Joint Diseases and Related Surgery (JDRS), the official journal of the Turkish Joint Diseases Foundation, is an international, peer-reviewed, immediate open access journal. All published articles in JDRS has been free for everyone, without embargo, since 1990.

Gallbladder paraganglioma is a very rare tumor, and only a few cases have been reported. Most of these cases were asymptomatic and found incidentally during operation. Our case involved a 57-year-old female patient complaining of intermittent right upper quadrant pain. Preoperative imaging demonstrated a mass in the neck of the gallbladder. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed, and a frozen section of the gallbladder demonstrated a benign mass. The postoperative pathologic examination reported gallbladder paraganglioma and chronic cholecystitis. Immunohistochemically, the chief cells and sustentacular cells showed diffuse positivity with vimentin, synaptophysin, and S-100.

We aimed to evaluate impact of spironolactone (S) on cardiovascular toxicity of concomitant use of radiotherapy (RT) and trastuzumab (T). S, an aldosterone receptor antagonist, is known to ameliorate the cardiac damage. S ameliorates anthracycline -induced cardiotoxicity, there is no data regarding to effect of S on both T and radiation-induced cardiotoxicity. Eighty rats were divided into eight groups: group (G) 1 was defined as control group. G2, G3 and G4 were RT, S and T groups respectively. G5, G6, G7 and G8 were RT + T, T + S, RT + S and RT + T + S groups respectively. Rats were sacrificed at 6th hour; 21st and 100th days after RT. Heart and thoracic aorta samples were taken for microscopical examination. Cardiac inflammation and fibrosis scores and; TGF-β expression were not significantly different within study groups at 6th hour and 21st days of RT. By 100th days of RT fibrosis scores and TGF-β expression in cardiac samples were significantly different between study groups (p values were 0.004 and 0.002 respectively). Pair-wise comparisons revealed that both cardiac fibrosis scores and TGF-β expression levels were higher in G5 when compared to G8 (p values were 0.046 and 0.028 respectively). Moreover the TGF-β expression was higher in G5 when compared to G2 (p = 0.046). We could not demonstrate any significant differences with respect to inflammation, fibrosis and TGF-β expression in thoracic aorta samples between study groups. Although S had a protective effect on cardiac tissue it had no protective effect on thoracic aorta when administered with RT + T.

Aim: Adding platelet-rich plasm (PRP) or mesenchymal stem cells are the most accepted methods to increase fat graft’s permanence. However, there is no consensus on timing and whether the effect of stem cells or PRP is observed more in the recipient area or in the donor area. It is aimed to present the application method and localization of PRP to be combined with fat graft to increase the survival. Material and Methods: in vitro part: Fat grafts were kept in a medium containing PRP. Cell output from the fat graft to the Petri dishes was examined every day. The time to recruit the maximum number of stem cells to the medium was determined (day 10). in vivo part: Eight group of rats were received PRP in different concentrations either to recipient or donor areas of fat grafts. After ten days, fat grafts were transferred to the recipient area. Ninety days after the transfer, histopathological examination and immunohistochemical staining were performed. Results: The group which had received the full-dose PRP to the recipient area showed the highest cellular integrity and vascularity (p< 0.05). Vascularity was superior in the half-dose PRP group compared to the control group (p< 0.05); cellular integrity did not increase. Donor site groups did not show increase in cellular integrity. Conclusion: Although PRP starts to increase fat graft permanence by increasing vascularity, it acts by preserving the cellular integrity of the fat cells as the concentrations increase. The PRP injection to the recipient area 10 days before fat grafting may provide higher survival rates.