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Biomedical subjects

N Schmidt

Publications and source records attributed to N Schmidt.

89 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Coexistence of pheochromocytoma, adrenal adenoma and hypokalemia.

A 56-year-old woman had a 22-year history of hypertension. Investigation showed hypokalemia and kaliuresis without pronounced suppression of plasma renin activity or elevation of urinary aldosterone excretion. There was biochemical evidence of catecholamine metabolite excess but the usual clinical features of pheochromocytoma were absent. Laparotomy revealed a pheochromocytoma and adrenal adenoma in the right adrenal gland. Excision of the tumours was followed by resolution of the hypertension and metabolic abnormalities.

Adenoma↗

Hypoglycemia following excision of pheochromocytoma.

In two patients hypoglycemia developed in the immediate postoperative period after removal of a pheochromocytoma. In one patient the serum insulin value was elevated when he was hypoglycemic. Preoperative preparation of patients with pheochromocytoma requires use of an alpha-adrenergic blocking agent to decrease blood pressure and allow the plasma volume to expand; in the two patients referred to phenoxybenzamine was given orally. It is difficult to recognize hypoglycemia postoperatively because of the altered consciousness associated with a major operation, analgesics, anesthetic agents and the effects of adrenergic blocking medications; hence the physician must watch closely for this complication.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗

[Results of radiotherapy of bronchial carcinoma (author's transl)].

In a joint retrospective study by 17 radiotherapy clinics in German-speaking countries the results of treatment of bronchial carcinoma after radiotherapy were analysed in 7503 cases. The age peak was between the 60th and 70th year. Squamous-cell carcinoma was the most frequent histological type, followed by anaplastic carcinoma, with adenocarcinoma being rare. There was a high proportion of histologically not clearly identified cases (27% in central and 35% in peripheral carcinomas). Survival rate at one year was 31% for central (3662 patients) and peripheral (961 patients) tumours, but only 2% at five years. Prognostically there was no difference between histological types and kind of radiotherapy or technique, but total dose affected survival rate. At a total dose of less than 5000 rd the survival rate at five years was minimal. The prognosis of combined surgical and radiotherapeutic measures was slightly better than with a radiotherapy alone, but results were unpredictable for the individual case. It is concluded that radiotherapy aiming at cure should be used in imoperable bronchial carcinoma if the tumour state and general condition of the patient appear to make a cure possible. But if this is not the case, radiotherapy should be used only palliatively, i.e. only to ameliorate symptoms.

Adenocarcinoma↗

[Results of radiotherapy of prostatic carcinoma as monotherapy].

A report is given of the results of histopathologic examinations of subsequent biopsies carried out on 54 patients with prostate carcinomas and of the clinical development of the prostate carcinomas of 89 patients. All these patients were treated only by therapeutic radiology. Then follows a discussion whether the radiation or the hormone therapy has the preponderant values. The possible complications of the two therapy methods are compared.

Aged↗

[Kidney stress in percutaneous abdominal radiotherapy].

Percutaneous abdominal radiotherapy leads to an obligatory simultaneous stress of the kidneys. This partial stress of the kidneys can be reduced to a bearable minimum if the medicophysical irradiation planning methods, already developed nowadays. are used. The improved irradiation technique basing on these methods was examined, by administering abdominal irradiation, in a corresponding collective of patients. Clinical, laboratory-chemical, roentgenologic, and nucleo-medical examinations were carried out in different intervals. The significant control results certified the kidney protecting method of our radiotherapy.

Cobalt Radioisotopes↗

Effects of quartz, airborne particulates and fly ash fractions from a waste incinerator on elastase release by activated and nonactivated rabbit alveolar macrophages.

Elastase release from cultured, activated and nonactivated rabbit alveolar macrophages (AM) was investigated after stimulation by different environmentally related mineral dusts (50-1000 micrograms/10(6) cells). Eight different dusts were analyzed for element contents and grain size: one rural and three urban airborne dusts, a coarse and a fine fraction of a sieved waste incinerator fly ash, a sonicated coarse fly ash fraction, and the standard quartz dust DQ 12. The fine fly ash fraction, the sonicated coarse fly ash fraction, and the quartz dust DQ 12 enhanced elastase release by activated AM. Only one of the tested airborne dusts effected a comparable elastase release. The untreated coarse fraction of the fly ash did not cause a significant increase of extracellular elastase activities. Elastase release was dependent on particle numbers and chemical composition and correlated best with barium and tin contents. Nonactivated AM released higher elastase activities than activated AM at low-dose levels. The possible role of dust-induced elastase secretion in the pathogenesis of emphysema is discussed.

Air Pollutants↗

Colonic carcinoma in two adult cystic fibrosis patients.

Two adult women with cystic fibrosis (CF) who developed colonic carcinoma, both at age 31, are described. In both patients the carcinoma occurred in the midtransverse colon. The diagnosis had not been suspected, partly because of the patients' relatively young age. In case 1, the symptoms also mimicked the distal intestinal obstruction syndrome. At diagnosis she was shown to have metastases to the regional lymph nodes. In case 2, despite a long history of chronic pulmonary and sinus disorders, CF was not diagnosed until the patient was 36 years old. The incidence of gastrointestinal malignancies has been shown to be significantly increased in patients with CF. As the life expectancy of the CF population increases, vigilance for gastrointestinal cancers in CF patients is important, as illustrated by these two cases.

Adenocarcinoma↗