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Biomedical subjects

P Mansour

Publications and source records attributed to P Mansour.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

A review of the readmissions of patients with tetraplegia to the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, United Kingdom, between January 1994 and December 1995.

Patients with chronic tetraplegia are prone to develop unique clinical problems which require readmission to specialised centres where the health professionals are trained specifically to diagnose, and treat the diseases afflicting this group of patients. An appraisal of the readmission pattern of tetraplegic patients will provide the necessary data for planning allocation of beds for treatment of chronic tetraplegic patients. Hospital records of patients with tetraplegia readmitted to the Regional Spinal Injuries Centre, Southport, UK between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1995 were analyzed to find out the number of tetraplegic patients who required readmission, reasons for readmission, duration of hospital stay, and mortality among patients readmitted. During the 2-year period, 155 tetraplegic patients were readmitted and 44 of them (28.4%) required more than one readmission (total readmission episodes: 221); these patients occupied 4.5 beds which is equivalent to 11.5% of the total bed capacity of the spinal unit. Among the reasons for the readmissions, evaluation and care of urinary tract disorders topped the list with 96 readmission episodes (43.43%) involving 70 patients; the median hospital stay was 3 days, and 18 patients (26%) required more than one readmission during this period. One hospital bed was occupied by the tetraplegic patients requiring treatment/evaluation of urinary tract disorders. Assessment and treatment of cardio-respiratory diseases was the second most common reason for readmission with 51 readmission episodes pertaining to 27 patients having a median hospital stay of 6 days; 13 patients (48%) were readmitted more than once within this 2-year period. Treatment of cardio-respiratory diseases in chronic tetraplegic patients required 1.2 hospital beds yearly. Only five tetraplegic patients were readmitted for treatment of pressure sore(s); however they had a prolonged hospital stay (median duration: 101 days). Social reasons accounted for 13 readmission episodes concerning nine patients who stayed in the hospital for varying periods (median: 6.5 days; mean: 35 days). Four tetraplegic patients readmitted with acute chest infection expired. An 81 year-old tetraplegic died of myocardial infarction. Urinary sepsis, renal insufficiency, respiratory failure and intra-cerebral haemorrhage accounted for the demise of a 41 year-old tetraplegic patient following surgical removal of a large, impacted stone at the pelviureteric junction. A tetraplegic patient who was admitted with haematuria subsequently underwent cystectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder; he developed secondaries and expired 5 months later. As more patients with high cervical spinal cord injury survive the initial period of trauma, and as the life expectancy of tetraplegic patients increases, it is likely that greater numbers of tetraplegic patients will be requiring readmission to spinal injuries centre. Although it may be possible to prevent some of the complications of spinal cord injury and hence the need for a readmission, progress in medicine and rehabilitation technology will create additional demands for readmissions of chronic tetraplegic patients in order to implement the newer therapeutic strategies. Thus a change in the pattern of readmission of chronic tetraplegic patients is likely to be the future trend and this should be taken into account while making plans for providing the optimum care to chronic tetraplegic patients.

Adult↗

Audit of 6 years' experience of breast fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology using the cytospin method; improvement through multidisciplinary clinical audit.

A breast FNA cytology service for palpable breast lumps was commenced in 1989 using the cytospin method. Over the following 6 years 2314 aspirates were received. The results were audited in detail in 1990, 1991/1992 and 1994. Multidisciplinary clinical audit meetings followed each audit cycle. Practice change was agreed after each audit. Each audit cycle was followed by demonstrable improvement in the complete sensitivity of the technique, being respectively 79%, 88% and 96%. The cytospin method is a viable alternative to the conventional smear method.

Biopsy, Needle↗

[Quantification of aortic insufficiencies. Comparison between Doppler echocardiography and qualitative angiographic methods: apropos of a series of 60 consecutive patients].

Many doppler echocardiographic indices have been described for quantifying aortic regurgitation, posing the problem of the relative value of each. Therefore, the authors assessed the severity of aortic regurgitation in 60 consecutive patients (16 women and 44 men, mean age 56.7 years, range 7 to 84 years) by the four grades of Seller's classification with selective aortography. These results were compared with Doppler echocardiographic measurement of anterograde cardiac output (Qao), the pressure half time (PHT), diameter of the jet at its origin in M mode colour Doppler (DTM) and calculation of the regurgitant fraction (RF) by comparison of flow at the different cardiac orifices by a method previously described and validated in the author's laboratory with an interorifice correlation of 0.91 to 0.96 and confidence intervals at 95% of the order of 12%. The feasibility of doppler echocardiographic methods was good: 87.8% for PHT (58/66 patients), 90% for DTM (36/40 patients), 90.9% for Qao and RF (60/66 patients). The correlation with aortography was -0.65 (p < 0.01) for PHT; 0.91 (p < 0.01) for DTM, 0.80 (p < 0.01) for Qao and 0.92 (p < 0.005) for RF. However, there was a number of overlaps between Grades I and II and Grades III and IV.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

Blood pressure and myocardial perfusion in hypertensive patients with and without left ventricular hypertrophy.

