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Biomedical subjects

C Vignal-Clermont

Publications and source records attributed to C Vignal-Clermont.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

[Amaurosis].

Amaurosis is an organic loss of visual acuity which can attain blindness and which occurs suddenly in the absence of other ophthalmological changes. It constitutes an ophthalmologic emergency requiring a careful aetiologic work-up in order to determine therapy. We will discuss various aetiologies of amaurosis and its treatment. Amaurosis can be of ophthalmologic origin, i.e., retinal vascular occlusion of neuro-ophthalmologic origin, or ischaemic and inflammatory neuropathy, or it can present as transient unilateral blindness in carotid pathology, during cardiac embolism and in some haematologic disorders. Such unilateral transient blindness can at any time become complicated by definitive ischaemia; it is thus urgent to detect the mechanisms in order to institute treatment. Since the causes of amaurosis are varied, the importance of history taking must be underlined in order to determine the circumstances of the loss of vision, its characteristics and the existence of accompanying signs.

Blindness

[Painful ophthalmoplegia caused by chronic sphenoid sinusitis. Contribution of imaging].

Sphenoid sinusitis is a rare, often misdiagnosed, potentially lifethreatening infection. We report two cases of chronic sphenoid sinusitis presenting as painful ophthalmoplegia. We emphasize the difficulty of the diagnosis due to the deep-seated position of the cavity. The availability of CT and MRI should allow an early diagnosis. Attention has to be paid to the sphenoid sinus on every cranial image. In the chronic as well as in the acute form, the treatment is an emergency. Surgery procedures should be considered when antibiotics are inefficient. Sphenoid sinusitis must be considered in the diagnosis of painful ophthalmoplegia.

Adult

[Interstitial tubulo-nephritis and uveitis (Nitu syndrome). Apropos of a case].

Acute renal failure due to tubulo-interstitial nephritis developed in a 12 year old boy. It was accompanied by an inflammatory syndrome consisting of a markedly increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate and high levels of C. reactive protein and fibrin. The association of these anomalies with an uveitis are typical of the Tinu syndrome (tubulo-interstitial nephritis uveitis) first described by Dobrin and al. in 1975. The interest of this case lies in the observation of focal chorioretinitis, as yet never described. The possibility of toxoplasmosis is discussed; it could be a direct etiologic factor or could represent a concurrent phenomenon. However no evidence of toxoplasmic infection could be demonstrated in this case, nor in any case previously reported. Light microscopic examination of a renal biopsy reveals diffuse monocellular interstitial infiltration and epithelioid granulomas. In some cases, non-specific bone marrow and lymph node granulomas have been found. In the Tinu syndrome, the nephropathy is completely reversible, either spontaneously or following steroid treatment; this contrasts with the tendency towards relapse of the uveitis. The possible pathogenesis and the relationship with other idiopathic acute nephritis and uveitis are discussed. As in some previous publications, the presence of circulating immune complexes in our patient would suggest the involvement of the immune system. Temporary depression of cellular immunity was also observed in some cases. But the etiology and the pathogenesis of this syndrome are still unknown.

Acute Disease

[Ocular disorders and Hashimoto's thyroiditis].

The authors remind some essential notions on Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and sum up the recent data on the physiopathology of the main auto-immune thyroid disturbances. One case of Hashimoto's thyroiditis diagnosed through out atypical ophthalmological symptoms, leads the authors to formulate different hypothesis integrating all the elements of this case in a single nosographical system, following a review of the literature on thyroid ophthalmopathy.

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