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Biomedical subjects

P Godeau

Publications and source records attributed to P Godeau.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

[Septicemia and endocarditis related to transvenous pacing leads of pacemakers: surgical indications and results].

Endocarditis of transvenous pacing leads is a rare condition. The authors review a series of 15 patients who developed bacteriologically proven septicaemia and/or endocarditis related to transvenous pacing leads, operated between 1988 and 1993. The interval between the last manipulation of the pacemaker and the onset of endocarditis was about 6 months. Six patients had had haematoma and/or infection of the pacemaker site. Endocarditis presented with chronic pyrexia (14 cases) associated with septicaemia (6 cases) and chronic local suppuration (1 case). The interval between the beginning of the pyrexia and the diagnosis was 3.4 months. Echocardiography showed a mass attached to the pacing lead in 8 cases and tricuspid valve vegetations in 4 cases. Blood cultures were positive in 13 patients and local wound swabs identified the organism in 1 patient. The commonest causal agent was the staphylococcus (epidermis in 7 cases, aureus in 4 cases). Appropriate antibiotic therapy was only effective in 1 case. The surgical indication in 13 cases was persistence of infection associated with pulmonary embolism (3) or tricuspid regurgitation (2). Complete ablation of the prosthetic material was performed by a peripheral vascular approach (2 cases), by a right atrial approach (1 case) and under cardiopulmonary bypass in 12 cases. The peroperative findings were of tricuspid valve vegetations (4 cases), thrombi on the pacing lead (7 cases) or in the right heart chambers (2 cases) or pulmonary artery (2 cases). The associated procedures performed under cardiopulmonary bypass were tricuspid valve repair (2 cases) and pulmonary thrombectomy (2 cases). Temporary and permanent epicardial leads were implanted in 10 patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Arterial lesions in Behçet's disease. A study in 25 patients.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the prognostic indicators of patients with Behçet's disease complicated with arterial lesions. METHODS: Retrospective chart analysis of 25 consecutive patients with Behçet's disease and angiographically proven arterial lesions. RESULTS: Occlusive lesions were present in 7 patients, aneurysms in 3, and both occlusive and aneurysmal lesions in 15. High dose corticosteroids were not effective in isolated occlusive lesions and probably contributed to one fatal infection. Death was related to aneurysms in 5 patients. Twenty-seven vascular surgical procedures were performed in 15 patients. Arterial lesions recurred in all patients who did not received postoperative corticosteroids. Within a 2 yr period after operation, the rate of therapy failure was lower in the group of patients treated with a postoperative combination of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive drugs, compared to the group treated with corticosteroids alone. In patients treated for lower limb arterial lesions, the rate of relapse was similar whether venous autologous or prosthetic grafts were used. Graft thrombosis occurred in 3/7 patients given anticoagulants and in 3/4 patients with no antiaggregant or anticoagulant therapy. CONCLUSION: Aneurysms have a worse prognosis than occlusive lesions. High dose corticosteroids should not be systematically prescribed for isolated occlusive lesions. Surgery, when feasible, is indicated for aneurysms because they entail a high risk of rupture. Postoperative corticosteroids are necessary to prevent arterial relapse. A combination of corticosteroids and immunosuppressive therapy is more effective than corticosteroids alone. After bypass for lower limb arterial lesions, anticoagulation is warranted to prevent graft thrombosis.

Abdomen↗
PubMed1995

[Course of ischemic risk in treated atheromatous hypertensive patients. The PRIHAM study].

Hypertension is one of the major cardiovascular risk factors. However seldom occurs alone in a patient and the antihypertensive treatment should be taken into account when assessing global cardiovascular status. The PRIHAM study was an open study which enrolled 3,216 hypertensive atheromatous patients who already has had a clinical ischaemic accident. Patients were followed-up for 3 years. The lowering effect on cardiovascular risk, starting from the fifteenth month was confirmed to the end of 36-month study. The effect on blood pressure was observed from the third month. Stabilized blood pressure observed within the first year persisted throughout the three years without tachyphylaxis. It was effective on SBP (-14.4%) and on DBP (-15%) while maintaining a stable heart rate both in the supine position or immediately upon standing or after 3 minutes in the standing position. Amongst diabetic and dyslipidemic patients, an absence of deleterious metabolic effects was noticed, parallel with the effectiveness. Tolerance was globally judged as good or very good by the investigating practitioners and the patients expressed an improvement in their feeling of well-being. In conclusion, from the level of effectiveness obtained and the low incidence of adverse effects, urapidil appears well adapted and easy to manage in a population with a particularly high cardiovascular risk.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Mixed cryoglobulinemia and hepatitis C virus.

