Percutaneous drainage of lung abscess in a malnourished child.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Smet.
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We report the case of a 16-year-old patient with osteopetrosis major, complaining of transient sensory and motor disturbances in the left upper limb and dizziness on changing the position of his head. Selective angiography of the cerebral vessels showed severe narrowing of the internal carotid artery within the petrous carotid canal and in its supraclinoid portion. The cervical vertebral arteries showed multiple stenosis within the vertebral canal. These findings are explained by narrowing of the basal foramina by the osteopetrotic bone.
External hydrocephalus was diagnosed using computed tomography in seven children presenting with macrocephaly. The value of different imaging techniques in distinguishing between subdural effusions and external hydrocephalus was investigated. High resolution ultrasonography combined with magnetic resonance imaging appeared to provide enough information to make a distinction between these two conditions. Radionuclide cisternography was still required to assess the flow pattern of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which was important when placement of a lumboperitoneal shunt was considered.
The effect of hydrocephalus on somatosensory evoked potentials was studied in nine infants. An increase in N1 latency was found in five infants studied longitudinally during a period of progressive ventricular dilatation. A marked decrease in N1 latency was noted in 7 infants, within one week following shunt insertion and in two infants who showed spontaneous arrest of ventricular growth. A correlation was found between cerebrospinal fluid pressure and the delay in N1 latency, but the number of infants studied is still small. SEPs appear to be a useful additional test when assessing infants with progressive ventricular dilatation. Once a baseline value for N1 has been obtained following shunt insertion, SEPs may subsequently be useful when assessing a child with possible shunt dysfunction.
Type IV and interstitial collagenolytic activities were compared in human malignant and normal trophoblast cells cultured on plastic, in presence or absence of laminin in solution, on matrigel (a gel of basement membrane components) and on type I collagen gel. Laminin highly stimulated the type IV collagenolytic activity but not the interstitial collagenolytic activity, in malignant trophoblast cells. This glycoprotein had no effect on the interstitial collagenolytic activity and doubled the type IV collagenolytic activity in normal trophoblast cells. Thus malignant trophoblast cells produce preferentially the enzyme able to degrade basement membrane when in contact with laminin, and the enzyme able to degrade interstitial collagen fibers when cultured on type I collagen. On the contrary, type I collagen gel and matrigel equally increased both type IV and interstitial collagenolytic activities by normal trophoblast cells. Interactions of tumor trophoblast or normal trophoblast cells with the extracellular matrix result thus in distinct stimulations of collagenolytic activities. Increased production of type IV collagenolytic activity upon exposure to laminin appears to be specific of the metastatic phenotype.
Twenty-one patients with cystic fibrosis and chronic Pseudomonas lung infection were treated at random with ceftazidime, 150 mg/kg/day, or with piperacillin, 300 mg/kg/day, and tobramycin, 10 and more mg/kg/day for 14 days. On admission and at discharge, body weight, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, white blood cell count, and differential were determined. Pulmonary function analysis and chest X-rays were also obtained on both occasions as was sputum bacteriology. After hospitalization, the patients were followed in the outpatient department for 14-26 months. Both treatments were associated with significant improvement in most of the parameters that were studied, but neither treatment was superior.
Three children, aged 15-18 months were referred because of clinical, radiological and biochemical manifestations of rickets. Serum 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OH-D3) values were within the normal range but 1,25-dihydroxychole-calciferol (1,25-diOH-D3) levels were markedly elevated. All signs and symptoms could be explained by dietary calcium deficiency. They all received the commercial Soya-drink - not adapted for infants - as their main source of nutrition for at least 6 months. Soya-drink has an extremely low calcium content. It should be remembered that defective calcium intake causes severe bone lesions and rickets in children in spite of adequate vitamin D supply.
Previous Doppler ultrasound studies assessing cerebral blood flow velocities in the anterior cerebral artery (ACA) among healthy term and preterm infants, showed a widespread range for the calculated flow indices. However, only one of these studies accounted for the infant's behavioural state. In the present study a stable pattern of the cerebral blood flow velocity tracings and of the Pulsatility Index (PI) was observed during state 1, whereas marked fluctuations in cerebral blood flow velocity and PI were found during state 4 or active wakefulness. During state 2, minor variations of cerebral blood flow velocity and PI occurred though tended to be less pronounced than during active wakefulness. Thus at the time of Doppler assessment the cerebral blood flow velocity pattern and its variability will be better understood by taking into account the behavioural state of the infant.
Stable infants with anaemia needing a transfusion with adult red blood-cells were studied to elucidate changes in brain blood-flow velocity. Within 24 hours and at five to six days following transfusion a substantial mean flow velocity reduction was observed. Haemodynamic factors contributing to the reduction were an increase in cerebrovascular resistance and an increase in whole blood viscosity, as reflected by a raised pulsatility index. Transfusion with adult red blood-cells causes an elevation in haemoglobin concentration, thereby increasing the total oxygen-carrying capacity of arterial blood; however, this lowers the concentration of fetal haemoglobin which possesses a higher affinity for oxygen. Since cerebral oxygen transport is equal to the product of cerebral blood-flow and arterial oxygen content, this finding suggests the existence of a homeostatic mechanism for cerebral oxygen transport. The actual amount of cerebral oxygen transport was found to increase progressively as the percentage of fetal haemoglobin rose above 30 per cent. At higher fetal haemoglobin levels, appropriate elevations in cerebral blood-flow occurred, causing an increase in the supply of oxygen to the brain.