Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Chavanet

Publications and source records attributed to P Chavanet.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Infraclinical neuropathies related to immunodeficiency virus infection associated with higher T-helper cell count.

To assess subclinical involvement of the peripheral nervous system and its relationship to the immunological status of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, we prospectively studied the peripheral nerve conductions and the subsets of peripheral blood lymphocytes of HIV patients. Fifty-seven patients, aged 20-54 years, 28 homosexuals and 29 heterosexuals, classified as CDC II-III (40 patients) and CDC IV (17 patients) were studied. No neurological symptoms or signs were present on bedside examination or questioning for all of the CDC II-III patients. For each conduction measured (H-reflex, sural and sciatic velocities, sural amplitude), the geometric mean was below normal values (p less than 0.05). Among the 57 HIV-infected patients, 20 (35%) had a significant decrease of at least one electrophysiologic measurement: 10/17 CDC IV patients vs. 10/40 CDC II-III patients (p less than 0.05). Two or more simultaneous abnormalities were more often observed in the CDC IV than in the CDC II-III group (9/10 vs. 4/10) (p less than 0.01). In the CDC II-III group, patients with subclinical neuropathies had higher T-helper and lower T-suppressor cell counts and higher T-helper/T-suppressor ratios than random patients without any neurologic abnormalities (1,057 vs. 657 cells/microliters, p less than 0.05, and 757 vs. 1,304 cells/microliters, p less than 0.01, 1.55 vs. 0.68, p less than 0.01, respectively). We conclude that (a) the peripheral nervous system is precociously and subclinically involved in the HIV disease; (b) the patients with infraclinical neuropathies have a significantly higher T-helper cell count than those without any neurologic involvement. The mechanism and the prognostic value of these two findings remain to be more precisely examined, and further studies are required.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

[Meningeal diffusion of cefpirome in adults].

Cefpirome is a new aminothiazolyl cephalosporin with a low protein binding, a long half-life of elimination and a wide antibacterial spectrum including pseudomonas and staphylococcus. We studied its diffusion into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Cefpirome, 2 g, was administered intravenously over 3 min. Nineteen patients, aged 12-75 y (mean +/- SD = 40 +/- 20) were studied: 13 had meningitis (septic = 6; chronic = 2; viral = 4). Seric and CSF samples were assayed by the high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure. Results at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours after the infusion were (mean +/- SD) 62.44 +/- 19.8 mg/l, 26.51 +/- 3.7 mg/l, 10.19 +/- 3.3 mg/l, 3.99 +/- 2.3 mg/l, 2 +/- 1.72 mg/l in the serum and 1.1 +/- 1 mg/l, 2.6 +/- 1.8 mg/l, 2.83 +/- 1.7 mg/l, 1.92 +/- 1 mg/l, 1.83 +/- 0.36 mg/l in CSF of bacterial meningitidis respectively. The half-life of elimination were 2.45 h and 9.8 h in the blood and CSF respectively. The area under the curve CSF/serum ratio was 28%. We conclude that cefpirome concentrations in the CSF were above the minimal inhibitory concentrations of almost all the bacteria causing meningitis.

Adolescent↗

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome after travelling in Africa: an epidemiological study in seventeen Caucasian patients.

Seventeen Caucasian patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) contracted after long stays in Africa are reported. Central Africa was concerned in all cases. Men are particularly exposed to AIDS whatever their occupation. This study suggests that the risk of contracting AIDS in Africa is high; the transmission of the virus was related to sexual contact, particularly with prostitutes, in Africa in most of the cases. It suggests also that Caucasians who travel in Africa spread the virus throughout the world by means of their heterosexual relations.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

[Teicoplanin and Gram-positive coccus infections. Results of a multicenter study on 66 cases].

Sixty-six cases of Gram positive infections were treated with teicoplanin in an open multicenter study, comprising 7 centers in Eastern France. There were 38 male patients and 28 females. Teicoplanin was given at a dose of 400 mg daily for a mean duration of 18.4 days. The most common infections were due to Staphylococcus aureus, found in 43 out of 56 documented cases. 69 (89.9%) of the 78 Gram + strains isolated had an MIC for teicoplanin of less than or equal to 2 mg/l. There were 44 serious infections (30 septicemia, 10 endocarditis, 1 joint and bone infection, 2 mediastinitis, 1 toxic shock syndrome) and 22 less serious infections (4 urinary infections, 14 skin and soft tissue infections, 3 lower respiratory infections, 1 hepatic abscess). In 42 cases concurrent medication was given: beta-lactamase in 11 cases, rifampicin in 10 cases, aminoglycosides in 22, phosphomycin in 3, pefloxacin in 5. The clinical cure and improvement rate was 90.10%. Adverse events were reported in 11 patients, and in only 3 cases was the therapy stopped. All were reversible on stopping therapy. Teicoplanin was found to be well tolerated and effective in the treatment of Gram positive infections in this study.

Adolescent↗

[Treatment of bacterial infections by ofloxacin. 42 cases].

