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Biomedical subjects

P Hans

Publications and source records attributed to P Hans.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Fluid management and plasma renin activity in organ donors.

Fluid management and assessment of organ perfusion in organ donors with hypotonic polyuria remain poorly investigated problems. In our protocol, urinary losses (565 +/- 202 ml/h) were replaced volume for volume by 3.3% dextrose/0.3% natrium chloride solution (Baxter) with 20 mmol/l potassium chloride. Concentrated red blood cells were administered to maintain hematocrit at about 30%, and volume expansion (central venous pressure above 6 mmHg) was obtained by gelatin (haemaccel) infusion. In all donors (n = 9), plasma electrolytes remained within normal limits despite hypotonic polyuria. Suppression of initial plasma renin activity (PRA: 9.7 +/- 3.6 ng/ml per hour) was obtained by subacute volume expansion. In eight donors the hemodynamic status improved, dopamine administration, when used, was discontinued, and PRA decreased (2.3 +/- 0.7 ng/ml per hour; P less than 0.05). The only donor who failed to respond to fluid therapy had increased PRA (24.2 ng/ml per hour). During fluid challenge, an inverse relationship was demonstrated between mean arterial pressure and PRA in all nine donors (r = -0.61; P less than 0.001), while there were no significant changes in blood urea. creatinine, or urine output. It is concluded that in organ donors, proper maintenance of the hemodynamic status and suppression of the renin stress response may be obtained by an adequate fluid management, involving both qualitative restoration and expansion of intravascular volume.

Adolescent↗

Improved outcome prediction based on CSF extrapolated creatine kinase BB isoenzyme activity and other risk factors in severe head injury.

The present study of 43 patients with severe head injury shows that outcome prediction can be markedly improved by combining an appropriate marker of the degree of initial brain damage and other risk factors. The patients were classified into three groups according to their actual outcome after 6 months: death (22 patients); persistent vegetative state or severe disability (eight patients); and moderate disability or good recovery (13 patients). By applying stepwise logistic discriminant analysis to the patients' data, five significant risk factors were selected: degree of neurological damage assessed by cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) extrapolated creatine kinase BB isoenzyme activity, Glasgow-Liège Coma Scale score, age, incidence of thoracic injury, and intracranial pressure (ICP). Extrapolated creatine kinase BB activity had the highest prognostic ability (67%). Uncontrollable elevated ICP proved to be systematically associated with death, whereas its absence was not necessarily indicative of a favorable outcome. The combination of the five variables yielded a total prognostic efficiency of 91%. The percentages of correctly predicted patients for the three outcome groups were, respectively, 100%, 50%, and 100%. Thus, half of the persistently vegetative and severely disabled patients were identified by the selected factors.

Adolescent↗

[Brain death].

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Brain Death↗

When the patient doesn't die.

Little has been written about the effects on psychotherapy when a patient who is expected to die survives. A young woman who was nearing the end of routine psychotherapy was found to have breast cancer. There were two recurrences of the malignancy, and while everything pointed toward a rapid death, the patient did not die. Psychotherapy, which had begun before the diagnosis, continued during intensive medical treatment and beyond. Some of the changes affecting both the patient and the therapist are described, and some guidelines are suggested for conducting psychotherapy with cancer patients who have prolonged survival.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Clinical and radiological aspects of dysplastic gangliocytoma (Lhermitte-Duclos disease): a report of two cases with review of the literature.

Two cases of Lhermitte-Duclos disease confirmed by biopsy are reported. Review of the 58 published cases shows that the disease can manifest itself only by signs of increased intracranial pressure. Cerebellar symptoms are not constant. Computed tomographic (CT) scans suggest the diagnosis by showing a posterior fossa lesion, iso- and hypodense, partially calcified, and not enhanced by contrast medium. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) seems to define limits of the lesion better than CT scanning and could improve the surgical approach. Surgical excision of the lesion is the only satisfactory treatment. The postoperative prognosis is usually favorable.

Adult↗

Interobserver agreement in assessment of motor response and brain stem reflexes.

In 1982, we developed a new coma scale, the Glasgow-Liège scale, which combines the quantified analysis of five brain stem reflexes with the Glasgow methodology. The present study was undertaken to determine to what extent agreement exists among different raters assessing brain stem reflexes (Parameter R) and to compare the results with those observed from motor responses (Parameter M). We show the good agreement achieved by different examiners in the evaluation of brain stem reflexes. Brain stem reflexes offer a slightly higher agreement (kappa = 0.69) than that of the study of motor response (kappa = 0.65). Within Parameters M and R, we observed less agreement in the evaluation of flexion responses and in the interpretation of oculocephalic reactions. The reliability of the evaluation of M and R parameters justifies the use of the Glasgow-Liège scale as a means for evaluating disturbances of consciousness.

