BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pain is a symptom influencing several aspects of daily life. This study aimed at early identifying pain in cancer patients, at evaluating how this symptom has interfered with food ingestion and its impact on patients' nutritional status. METHODS: This was a prospective study including 222 cancer patients referred to the screening service of a hospital. Participants have answered a questionnaire with questions about food ingestion, presence of current pain and pain in the last month, type of pain, pain-related sleep disorders and weight loss in the last month. RESULTS: Weight loss in the last month was referred by 48.6% of the elderly and 31.2% of adults. There has been food ingestion decrease in 38.5% of the elderly and 31.9% of adults. Pain-related sleep disorders were reported by 35% of patients. Most prevalent were severe and moderate pain (40% each). Among participants referring pain and weight loss, most have decreased food ingestion. When relating food ingestion decrease and presence of pain, the result was 74% of individuals, showing a relationship between pain and decreased food ingestion (p=0.00). CONCLUSION: Pain is a symptom interfering with food ingestion and, if not treated, may lead to decreased food ingestion, weight loss and malnutrition, in addition to sleep disorders and incapacity to perform daily activities

Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) is a rare, life-threatening disease that can occur at any age and be sporadic or familial. aHUS is caused by an uncontrolled activation of the complement system. Plasma Exchange (PE) has been the standard treatment for years with poor results, leading approximately 40% of patients to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or death during the first clinical manifestation. Eculizumab, an humanized monoclonal antibody directed against complement component C5, has emerged in the last few years as a new therapheutic aproach with promising results. Our goal is to present a case of an adult patient where eculizumab was sucessfully used as upfront therapy avoiding the potential significant morbidity of PE.

A abordagem endonasal endoscópica é um novo armamentarium cirúrgico no tratamento das patologias da base do crânio. A abordagem endoscópica trans-esfenoidal extendida para a fossa anterior da base do crânio é uma de suas variações. Meningeomas do tubérculo da sela são lesões únicas que correspondem a 5 a 10% de todos os meningeomas intracranianos. Eles caracterizam-se por deterioração visual precoce. O melhor manejo destes tumores é a ressecção cirúrgica radical, que é realizada historicamente mediante craniotomia. Para pequenos meningeomas do tubérculo selar situados na linha média a abordagem a abordagem endoscópica trans-esfenoidal extendida pode ser indicada. Durante período de 30 meses, 10 meningeomas do tubérculo da sela foram operados por craniotomia fronto-orbital (7 casos) ou pterional (2 casos) unilateral e um paciente por abordagem trans-esfenoidal endoscópica. Nós apresentamos este último caso e discutimos as nuances técnicas bem como os fatores envolvidos na seleção da melhor abordagem.