To evaluate the effect of acute blood pressure (BP) changes on the myocardial perfusion in hypertensives, 10 patients with and 10 patients without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were examined with 99TCm-Sestamibi scintigraphy at rest and after acute pharmacological BP reduction using nifedipine and captopril. Signs of LV ischaemia was quantified as the size of the hypoperfused area defined as isotope uptake below 70% of maximum LV uptake, and LVH was defined as ventricular mass (LVM) > 125 g/m2 BSA by use of echocardiography. Not significant relations between BP and size of the hypoperfused area was found at rest. During BP reduction patients with LVH had negative correlations (r = -0.58) between the size of the hypoperfused area and the systolic blood pressure (SBP) and the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (r = -0.49) while patients without LVH showed positive correlations (SBP r = 0.60, DBP r = 0.48). The differences in correlation coefficients were significant (P < 0.01) for both. Thus, in hypertensives with LVH, ischaemia may develop at low BP providing a possible mechanism for the observed increased risk of cardiovascular events in some hypertensive patients with low achieved BP during follow-up. Until treatment goals are defined on scientific grounds, BP should not be decreased below 90 mm Hg in subjects with LVH.

Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors↗

Parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) gene expression in fetal and extra-embryonic tissues of early pregnancy.

Parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) is an important humoral factor in hypercalcaemia of malignancy. In addition there is increasing evidence that this peptide has a physiological role in fetal development, especially in cellular growth and differentiation. Both in-situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry were used together and for the first time to identify sites of PTHrP gene expression and peptide in fetal and extra-embryonic tissues of first trimester human pregnancy. PTHrP mRNA and peptide were identified in the avascular amnion and the syncytiotrophoblast while mRNA alone was expressed in the cytotrophoblast. Its expression in these extra-embryonic tissues is consistent with postulated roles for PTHrP in implantation, relaxation of endometrial muscle and regulation of vascular tone. Expression of both mRNA and peptide occurred in endo-, meso- and ectodermal structures of the fetus, consistent with local production of the peptide rather than cellular uptake from amniotic fluid and supporting a role for PTHrP in cellular growth and differentiation.

Cell Differentiation↗

[Feasibility and accuracy of pulmonary blood flow measurement by Doppler echocardiography. Apropos of 100 consecutive cases].

One of the main advantages of Doppler echocardiography is the possibility of non-invasive measurement of blood flow at each valvular orifice. This method enables quantification of valvular regurgitation, the measurement of Qp/Qs in cardiac disease with atrial or ventricular shunts, and the interpretation of gradients and functional surface areas in valvular stenosis or prosthesis with respect to the underlying haemodynamics. In each of these application, the measurement of pulmonary blood flow is valuable as the reference blood flow, and even indispensible in cases of shunts. The authors' objective was to study the feasibility and accuracy of pulmonary flow measurement in 100 consecutive patients (40 women and 60 men, average age 56.7 +/- 17.5 years) with cardiac disease (82%) or healthy hearts (18%). A grading from A to D was accorded depending on the technical difficulty of the examination, each grade having three degrees: 1) difficulty of recording and poor quality Doppler spectrum, 2) difficulty of measuring orifice diameter by 2D echocardiography, 3) necessity of analysis of color coded anterograde flow to measure the pulmonary valvular orifice. Grade A was distributed to easily recordable measurements with no difficulty; grade B for measurements with one difficulty; grade C for measurements with 2 difficulties and grade D for investigations judged to be impossible or unreliable (3/3 criteria). The feasibility of measurement of the cardiac output at the pulmonary orifice was 88% (A:55%, B:25%, C:8%). The correlation between the pulmonary flow and reference measurements at the aortic and/or mitral valve and/or mitral annulus was 0.96. The average difference between the pulmonary and reference flow was 51 +/- 273 cc/min.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗

[Evaluation of prognosis and myocardial ischemia using thallium in myocardial tomoscintigraphy].

Thallium scintigraphy holds a unique position amongst the methods available for evaluating the prognosis of coronary patients: it enables quantification of underperfused myocardium and evaluates already constituted ventricular damage (irreversible necrosis) and areas at risk of future coronary events (viable but ischemic myocardium). In a series of 1,926 patients who underwent exercise stress or dipyridamole Thallium myocardial scintigraphy for angina pectoris and followed up fort an average of 34 months, the following features were observed: the long-term prognosis in patients with normal myocardial scintigraphy (715 patients) was identical to that of a normal population of the same age (0.11% cardiovascular deaths per year) whereas the cardiovascular mortality was 15 times higher in cases with a pathological scintigraphy: finally, the long-term prognosis (cardiovascular deaths, infarcts or secondary revascularisation) was directly related to the severity of the initial lack of Thallium uptake. This method was used to assess the prognosis and evaluate the myocardial ischaemia in 75 patients who underwent complete surgical revascularisation fort ischaemia, 50 of whom had previous myocardial infarction: all patients had at least one arterial bypass graft: 39% of the myocardium was underperfused before revascularisation; this procedure reduced by 80% (p < 0.0001) the zones of reversible underperfusion but also zones of irreversible underperfusion by 17% (p = 0.04). The results were particularly impressive in patients who underwent revascularisation with an arterial pedicle (left and right internal mammary, gastroepiploic alone or in association) as 91% of the ischemic territories recovered on average 13 days after revascularisation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Dipyridamole↗

Low blood pressure levels and signs of myocardial ischaemia: importance of left ventricular hypertrophy.

