Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Cathebras

Publications and source records attributed to P Cathebras.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

[Systemic lupus erythematosus with disease onset after age 65].

OBJECTIVES: Systemic lupus erythematosus with disease-onset in the elderly has rarely been studied (only one report about 21 patients with disease onset at 65 and older). Is the management of this pathology modified in this population? METHODS: Seventeen hospitalised cases of lupus patients with disease onset at 65 or older are retrospectively reported between 1988 and 2000. The results are compared with those of younger subjects. RESULTS: The female to male ratio is 1.83. Mean age at disease onset is 71.9 +/- 3.5 years. Mean duration of follow-up is 3.5 +/- 2.4 years. Main initial symptoms are: deterioration of general status (41%), arthritis (35%), cutaneous manifestations (35%), thrombo-embolism (24%) and pleuritis (18%). Malar rash is uncommon (12%). Nephropathy is never a revealing symptom and is rarely serious during the disease's evolution. Like in neurologic manifestations, the etiology has to be discussed in relation to associated co-morbidities. Concerning haematologic features, lymphopenia is found in 82% of the cases with a questionable specificity. Antinuclear antibodies are constant, anti-dsDNA antibodies are found in 82% of the cases, antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens in 50%, and anticoagulant circulating activity in 59%. Prognosis is difficult to assess in such a limited series but 5-years survival probability is 83%. Glucocorticoid lead to 50% of major complications. CONCLUSIONS: This study focuses on the particular initial manifestations of systemic lupus erythematosus in the elderly (deterioration of general status, thrombosis, unusual cutaneous symptoms), and on the specificity of differential diagnosis and treatment.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed1999

[Drug use in the elderly. Multiple diseases in the aged and therapeutic management: avoidable pitfalls].

CAUSE OF UNDESIRABLE EFFECTS: The normal aging process leads to homeostatic changes and modified absorption, distribution and elimination of drugs. Elderly subjects are thus more exposed to undesirable drug effects. In addition, the presence of multiple diseases, multiple drugs, dependency, and certain social and behavioral factors act together to potentialize the generation of side effects. PREDICTABLE RISKS: Accidents can result from drug-drug or drug-disease interactions. Subjects at risk can be identified using the concept of fragility. POSSIBLE PREVENTION: Practical guide-lines have been established by expert groups and should be used to avoid inadequate use of drug therapies.

Aged↗
PubMed1996

[Periaortic fibrosis with pericardial and perirenal involvement: apropos of a case].

The authors report a case of right ventricular insufficiency by constrictive pericarditis revealing aortic and retroperitoneal fibrosis. Only one similar case has been published. We discuss the etiology of this affection, the possible analogies with idiopathic systemic fibrosis and Takayasu's disease and the possible participation of thyroiditis disease and therapy (particularly propranolol).

Female↗
PubMed1996

Arthritis, hypercalcemia, and lytic bone lesions after hepatitis B vaccination.

We report a case of arthritis, hypercalcemia, and lytic bone lesions that occurred shortly after repeated administration of recombinant hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine in a 44-year-old man who had had myasthenia gravis 20 years earlier. He presented with ankle and knee arthritis and hypercalcemia. Radiographs revealed small lytic lesions and densitometry showed severe osteopenia. Quantimetric bone biopsy confirmed major bone loss and showed dramatic increase in bone turnover, as well as an unusual periosteal apposition of woven bone. Short term treatment with prednisone and furosemide and longterm treatment with clodronate allowed rapid improvement. After one year, the patient remains clinically asymptomatic. Despite negative immunologic investigations to sustain the hypothesis of HBV vaccination as a causal factor, we believe the bone lesions could be attributed to unusual bone "hyperremodeling" triggered by an immune process in a predisposed individual.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The body: from an immateriality to another.

A first level of immateriality of the human body is very classic for anthropologists: it concerns the different conceptions of soul, of a supernatural component of the human being. It refers also to different kinds of continuity and exchange between the human body and society. The other immateriality appears as an answer to the biological reductionism of the body. As we can see in biomedical conception of the body, as well as in different totalitarian utopias, biological reductionism tends to reduce the whole person to its biological body. Consciously or unconsciously, people cannot accept it. Contemporary ways of healing reflect this contradiction: people accept biological knowledge but they do not accept a purely biological conception of their own body. They conceive that there is an immaterial part in the human body; however it is not supernatural but a part of nature. In this way this 'not divine immateriality' can be conciliated with some kind of scientific approach. The refusal to enclose the person in the biological body appears as a constant through human societies. At the medical level, this refusal is always present in the ill person's image of his body and of his illness. At a more general level, this refusal is probably necessary in order to keep human freedom as well as human specificity.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed1993

[A rare cause of loss of consciousness: mastocytosis. Apropos of 3 cases].

The authors report three cases of syncope due to systemic mastocytosis. This is a rare cause of syncope but should be recalled in certain circumstances. In the light of these cases, the authors review the literature with respect to this unusual presentation. Syncope may occur at any age. Loss of consciousness may be more or less complete, brief or prolonged, isolated or recurrent and usually accompanied by prodromal symptoms. The least controversial physiopathogenic mechanism of these syncopes is intense vasoplegia induced by the release of vasoactive mediators, especially histamine. When there is a clinical suspicion of mastocytosis, even in the absence of skin changes, the diagnosis is confirmed by biopsy which shows abnormally high numbers of mastocytes irrespective of the organ biopsied. The treatment of acute forms with collapse is based on intravenous infusion of macromolecular fluids and injections of epinephrine. Prevention is by drugs which inhibit the synthesis of histamine, the degranulation of mastocytes and the production of prostaglandin D2.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

[Eosinophilic ascites. 2 new case reports].

Two new cases of eosinophilic ascites and a brief review of 40 cases found in the literature are presented. In three quarters of the cases eosinophilic ascites affects women aged 40 years on average. Because the patients present with a history of allergy (55%), blood hypereosinophilia (69%), associated pleural effusion (11%), gastrointestinal disorders and, above all, eosinophilic infiltrations in the walls of the digestive tract or the serous membranes (63%), this pathology may be regarded as a clinical form or eosinophilic gastroenteritis. The outcome is favourable in 90% of the cases; relapses occur in 26%. Is eosinophilic gastroenteritis and independent pathological entity, or should it be considered a minor clinical form of Chusid's idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome? The lack of decisive arguments precludes a firm conclusion.

Age Factors↗