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Biomedical subjects

B Giraudeau

Publications and source records attributed to B Giraudeau.

61 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Variability in knee radiographing: implication for definition of radiological progression in medial knee osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVES: (1) To assess reproducibility of medial knee joint space width (JSW) measurement in healthy subjects and osteoarthritic (OA) patients. (2) To define minimal relevant radiological change in knee JSW based on the reproducibility of its measurement. PATIENTS AND METHODS: (1) Healthy volunteers: in the first part of the study, 20 knees of healthy adult volunteers were radiographed in the weightbearing, anteroposterior extended view, twice, two weeks apart, using three different radiographic procedures: (a) without guidelines, (b) with guidelines and without fluoroscopy, (c) with guidelines and fluoroscopy. (2) Knee OA patients: in the second part of the study, 36 knees of OA patients were radiographed twice with guidelines and without fluoroscopy. JSW was measured blindly using a graduated magnifying glass. Based on the Bland and Altman graphic approach, cut off points defining minimal relevant radiological change are proposed. RESULTS: Standard deviation (SD) of differences in JSW measurement between two sets of knee radiographs in healthy subjects were 0.66 mm for radiography performed without guidelines, 0.37 mm for radiography performed with guidelines and without fluoroscopy, and 0.31 mm for radiography with guidelines and fluoroscopy. SD of differences in JSW measurement in OA patients were 0.32 mm for radiography performed with guidelines and without fluoroscopy. A minimal relevant change in JSW between two radiographs performed in healthy subjects can be defined by a change of at least 1.29 or 0.59 mm when radiographs are taken without guidelines, and with guidelines and fluoroscopy, respectively. When radiographs are taken with guidelines and without fluoroscopy, the change must be at least 0.73 mm. A similar figure, 0.64 mm was observed in knee OA patients. CONCLUSION: Definition of radiological progression varies greatly according to the radiographic procedure chosen. Use of guidelines reduces the threshold of progression required to consider that change between two measures is relevant.

Adult↗

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme genotype influences arterial response to injury in normotensive rats.

Two normotensive strains of rat, the Lou and Brown Norway (BN) strains, have contrasting levels of plasma angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). To investigate the degree of genetic determination of ACE expression, a polymorphic marker of the ACE gene was analyzed in inbred rats of the two strains. The two inbred strains were shown to bear different alleles for a polymorphic marker at the ACE gene. The segregation of the alleles of this marker and the plasma ACE levels were studied in a group of F2 rats issued from a cross between Lou and BN rats. The degree of genetic determination of plasma ACE activity was estimated to be 94% in the F2 cohort. The ACE locus accounts for 74% of total plasma ACE variance. ACE activity and mRNA expression in lungs were also genetically determined. The difference observed in ACE mRNA accumulation in the lungs between the two strains was due to a difference in the transcriptional rate of the ACE gene, as shown in nuclear run-on experiments. No differences were observed in arterial blood pressure of homozygous F2 progeny. In these animals, ACE genotype did not interfere with the pressor or the depressor responses to ACE-dependent vasoactive peptides. There was a significant effect of strain on constitutive or inducible membrane or soluble ACE activity in primary cultures of vascular cells. Neointima formation in the carotid artery 14 days after balloon injury was also influenced by the genotype in F2 homozygous progeny, whereas the medial area was not. These results demonstrate that there is a close relationship between the genetically determined ACE expression and the inducibility of the ACE gene. The degree of genetic determination of ACE expression in inbred rat strains offers a unique opportunity to study the interaction between genetic and environmental determinants of ACE expression and its involvement in response to experimental cardiovascular and renal injury.

Animals↗

Implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules in France. A multicenter randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of the implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules on radiography requests in French hospitals during a 5-month intervention period and the impact of using posters alone to sustain the effect of the rules during a 5-month postintervention period. DESIGN: Multicenter randomized controlled trial preceded and followed by observational studies of radiological practices. SETTING: The emergency departments of 5 Paris university teaching hospitals of the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris. PATIENTS: A total of 2218, 1911, and 851 patients-all aged 18 years and older-who were seen for acute ankle or midfoot injuries in emergency departments during preintervention, intervention, and postintervention periods, respectively. INTERVENTION: Implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules by emergency department physicians in the intervention hospitals (using meetings, posters, pocket cards, and data forms). During the postintervention period, posters alone were used to sustain the intervention effect. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Percentage of patients for whom radiography was requested. RESULTS: During the preintervention period, 98% and 98.5% of patients were referred for radiography in the intervention and control groups, respectively. During the intervention period, the mean proportions of patients referred for radiography by physicians was 78.9% in the intervention group and 99% in the control group (P=.03). Between preintervention and intervention periods, a relative reduction of 22.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 19.8%-24.9%) in radiography requests was observed in the intervention group, while requests increased by 0.5% (95% CI, 0%-1.4%) in the control group. During the postintervention period, the proportion of radiography requests in the intervention hospitals was lower than the proportion observed in the preintervention period (83.1% vs 98%). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules significantly reduced radiography requests in French hospitals. Using a minimal postintervention implementation strategy, the effect of this intervention decreased but persisted after it was discontinued.