Blinking↗

"Extrapolated" creatine kinase-BB isoenzyme activity in assessment of initial brain damage after severe head injury.

The severity of initial brain damage is an important risk factor in determining the prognosis of head trauma. It can be assessed by assigning neurological scores or by determining the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) activity of the isoenzyme creatine kinase-BB (CK-BB). In 10 severely head-injured patients serial CSF samples were obtained during the first 24 hours after trauma, and exponential decay of CK-BB activity with an average half-life of 4.5 hours was demonstrated. This finding led the authors to propose an "extrapolated" CK-BB activity, which theoretically occurs immediately after injury and is calculated from a single CK-BB recording, as a new index for assessing the degree of initial brain damage. In 50 patients with severe head injury, the prognostic ability of "observed" and "extrapolated" CK-BB activity was compared with two clinical scoring systems that evaluate severity of head trauma (the Glasgow and the Glasgow-Liège Coma Scales). "Extrapolated" CK-BB activity proved to be the best prognostic factor. With a CK-BB cutoff point of 330 U/liter, a true-positive rate of 79% and a true-negative rate of 73% were obtained. These results suggest the usefulness of measuring CK-BB activity in CSF as soon as possible after hospital admission for head injury.

Adolescent↗

Predicting recovery from head injury.

Outcome prediction after severe head injury remains an important issue. We investigated this problem by recording seven risk factors in 40 patients with severe head injury. By applying multivariate statistical analysis to the patients' data we selected the factors of prognostic significance: degree of initial neurological damage, severely raised intracranial pressure, and age. We compared clinical and biochemical parameters for evaluating the severity of brain lesion and proposed various simple prognostic indices allowing for correct prediction in more than 85% of patients.

Adolescent↗

Study of hypotonic polyuria after trans-sphenoidal pituitary adenomectomy.

We have studied the postoperative diuresis patterns in 116 patients following the removal of a pituitary adenoma using the trans-sphenoidal approach. We observed a normal diuresis (ND) in 55 patients and a hypotonic polyuria (HP) in 61 patients, consisting of water elimination (WE = 45 cases) and transient diabetes insipidus (DI = 16 cases). We investigated the problem of predicting these patterns from eight pre-operative factors by applying stepwise logistic discriminant analysis. We demonstrated that DI was significantly associated with a posterior localization of the adenoma in the pituitary gland and that WE was more frequently observed in cases of suprasellar expansion, in young patients, and in prolactin secreting tumors. Finally, we discuss the pathogenic role of these factors in the occurrence of HP, taking into account inhibition of vasopressin secretion and possible fluid overload.

Adenoma↗

Derivation of a bioclinical prognostic index in severe head injury.

We investigated the problem of outcome prediction from seven risk factors in 40 severely head injured patients - 13 favorable and 27 unfavorable outcomes. By applying stepwise logistic discriminant analysis to the patients' data, we selected three significant risk variables: cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) CK-BB isoenzyme activity recorded on admission, severely raised intracranial pressure (more than 40 mmHg) and age, respectively. CSF CK-BB activity, which quantifies the initial neurological damage, proved to be the best prognostic factor. The presence of severe intracranial hypertension was always associated with a bad outcome, whereas its absence was not necessarily indicative of good prognosis. Finally, we combined the three selected variables into a single risk index, which allowed correct predictions in 92% of patients with favorable outcome and in 85% of patients with unfavorable outcome (total predictive efficiency 88%).

Adolescent↗

Syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone after severe head injury.

This study is based on 109 patients with severe head injury who had a Glasgow coma score equal to or less than 7 and a Liège coma score equal to or less than 12 in the first 24 hours. The syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone seems to us to be a frequent complication of severe craniocerebral trauma. It has been discovered in 33% of our patients. On the other hand, diabetes insipidus was rarely diagnosed (2.8%). We propose, in cranial trauma, to subdivide the syndrome of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone into two clinical forms: an early syndrome (5%) that becomes apparent towards the second day and is significantly associated with lesions at the base of the skull; and a delayed syndrome that occurs at the end of the first week and is related to different factors inherent in intensive care procedures. Surgical intervention, in the case of acute craniocerebral trauma, does not result in a higher frequency of inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone.

Adolescent↗