and total macular volume (TMV). The correlation was tested between such systemic parameters changes as systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), body weight, plasma osmolarity and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) and ultrafiltration volume with total RT and pRNFL thickness changes during HD. Results: In the results of a single HD session, we could observe a statistically significant increase in the total RT thickness (pre-HD 270.4 ± 19.94 μm, post-HD 272.14 ± 20.11 μm; p = 0.0014), TMV (pre-HD 7.48 ± 0.53 mm³, post-HD 7.52 ± 0.55 mm³; p = 0.0006), total pRNFL thickness (pre-HD 97.46 ± 15.71 μm, post-HD 100.23 ± 14.7 μm; p = 0.0039), total GCL+ thickness (pre-HD 70.11 ± 9.24 μm, post-HD 70.6 ± 9.7 μm; p = 0.0044), and GCL++ thickness (pre-HD 97.46 ± 12.56 μm, post-HD 97.9 ± 12.94 μm; p = 0.0081). We observed a significant correlation between the change in total RT and DBP change, as well as between body weight change and the change in total pRNFL thickness. There was also a correlation between total pRNFL thickness change and the presence of diabetes mellitus. Conclusion: Even a single HD session affects the retinal and pRNFL thickness, which should be taken into account when interpreting the OCT results in patients subjected to HD. The impact of changes after a single HD session on selected parameters requires further assessment in subsequent studies, including long-term observation.