Peritoneal-dialysis-associated penicillium peritonitis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C H Cheng.
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BACKGROUND/AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) for distinguishing between relapse and reinfection of Staphylococcus aureus infections in patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). METHODS: Between July 1993 and May 1997, 4 patients with recurrent CAPD-associated infections caused by S. aureus we enrolled in this study. There were nine episodes of peritonitis, one episode of temporary double lumen catheter infection, and one episode of Hickman catheter infection. A total of eleven S. aureus isolates were collected from peritoneal fluid (n = 9) and blood (n = 2). PFGE typing was applied. RESULTS: In our study, from PFGE typing, the 11 S. aureus isolates were classified into seven patterns. Antibiogram profiling classified only four patterns. Patient A had a reinfection by another strain of S. aureus, and patient B had three episodes of peritonitis caused by the same strain of S. aureus due to exit site infections. Patient C had two episodes of CAPD peritonitis caused by two different strains, respectively. Patient D had four episodes of S. aureus infection (three CAPD peritonitis and one bacteremia); the first two episodes of peritonitis were caused by an identical strain of S. aureus, whereas the subsequent two infections were caused by other organisms. CONCLUSION: PFGE has a high discriminatory power and can be an assistant method to antibiogram profiling for distinguishing relapse from reinfection in CAPD-associated peritonitis.
A quantitative scoring method was designed to assess the extent of muscle damage. Technetium-99m pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) scintigraphy was performed for 9 patients experiencing crush injury in the Chichi (Taiwan) earthquake. The magnitude of muscle uptake of 99mTc-PYP was graded as follows: grade 0, less than bone radioactivity (BRA); grade 1, equal to BRA; grade 2, higher than BRA; or grade 3, greatly higher than BRA. The area of muscle injury was estimated according to the rule of nines. The sum of the muscle injury size multiplied by its corresponding grading was defined as the anterior or posterior score according to the anterior or posterior images. Each image was interpreted by two physicians and average anterior and posterior scores were calculated. The muscle score was defined as the geometric mean of the average anterior and posterior scores. Significant correlations were obtained between the muscle score and duration of time trapped (r = 0.868, p < 0.01), peak serum creatine kinase level (r = 0.866, p < 0.01), peak serum phosphorus level (r = 0.877, p < 0.01) and number of hospital days (r = 0.875, p < 0.01). A negative correlation between the muscle score and blood pH (r = -0.706, p < 0.01) was also observed. We concluded that this scoring method may be used as an adjunct for evaluating the locations of trauma and the severity of crush syndrome, and for predicting the duration of hospital stay.
Chronic liver disease and its complications are major problems in renal transplant recipients. Our aim was to elucidate the influence of hepatitis B, C virus infection on the long-term outcome of renal transplantation. Four hundred and seventy-seven patients who received renal transplantation between January 1984 and December 1999, and who were followed up at our hospital were enrolled. HBsAg was detected by the RIA method and anti-HCV Ab was assayed by the second-generation RIA kit. SGOT/ SGPT were checked every 3 months. Hepatoma was diagnosed by dynamic CT scan, elevated alpha-fetoprotein, hypervascularity by angiography and confirmed by pathological examination. The prevalence of HBV, HCV, coinfected HBV/HCV was 9.9% (n = 47), 28.5% ( n = 136), 3.1% (n = 15), respectively. The incidences of hepatoma in the HBV-/HCV-, HBV-/HCV+, HBV+/HCV-, HBV+/HCV+ groups were 1.4% (n = 4), 4.4% (n = 6), 6.4% (n = 3), 6.7% (n = 1), respectively (p = 0.114). The incidences of liver cirrhosis/hepatic failure were 3.2% (n = 9), 6.6% (n = 9), 21.3% (n = 10), 20% (n = 3), respectively (p < 0.001). The frequencies of chronic liver disease were 10.4% (n = 29), 45.6% (n = 62), 66% (n = 31), 80% (n = 12), respectively (p < 0.001). Patient and graft survival rates were lower in the HBV-infected group than in the other groups. Cox regression analysis revealed that HBV infection is likely an independent risk factor for patient mortality although the statistical significance was only borderline. Patients with HBV as well as HCV infection were not at risk of graft loss according to this model of analysis. Patients with HBV infection showed higher incidences of hepatoma, hepatic failure, graft failure and death. Therefore, HBV-infected patients who are candidates for renal transplantation should be carefully evaluated. It seems that HCV infection has little influence on the outcome of renal transplant recipients. A longer period of follow-up is needed to clarify the impact of HCV on renal transplant recipients.
A randomized cross-over study was made of 32 young healthy Hong Kong Chinese to compare the incidence and nature of dysrhythmias that occurred during third molar surgery done under local anesthesia, alone or supplemented with midazolam sedation. The incidence of dysrhythmias during surgery was not significantly different during the two procedures. However prior to surgery, 25% of the patients had dysrhythmias during sedation with midazolam. The majority of dysrhythmias were infrequent unifocal ventricular ectopics. During sedation with midazolam it may be beneficial to monitor the electrocardiogram, especially in high risk patients such as those suffering from ischaemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, and those on antidysrhythmic drugs.
Beta-2-microglobulin (beta 2M) associated amyloidosis has been seen in patients with chronic renal failure after long-term hemodialysis. However, the exact mechanism of beta 2M formation and accumulation is not clinically understood. In this investigation, the formation and removal kinetics of beta 2M were studied by compartmental modeling of a patient dialyzer system. Statistical and parametric analyses of model equations, coupled with clinical data from selected patients, enabled us to predict the behavior and influence of membrane materials upon the clearance characteristics of beta 2M during and between hemodialysis treatments.