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T Delangre

Publications and source records attributed to T Delangre.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Neurologic disorders due to brain manganese deposition in a jaundiced patient receiving long-term parenteral nutrition.

BACKGROUND: Neurologic and radiologic disorders have been reported in patients receiving long-term parenteral nutrition (PN). On the basis of elevated serum manganese levels, some of these abnormalities have been attributed to manganese intoxication. Alterations of the basal ganglia signal intensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRIs) have been previously reported, but the precise nature of these alterations remains controversial although the deposition of manganese has been suggested in patients with chronic hepatic encephalopathy due to liver failure. METHODS: We report the case of a patient who was receiving PN and exhibited a chronic cholestasis. Neurologic disorders appeared after several months of PN, when a hypersignal in the basal ganglia and white matter was found on T1-weighted MRIs of the brain in association with elevated serum and manganese levels. RESULTS: Elevated autopsic concentrations of manganese were found in the radiologic abnormal cerebral areas. CONCLUSIONS: Our observation is the first demonstration of a relationship between high intracerebral manganese levels, radiologic abnormalities, and neurologic disorders during long-term PN. Moreover, serum manganese levels are not a good indicator of cerebral levels. In fact, in our patient, serum manganese levels returned to normal, whereas those of cerebral manganese remained increased.

Brain↗

The value of clinical characteristics from a standard questionnaire to discriminate cardiac from neurological syncope in the elderly.

OBJECTIVES: To identify signs and symptoms to differentiate cardiac from neurological syncope in patients over 70 using a standardized questionnaire. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. SETTING: Five short-stay units in a French university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred thirty-one in-patients with syncope aged 70 and older. MEASUREMENTS: Patients were interviewed about the signs and symptoms that had been present before, during or after syncope. When possible, a witness who had been present during syncope was also interviewed to compare theirs and the patients' answers. The sensitivity and specificity of 35 questions were calculated among 3 groups defined according to the cause of syncope: cardiac (n = 58), neurological (n = 31) and syncope of unknown origin (n = 42). Statistical analyses were performed to determine discriminating signs and symptoms among the causes and crude agreement was calculated for answers from patients and witnesses. RESULTS: Only 8 and 3 of 35 questions had a sensitivity of at least 0.5 for cardiac and neurological causes respectively. A feeling of impending syncope, thoracic oppression, recall of events preceding syncope and a history of arrhythmia were independently and significantly discriminant among groups. Recall of events preceding syncope (Odds Ratio (OR) = 7.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.2-25.3) and a personal history of arrhythmia (OR = 4.8; 95% CI = 1.6-14.2) were discriminant between cardiac and neurological causes suggesting mostly a cardiac cause. Agreement between patients and witnesses was only found for questions on the patient's medical history or the circumstances surrounding the onset of syncope. CONCLUSIONS: Recall of events preceding syncope and a history of arrhythmia are strongly suggestive of a cardiac rather than a neurological cause of syncope. Interviews of witnesses are not helpful in suggesting a cause for syncope.

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