BACKGROUND: Mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) is frequently associated with clinical and biological evidence of liver disease and has recently been reported in cases of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The aim of this study was to assess prospectively in a large series of MC patients: (1) the prevalence of HCV markers (anti-HCV antibodies and HCV RNA in serum and cryoprecipitate); (2) the main clinical, biologic and liver histologic features in patients with or without HCV infection. PATIENTS: One hundred fifteen consecutive unselected MC patients were studied: 45% had well-defined underlying diseases ("nonessential" MC). Fifty-five percent with no cause of MC were considered to have "essential" MC and were subjected to in-depth examination. METHODS: Patients were considered to have MC if two successive determinations of their serum cryoglobulin level were above 0.05 g/L. Anti-HCV antibodies (Ab) were detected in all patients by second-generation tests (ELISA, RIBA). We also looked for HCV RNA sequences amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the sera and cryoprecipitates of 39 patients; HBs antigen, anti-HBs Ab and anti-HBc Ab in all patients; and HBV DNA in 20 sera and 17 cryoprecipitates. Quantitative HCV Ab and RNA studies were performed on whole serum, cryoprecipitates, and supernatants. Clinical features were recorded retrospectively for each patient. Liver biopsies from 23 anti-HCV Ab-positive and 7 anti-HCV Ab-negative patients were examined histologically, with qualitative and quantitative analysis. RESULTS: Anti-HCV Ab were found in 47/115 (41%) patients by ELISA and RIBA: 33/63 (52%) essential MC and 14/52 (27%) nonessential MC. Among the 63 essential MC patients, the 33 anti-HCV Ab-positive (Group 1) were compared to the 30 anti-HCV Ab-negative patients (Group 2). Group 1 patients had more cutaneous involvement (Raynaud's phenomenon, purpura, livedo, distal ulcers, or gangrenous changes) (17 versus 5: p = 0.004), higher alanine aminotransferase levels (110 +/- 22 versus 41 +/- 10 IU; p < 0.005), higher serum cryoglobulin levels (0.35 +/- 0.07 versus 0.12 +/- 0.04 g/L; p = 0.01), lower CH50 (28 +/- 3 versus 44 +/- 2 CH50/mL; p = 0.0001) and lower C4 levels (0.20 +/- 0.02 versus 0.29 +/- 0.03 g/L; p < 0.04). The prevalence of HBV serum markers was low in both groups, and HBV DNA was never detected in any of the sera and cryoprecipitates tested. HCV RNA sequences were detected in 10/16 (63%) sera and 12/16 (75%) cryoprecipitates from Group 1 patients, whereas they were not in the sera or cryoprecipitates from 23 Group 2 patients. Using quantitative PCR, HCV RNA in cryoprecipitates was concentrated 20 to 100 times despite the absence of significant anti-HCV Ab concentration in these samples. Histologic examination of liver biopsies revealed a spectrum of lesions ranging from chronic active hepatitis to cirrhosis, but Knodell's score did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSION: (1) About 50% of the essential MC patients had anti-HCV Ab, and these patients had more severe cryoglobulinemia-associated clinical and biological signs; (2) HCV RNA sequences were found in the large majority of sera and cryoprecipitates from patients with essential MC and anti-HCV Ab and were more concentrated in cryoprecipitates than in supernatants. These results suggest a role for HCV in the pathogenesis of MC and indicate that many cases of essential MC may be secondary to HCV infection and thus nonessential.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

[Pancreatitis in systemic lupus erythematosus. Review of the literature apropos of 5 cases].

We report five cases of pancreatitis in systemic lupus erythematosus. Three patients died. The cause of death was directly related to pancreatitis in two cases. Several causes of pancreatitis may be suspected: vasculitis, thrombosis when associated to antiphospholipid syndrome, biliary calculi, infection, metabolic abnormalities or adverse effects of therapy. About seventy cases of pancreatitis have been reported in systemic lupus erythematosus in the literature Pancreatitis was the inaugural sign of lupus in six cases. In 12 cases, besides lupus, no other cause of pancreatitis was found. However, pancreatic vasculitis or thrombosis was rarely demonstrated even in post-mortem examinations. The role of corticosteroids in pancreatitis in lupus is controversial since the evolution of pancreatitis in lupus is generally good with corticosteroids. We think that diagnosis of pancreatitis in lupus should not implicate discontinuation or decrease of corticosteroids dosage, unless their responsibility is absolutely demonstrated.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1994

[Are antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies pathogenic?].

ANCA mainly recognize proteinase 3 (cytoplasmic fluorescence) in Wegener's granulomatosis and myeloperoxidase (perinuclear fluorescence) in other types of vasculitis. A causative role of ANCA seems not obvious because: a) active generalized Wegener's granulomatosis may exist with no detectable ANCA, b) ANCA titres don't reliably parallel clinical activity and c) of the increasing diversity of clinical situations where ANCA are described. Nevertheless, some lines of evidence point to a pathogenetic role of ANCA, especially in vascular lesions genesis: a) ANCA may prevent inactivation of antigenic proteases by antiproteases, b) translocation at the outer membrane of intracellular antigens make them accessible to ANCA, c) activation of polymorphonuclear leucocytes and increase of their aggregation and cytotoxicity to endothelial cells are specifically induced by ANCA, d) proteinase 3 and myeloperoxidase may adhere to the endothelial cell membrane and then be recognized by ANCA, e) a specific T-lymphocyte response to ANCA antigens could be elicited in Wegener's granulomatosis and f) an in vivo model of ANCA-related glomerulonephritis has recently been established.

Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic↗