To clarify a possible relationship between the level of BP and signs of myocardial ischaemia, two groups of treated hypertensive patients with (n = 12) and without (n = 18) increased left ventricular mass defined by echocardiography were investigated with 24h ambulatory BP and ECG monitoring. It was found that hypertensive patients with increased left ventricular mass had the following. (1) Higher systolic BP, heart rate (HR) and SBP x HR product during the night indicating a higher ventricular work load than hypertensives without increased LVM in this period. (2) This increased left ventricular work load during the night was concomitant with a lower DBP consistent with a lower perfusion pressure of the left ventricular myocardium. (3) Significantly depressed ST segment levels throughout the 24 hours with a significant positive correlation between BP and the level of the ST segment indicating increased ischaemic metabolic changes within the myocardium the lower the BP. (4) A higher ratio between the systolic SBP x HR product and DBP during sleep than in hypertensives without increased left ventricular mass, further corroborating that low DBP during the night might cause ischaemia through an imbalance between left ventricular work load and coronary perfusion pressure. We conclude that low BPs in hypertensive patients with increased left ventricular mass seem to induce ischaemia of the left ventricle. These findings provide a possible mechanism for the increased risk of ischaemic heart disease in hypertensive patients with low achieved BP.

Aged↗

Recurrent consecutive partial molar pregnancy.

Gestational trophoblastic disease (GTD) is rare. Recurrent GTD, though occurring in only 0.6-2.6% of subsequent pregnancies, has significant clinicopathological implications. These include risk of malignant sequelae and subsequent poor reproductive performance. The cytogenetics and histopathology of complete and partial moles differ, yet there are several clinicopathological similarities. Although complete hydatidiform moles are known to recur, very little is known about recurrent partial vesicular moles in world literature. We report here on a patient with four consecutive recurrent partial hydatidiform moles who is yet to achieve a normal pregnancy. Her third molar pregnancy was further complicated by severe thyrotoxicosis. The unusual histology and the progressively more aggressive clinical course are discussed. The small risk of malignant sequelae and the need for close endocrinological monitoring are highlighted, as are her chances of yet another recurrent GTD.

Adult↗

Ceruminous gland tumours: a reappraisal.

Ceruminous glands should no longer be regarded as purely apocrine glands, but as apoeccrine glands with both apocrine and eccrine modes of secretion. We present two cases of pleomorphic adenoma of ceruminous glands, among the rarest of such tumours. The use of such terms as 'ceruminoma' and 'hidradenoma' should finally be abandoned, and 'ceruminous gland tumour' used instead as a generic term. Classification should be based on Wetli's prototype (adenoma, pleomorphic adenoma, adenoid cystic carcinoma and adenocarcinoma), with the addition of benign eccrine cylindroma and syringocystadenoma papilliferum; the inclusion of mucoepidermoid carcinoma should await full validation. Wide local excision is necessary for all tumours, with only follow-up for histologically benign neoplasms. Malignant tumours need early aggressive surgery and radiotherapy. If marginal invasion cannot be assessed histologically, then adenoma and adenocarcinoma cannot be distinguished and we suggest that the tumour be reported as 'of uncertain malignant potential'. Long-term studies are needed to confirm or refute the view that all ceruminous gland tumours are potentially malignant.

Ear Canal↗

Terminal parotid duct carcinoma.

Terminal duct carcinoma of salivary glands is an uncommon, histologically distinctive, low grade malignant neoplasm arising from the intercalated salivary duct. We present a case arising eight years after removal of a parotid tumour reported as a pleomorphic adenoma. We describe the clinico-pathological features of the present tumour, illustrate the difficulties that may be encountered in differentiating it from other salivary gland tumours, and discuss the possible significance of the previous tumour.

Adenoma, Pleomorphic↗

[Pulse wave velocity and arterial distensibility. Changes during rest and exertion].

The measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV) is one of the oldest methods of evaluating the dynamic properties of the arterial wall and also one of the most simple. Its value has been proven clinically by epidemiological studies as its value is directly related to changes in arterial structure with aging and hypertension. However, clinical measurement of PWV is an indirect method, and although simple in theory it may provide diverging results because of the large number of structural and functional parameters which influence the transmission of the pressure wave. This explains the difficulties encountered in determining a representative reference value for PWV. Nevertheless, for interpretation of the results, the data provided by PWV measurement about arterial distensibility underline the importance in all measurements of arterial compliance of taking into account the site and conditions of measurement in order to evaluate the variability and physiological role of the arterial segment under study.

Age Factors↗