Fourty-two patients with 44 infective sites were treated with ofloxacin alone (22) or associated with an other antibiotic (20). Thirty-five patients (83%) and 37 infective localisations (84%) were cured. The treatment efficacy was similar for ofloxacin alone or associated, and for treatments given with first or second intent. All non-documented infections were cured. Two of the 4 failures were pneumococcal. So, the non-documented infections, the genital and urinary tract infections, the pulmonary infections (second intent) and osteitis seem to be the best indications of ofloxacin therapy.

Adult↗

[Tricuspid endocarditis with right-left auricular shunt through a patent foramen ovale].

The authors report the case of a tricuspid endocarditis secondary to Streptococcus bovis with important regurgitation and severe hypoxemia secondary to a right-left atrial shunt through a patent foramen ovale, requiring a surgical treatment which included the replacement of the tricuspid valve and closure of the dehiscence in the inter-atrial septum. The presence of a patent foramen ovale in the course of a tricuspid endocarditis has been exceptionally reported. This diagnosis deserves to be evoked in case of an unexplained hypoxic condition or a systemic embolism complicating a tricuspid endocarditis. The report emphasizes the advantage of ultrasonic examinations (contrast sonocardiography, pulsated Doppler) in order to demonstrate this right-left atrial shunt in addition to the data collected about the tricuspid valve.

Adult↗

[Treatment of moderate or severe infections using imipenem/cilastatin. 41 cases based on a multicenter protocol].

Imipenem and cilastatin in combination have a broad spectrum in vitro with a strong killing activity on most bacteria. Using a multicenter study design, we investigated 41 patients with moderate or severe infections: septicemia in 18 cases (Gram negative rods in 10, Gram positive cocci in 7 and combination of both in 1), pneumonia in 7, osteitis in 4, soft tissue infection in 7, infection of the genitourinary tract in 6 and miscellaneous infections in the remaining cases (1 abscess of the pancreas, 1 typhoid fever, 1 presumptive endocarditis). All of the bacteria were susceptible to imipenem/cilastatin: MICs ranged from 0.02 to 0.8 mg/l and MBCs from 0.015 to more than 10 mg/l. All patients except one recovered or improved under imipenem/cilastatin. The patient who failed to respond had septicemia due to a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus with a MBC and MIC above 10 and 0.5 mg/l respectively. Tolerance was outstanding: only 4 patients had adverse effects requiring withdrawal of the drug.

Adult↗

[Vesiculo-bullous lupus erythematosus. Immuno-electronic study].

The authors present a case suggesting either bullous systemic lupus erythematosus of dermatitis herpetiformis. An immunoelectron microscopic study located the immunoglobulin deposits beneath the cutaneous basement membrane zone. The nosological problem of possible relationship between systemic lupus erythematosus and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita is discussed.

Adult↗

Cefotaxime in combination with other antibiotics for the treatment of severe methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococci (M-R staphylococci) represent 30% of the staphylococcal strains isolated in our hospital and pose important therapeutic problems. In a preliminary in vitro checkerboard study the bactericidal effect of various cephalosporins (cephalothin, cefamandole, cefotaxime and cefoperazone) in combination with other antibiotics (netilmicin, amikacin, vancomycin and fosfomycin) was studied on ten M-R staphylococcal strains. The combinations of cefoperazone with amikacin, cephalothin with vancomycin and of the four cephalosporins with fosfomycin were synergistic on the ten strains (FBC indexes less than or equal to 0.75). According to the CSF and bone levels achieved by these antibiotics and their bactericidal concentrations in combination, the combination of cefotaxime and fosfomycin was the most interesting, a concentration of less than or equal to 2 mg/l cefotaxime being bactericidal on five homogeneous M-R Staphylococcus aureus when combined with 4 mg/l of fosfomycin. This combination of cefotaxime (25 mg/kg, i.v. infusion over 30 min) and fosfomycin (50 mg/kg, i.v. infusion over three hours) three to four times daily was used to treat 16 patients: three patients with meningitis, six with bone and joint infections and seven with persistent bacteremia. The FBC indexes were less than or equal to 0.625 for the 12 strains studied. All the patients were cured without relapses. The concentrations of cefotaxime, desacetyl cefotaxime and fosfomycin in the CSF during meningitis three hours after the end of the infusion on the second day of treatment were 8.76, 6.82 and 58.0 mg/l, respectively, for patient one and 2.0, 0.53 and 31.0 mg/l, respectively, for patient two.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

Treatment of severe staphylococcal infections with cefotaxime and fosfomycin in combination.

In a prospective study, 23 severe staphylococcal infections (9 meningitis, 10 bone and joint infections, 3 septicaemia, 1 superinfection of a congenital varicella) were treated with cefotaxime and fosfomycin in combination. There was a synergistic effect of the combination for 14 of the 17 strains tested. Three hours after the end of the infusion, mean CSF concentrations of cefotaxime and fosfomycin were respectively at day 2 3.2 mg/l and 31.4 mg/l, at day 4 2.9 mg/l and 33.9 mg/l. All the patients with meningitis or acute bone and joint infections recovered satisfactorily without relapses. Two superinfections were observed (one systemic candidosis and one septicaemia due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Clinical tolerance was good and treatment was discontinued for side effects in only three patients.

Adolescent↗