Prostate cancer is on the rise in the European Union, and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is one of the minimally invasive treatment options used for its treatment. Therefore, the aim of this study was ...to investigate and analyze the effects of RFA on prostate tissues.
A standard prostate RFA procedure was performed on 13 non-purebred dogs in three sessions: no cooling (NC), cooling with a 0.1% NaCl solution (C.01), and cooling using a 0.9% NaCl solution (C.09). Microtome-cut 2-3 µm sections of prostate samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin and further examined.
A histopathologic evaluation identified four zones of exposure: direct, application, necrosis, and transitional, as the damage on tissues decreased going further from the ablation site. The areas and perimeters of these zones were calculated, and geometric shapes of ablative lesions were evaluated using the quotient formula. Areas and perimeters of prostate tissue lesions in the NC and C.09 sessions were of similar size, whereas those found in C.01 were statistically significantly smaller. Lesions observed in session C.01 were of the most regular geometric shape, while the most irregular ones were found in session C.09. The shapes of lesions closest to the ablation electrode were the most irregular, becoming more regular the further away from the electrode they were.
Prostate RFA leads to tissue damage with distinct morphological zones. Notably, the prostate lesions were the smallest and the most regular in shape after RFA procedures using the 0.1% NaCl cooling solution. It can be argued that smaller ablation sites may result in smaller scars, thus allowing for faster tissue healing if the blood flow and innervation at the ablation site are not compromised.
The aim of this study was to find whether the magnitude of changes in blood before and after horse endurance competitions was the same at the beginning and the end of the season and if the studied ...indices could be useful in assessing the impact of such changes on the length of the endurance racing season. The study was conducted on 36 clinically healthy horses. Blood samples were taken during 60-km endurance competitions in 2014, three times in total. The study revealed an increase of lymphocytes (× 1.89-2.05; P < 0.001), red blood cell count (× 1.11-1.12; P < 0.001), and a decrease in the mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (× 1.20-1.27; P < 0.001), red cell distribution width (× 1.11; P < 0.01), platelet concentrations (× 1.33-1.40; P < 0.05), when compared at the beginning and in the end of the horse endurance racing season. During the entire season, haematocrit values significantly increased after the race but were at their lowest in the mid-season period. The results proved a significant increase in the white blood cell and granulocyte counts following the finish of a 60-km endurance race, when comparing the values at the beginning and in the end of the horse endurance racing season, and a significant reduction in lymphocytes when comparing the values at the beginning (35.7%) and at the end (29.7%) of the season. The endurance competition season highly influences haematology indices in horses' blood, however, to determine the season's impact on the results of the race, additional studies must be conducted.
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