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Papers by Cristina Gofita

Revista română de reumatologie, Sep 30, 2019

Objectives. The biological markers that can indicate specifically and sensitively the absence or ... more Objectives. The biological markers that can indicate specifically and sensitively the absence or presence of a certain condition or its state can be used for diagnostic support and disease monitoring. Thus, this research set out to study the changes in neuropeptides (substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide) pro-inflammatory (TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6) and anti-inflammatory (IL-10) cytokine levels in the blood of patients with CRPS. Material and methods. Sixty patients were enlisted from the local Rheumatology Clinic of the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova and split into two groups (acute and chronic). CRPS related symptoms were estimated by means of the Neuropathic Pain Questionnaire. The quantification of cytokines and neuropeptides in blood was achieved using the high sensitivity colorimetric ELISA method. Outcomes. Cytokine analysis led to statistically insignificant results, while for the neuropeptides we obtained significantly increased values in the patient groups. ROC curves were used to assess the diagnostic accuracy of the neuropeptides both returning good AUC values. Conclusions. Our results indicate that the neuropeptide (substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide) profile has a good diagnostic sensitivity. A limitation of the study is the low number of patients in the acute group, including more patients in this phase might offer more insights on the cytokines' role, as they could be increased in comparison to chronic patients, due to their short half-life and low acting concentrations.

Romanian Journal of Rheumatology

The potential benefit gained from ultrasonography examination of the enthesis been extensively st... more The potential benefit gained from ultrasonography examination of the enthesis been extensively studied. Enthesitis plays a key role in pathogenesis of spondyloarthritis and thus, understanding the diagnostic and therapeutic implications has shaped the way clinicians view its importance in clinical practice. The development of high-quality imaging technologies offered a great opportunity to obtain more detailed analysis of the enthesis structure and also differentiate acute from chronic lesions. Several taskforce groups, including OMERACT, highlighted the diagnostic performance of ultrasonography for the detection of enthesitis. Panels of experts have also provided consensus-based definitions of elementary lesions in order to standardize the approach of US-defined enthesitis. Enthesitis is considered one of the main clinical domains in psoriatic arthritis patients and several trials have adopted its use as a potential outcome measure, although research carried out until now, still la...

Current Health Sciences Journal, 2021

The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a group of heterogeneous systemic diseases which... more The idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a group of heterogeneous systemic diseases which include as main subtypes: polymyositis (PM), dermatomyositis (DM) and inclusion body myositis (IBM). The key feature of IIMs is the muscle weakness, accompanied by a characteristic skin rash in DM patients. The overall risk for malignancy in IIM is higher compared to the age-and sex-matched general population. Most epidemiologic studies have included only PM and DM patients and reported consistently higher rates of malignancy in DM. Most common types of cancer in DM are adenocarcinoma of the lung, ovary or gastrointestinal tract, melanoma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. The highest risk for malignancy is seen in the first year after DM diagnosis. Multiple disease features have been linked to the development of cancer in DM. These include: older age, male sex, skin necrosis, Gottron sign, heliotrope rash, dysphagia, low complement C4, lymphocytosis, poor response to corticosteroids and rapid ...

Romanian journal of morphology and embryology = Revue roumaine de morphologie et embryologie, 2019

Metatypical basal cell carcinoma (MTBCC) is a rare form of tumor, which associates the clinical a... more Metatypical basal cell carcinoma (MTBCC) is a rare form of tumor, which associates the clinical and histopathological (HP) characteristics of both basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), with a 5% chance for the development of metastases. The reference diagnosis remains the HP confirmation from the lesional tissue. The current report illustrates the case of a 74-year-old patient, diagnosed with MTBCC consequently to the biopsy from the clinically malignant lesion with HP and immunohistochemical examination, currently in clinical remission following surgical treatment. The musculoskeletal symptoms represent the patient's admission reason to the Clinic of Rheumatology, where he was diagnosed with paraneoplastic type I complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS-I). The onset was six weeks prior with intense pain in the upper limb, burning sensation and nondermatomal distribution, exacerbated by lowering the position of the upper limb. The clinical evaluation reveale...

Current Health Sciences Journal, 2019

The complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a neuropathic disorder, often precipitated by a frac... more The complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a neuropathic disorder, often precipitated by a fracture, injury of the soft tissue or a surgical procedure followed by extended immobilization. Clinical signs and symptoms of this syndrome include abnormalities of pain processing (mechanical and thermal allodynia, hyperalgesia and hyperpathia), skin changes regarding local temperature and the presence of erythema, cyanosis or mottled appearance, neurogenic edema, motor and trophic disorders. The CRPS has three evolutionary stages-acute, dystrophic and atrophic, and it is divided into two types, reflecting the absence or presence of nerve damage. The patient presented in this study was a female with a history of metabolic syndrome, diagnosed with polyarticular chronic gout, which despite the specific drug treatment administered, had multiple predisposing factors for the development of CRPS consecutive to the fracture of both bones of the right forearm. It is evident that the recovery peri...

Current Health Sciences Journal, 2018

Shockwave therapy is based on generating a very intense energy in a very short period of time. It... more Shockwave therapy is based on generating a very intense energy in a very short period of time. It creates a mechanical pressure over the affected tissues that leads to an increased cellular permeability, thus increasing the microcirculation and the cellular metabolism. Therefore, the healing process is accelerated. Lateral epicondylitis represents a common arm injure, which usually affects early to late middle-aged patients, more common and with a longer evolution period in women, characterized by inflammation of the arm muscles’ tendon insertion and manifests with pain on elbow extension and forearm rotation. Our study aims to investigate the efficacity of the shockwave therapy in comparison with a classical treatment of local and systemic drugs. The 50 patients were evenly split into two groups. The diagnosis of lateral epicondylitis was based on exhaustive physical examination. Enthesis evaluation was performed through power Doppler ultrasound. The pain was quantified using the v...

Romanian Journal of Rheumatology, 2019

Romanian journal of morphology and embryology = Revue roumaine de morphologie et embryologie, 2017

In clinical practice and literature studies, the most common condition associated to streptococca... more In clinical practice and literature studies, the most common condition associated to streptococcal tonsillitis used to be acute rheumatic fever (ARF). Several publications in the late years report a more frequent and distinctive entity from ARF following β-hemolytic group A streptococcus infection in patients with post-infectious arthritis, that do not fulfill the modified Jones criteria, the so-called post-streptococcal reactive arthritis (PSRA). A distinctive pattern of clinical framing and biological profile in patients with PSRA following streptococcal tonsillitis is described, with a non-migratory, additive, recent onset (7-10 days) arthritis that affects small and large joints as well, with a bimodal peak of incidence at 8-14 and 21-37 years of age, with variate response to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and has a tendency for recurrence and persistence. Sacroiliitis, although rare, is described in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27 positive PSRA patients. The main objec...