Ankle Injuries↗

Assessment of joint space width in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee: a comparison of 4 measuring instruments.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the intra and interobserver reproducibility of 4 measuring instruments for assessing joint space width in knee osteoarthritis (OA) and to estimate the effects of patients, instrument, session order, and reader variation. METHODS: We studied 30 patients with unilateral tibiofemoral OA selected to represent a broad range of radiographic changes. Joint space width (JSW) was measured on plain anteroposterior weight bearing radiographs. Using an experimental design, 3 readers assessed JSW 3 times with 4 measuring instruments (ruler, caliper, graduated magnifying glass, digitized assessment). RESULTS: Intra and interobserver reproducibility was high with all measuring instruments (intraclass correlation coefficients from 0.95 to 0.98 and from 0.91 to 0.97, respectively). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a patient effect (p < 10(-6)), a reader effect (p = 0.0001), an instrument effect (p = 0.0001), and a session order effect (p = 0.04). The variance component estimates were patients 55%, readers 34%, session order 2%, instruments 8%. ANOVA performed separately for each instrument showed that session order differences always represented less than 1% of the total variance. The reader component accounted for 0% of the total variance for the ruler, 2% for the digitized method, 16% for the caliper, and 18% for the graduated magnifying glass. CONCLUSION: Ruler and digitized assessment have better reliability than caliper and graduated magnifying glass.

Analysis of Variance↗

Radiographic assessment of knee osteoarthritis: reproducibility and sensitivity to change.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the cross sectional and longitudinal reproducibility of various measures used for assessing radiographic knee osteoarthritis (OA) and to compare the sensitivity to change over a one year period of these measures. METHODS: We studied 55 patients referred to hospital with knee OA (clinical and radiographic ACR criteria). Anteroposterior radiographs at baseline and after 12 months were read by methods both qualitative (Kellgren and Lawrence grading scale, joint space narrowing scale) and quantitative (joint space width measurement at 3 different points). All qualitative methods used standardized atlases. The intraclass correlation coefficient and the graphical method of Bland and Altman were used to assess cross sectional and longitudinal reproducibility. Reproducibility was tested using 2 readers (interreader) and 2 readings for one of the readers (intrareader). Sensitivity to change was assessed using standardized response mean (SRM). RESULTS: All methods tested were shown to be reproducible both for cross sectional and longitudinal data. Intrareader was higher than interreader reproducibility for most radiographic features. Significant changes were observed after one year for methods measuring joint space narrowing. The sensitivity to change of the methods assessing joint space narrowing (joint space narrowing scale and joint space width measurement) was higher, with SRM varying from 0.37 to 0.57, than for the Kellgren and Lawrence grading system (SRM 0.19 and 0.23). CONCLUSION: These data suggest that methods measuring narrowing should be preferred as outcome measures in clinical trials or longitudinal epidemiologic studies; and show that in a particular subset of patients with very active disease, significant radiographic changes in knee OA can be detected after a one year period.

Aged↗

[Lymphedema of the limb: predictors of efficacy of combined physical therapy].

BACKGROUND: Limb lymphedema results from incompetence of the lymphatic system, and treatment of both primary and secondary forms involves manual lymphatic drainage and support. The effectiveness of treatment varies from patient to patient and can be unpredictable. OBJECTIVE: To investigate clinical and paraclinical criteria able to predict responses to combined physical treatment (lymphatic drainage and multilayered support) during hospitalization. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was performed in 45 patients admitted for one week's intensive treatment of limb lymphedema in the Lymphology Unit of the Department of Dermatology of the University Hospital of Tours. Lymphoscintigraphy was performed for all patients on admission. Loss of volume in affected limbs was studied to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment. RESULTS: Two criteria were predictive of resistance to combined treatment, i.e. venous insufficiency and continuing lymph node evidence of scintigraphic activity four hours after lymphoscintigraphy. The two factors were significantly related. CONCLUSION: Failure of combined physical treatment for lymphedema appears to be related to venous insufficiency. It is therefore essential to investigate and treat venous insufficiency, particularly in patients with continuing evidence of scintigraphic activity in lymph nodes.

Adult↗