[Continuous prophylaxis of rheumatism relapses in children].
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We report a patient of relapsing polychondritis (RP) with antecedent aseptic meningitis. A 65-year-old man has developed headache and fever. Neurological examination showed meningeal signs, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination revealed meningeal inflammation which contained 450 polymorphonuclear cells/microl, 302 mononuclear cells/microl, and 0 red cells/microl, with 79 mg protein/dl. Serologic testing for autoimmune disease as well as the culture and cytology of CSF were negative. He admitted our hospital as having aseptic meningitis and experienced antibiotic therapy. However, his pyrexia continued and he developed repeating visual and hearing impairment reacting to steroid. Three months later, he became behaviorally deaf, and bilateral auricular chondritis occurred with nonerosive seronegative inflammatory polyarthritis. The result of condral biopsy was consistent with the diagnosis of RP showing cartilage surrounded by an intense inflammatory cell response with a decreased number of chondrocytes. A clinical diagnosis was made and prednisolone 60 mg/day was begun with the result of resolution of the auricular chondritis, and slight improvement of his deafness. Aseptic meningitis is a rare complication of RP. Only one report detailed RP patient who had preceding meningitis. RP is a potentially lethal disease resulting from suffocation by airway collapse, the complications of a cardiac large vessel, and so on. For improvement of a life prognosis, an early diagnosis and treatment are indispensable. Although RP is a rare discovery, it is necessary that RP should be taken into consideration and be differentiated as a cause of relapsing aseptic meningitis.
We describe three cases of CPPD crystal deposition disease in elderly patients whose main symptom was fever. Misdiagnosis of such cases is possible because of the similarity of the clinical picture to that of septic fever. The probable mechanisms causing the fever are discussed. There was spectacular improvement in these patients after a high dose of oral colchicine and loperamide and no relapse was observed during the long term administration of colchicine in a conservative dose together with supplementary magnesium.
An open, randomised comparison of 2 or 3 days of oral ofloxacin (10 mg/kg/day) for uncomplicated typhoid fever was conducted in 235 Vietnamese children. Multi-drug-resistant Salmonella typhi was isolated from 182/202 (90%) children and 5/166 (3%) tested isolates were nalidixic acid-resistant (Na(R)). Eighty-nine of 116 children randomised to 2 days and 107/119 randomised to 3 days were blood culture-positive and eligible for analysis. There were 12 (13.5%) failures in the 2-day group (six clinical failures, four blood culture-positive post treatment, two relapses) compared with eight (7.5%) failures in the 3-day group (four clinical failures, one blood culture-positive post treatment, three relapses) (OR 1.9, 95% CI 0.7-5.5,p = 0.17). There were no significant differences in the mean (95% confidence interval) fever clearance times (h) [92 (82-102) vs 101 (93-110), p = 0.18] or duration of hospitalisation (d) [7.6 (7.2-8.1) vs 8.0 (7.6-8.4), p = 0.19] between the two groups. There was one failure in the four eligible children infected with an Na(R) isolate of S. typhi. No adverse events were attributable to the ofloxacin. These results extend previous observations on the efficacy of short courses of ofloxacin for children with uncomplicated multi-drug-resistant typhoid fever.
Prosthetic valve endocarditis may be considered present when two fo the following criteria are met: (1) two or more blood cultures are positive with the same organism in the absence of extracardiac infections, (2) evidence of bacterial endocarditis by histology or cultures is obtained from surgical or autopsy specimens, and/or (3) a clinical picture compatible with endocarditis (fever, new or changing regurgitant murmur, splenomegaly, hematuria, or evidence of peripheral emboli) is present. The overall incidence of PVE ranges from 0.98 to 4.4 per cent. Early and late PVE (that is endocarditis developing less than 60 and 60 or more days following valve implantation, respectively) accounts for 18 to 36 per cent and 64 to 82 per cent of infections, respectively. The overall mortality is 53 per cent and is higher in patients with early versus late PVE. Coagulase-negative staphylococci are responsible for a higher percentage of early (43 per cent) than late (28 per cent) infections. Streptococci are more common in late (27 per cent) than in early (3 per cent) PVE, while diphtheroids are most common in early PVE. The diagnosis of PVE may be difficult to establish, especially in patients with postoperative bacteremias who have other potential sources of extracardiac infections. Antimicrobial therapy is generally based on the susceptibility of the offending pathogen. With respect to the use of synergistic combinations, results are controversial, and most available data are derived from patients with native-valve endocarditis. Surgery remains an important aspect of treatment, and the mortality among patients who undergo early surgical intervention, particularly if their illness is complicated, is less than in those who are treated only with antibiotics. Indications for surgery include: (1) moderate-severe refractory congestive heart failure, (2) persistent bacteremia or fungemia, (3) multiple emboli, (4) myocardial abscesses, (5) relapsing PVE, and possibly (6) patients with clinical evidence of PVE and negative blood cultures and persistent fever despite 1 week or more of appropriate antibiotics. Pacemaker infections occur in less than 6 per cent of patients who undergo pacemaker insertion. These infections generally result from wound contamination at the time of surgery, and 75 per cent of infections are due to staphylococci. Staphylococcus aureus causes most infections occurring within 2 weeks after surgery, while S. epidermidis causes most later infections. The need to remove infected pacemakers is controversial.
OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical and laboratory features and response to treatment of patients with acute brucellar epididymo-orchitis reporting to a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, and to compare these with other cases reported previously. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this retrospective study, records of all 26 adult patients with brucellosis, who presented with epididymitis or epididymo-orchitis at a tertiary hospital in Riyadh from 1983 to 2000, were reviewed. Positive blood culture or high agglutination titres of > or = 1 : 320 and positive clinical manifestations of brucellosis were the main criteria for diagnosing brucellosis. Among these cases, epididymitis or epididymo-orchitis was diagnosed on the basis of a typical history of gradual onset of scrotal pain and findings of enlarged tender testes and/or epididymis. RESULTS: Epididymo-orchitis occurred in 1.6% of all patients with brucellosis. Most (58%) were 25--44 years old; approximately 77% of the patients presented with acute symptoms of < 2 weeks' duration. All patients complained of swollen painful testicles. Other presenting symptoms included undulant fever (96%), chills (54%) and arthralgia (23%). Four patients had dysuria and one haematuria. Ten patients gave a positive history of ingestion of raw milk and milk products; one patient had laboratory-acquired brucellosis. Six patients had unilateral epididymo-orchitis (two with features of florid presentation); the remaining 20 had only orchitis (bilateral in two, right in 10 and left in eight). Leucocytosis was present in six patients; 25 had initial agglutination titres of > 1 : 320 and the remaining patient had a positive blood culture. All patients received combined therapy with streptomycin for the first 2 weeks (or oral rifampicin for 6 weeks) with doxycycline or tetracycline for 6 weeks. All showed improvement, fever subsided in 2--5 days and the scrotal enlargement and tenderness regressed. Only one patient had a relapse within one year. CONCLUSION: In brucellosis-endemic areas, clinicians encountering epididymo-orchitis should consider the likelihood of brucellosis. A careful history, a meticulous physical examination and a rapid laboratory evaluation help in diagnosis. Clinical and serological data are sufficient for diagnosis. Leucocytosis is not an atypical feature of brucellar epididymo-orchitis and so cannot be used for differentiating it from the nonspecific variety. Conservative management with combination antibiotic therapy is adequate for managing brucellar epididymo-orchitis.
BACKGROUND: The combination therapies recommended by the World Health Organization for treatment of brucellosis are doxycycline plus rifampicin or doxycycline plus streptomycin. Although highly successful results have been obtained with these two regimens, relapse rates as high as 14.4%. The most effective and the least toxic chemotherapy for human brucellosis is still undetermined. The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy, adverse effects and cost of ofloxacin plus rifampicin therapy, and doxycycline plus rifampicin therapy and evaluate in the treatment of brucellosis. METHODS: The open trial has been carried out prospectively by the two medical centers from December 1999 to December 2001 in Duzce region Turkey. The diagnosis was based on the presence of signs and symptoms compatible with brucellosis including a positive agglutination titre (>/=1/160) and/or a positive culture. Doxycycline and rifampicin group consisted of 14 patients who were given doxycycline 200 mg/day plus rifampicin 600 mg/day during 45 days and this group Ofloxacin plus rifampicin group was consisted of 15 patients who were given ofloxacin 400 mg/day plus rifampicin 600 mg/day during 30 days. RESULTS: Regarding clinical and/or demographic characteristics no significant difference was found between two groups of patients that underwent two different therapeutic regimens. At the end of the therapy, two relapses were seen in both groups (p = 0.695). Although duration of therapy was two weeks shorter in group treated with rifampicin plus ofloxacin, the cure rate was similar in both groups of examinees. Fever dropped more rapidly in the group that treated with rifampicin plus ofloxacin, 74 +/- 30 (ranges 48-216) vs. 106 +/- 26 (ranges 48-262) hours (p = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Ofloxacin plus rifampicin therapy has advantages of shorter treatment duration and provided shorter course of fever with treatment than in doxycycline plus rifampicin therapy. However, cost of ofloxacin plus rifampicin treatment is higher than doxycycline plus rifampicin treatment. Because of the similar effects, adverse effects and relapses rates between two regimens, we still advice doxycycline plus rifampicin for the treatment of brucellosis for countries, which have limited resources.
Thirteen patients with tuberculous pericarditis (12 men and 1 woman aged 13 to 70 years [mean 41]) were identified in a group of 294 patients consecutively admitted for primary acute pericardial disease. The diagnosis was made by the following studies: sputum culture (n = 4), culture of pericardial fluid obtained by pericardiocentesis (n = 3), histologic study and culture of pericardial biopsy (n = 3), lymph node biopsy (n = 2) and pleural biopsy (n = 1). Clinical presentation was remarkably variable: four patients had an acute, apparently self-limited course, one had relapsing tamponade, four had tamponade effectively treated with pericardiocentesis and four had toxic symptoms with persistent fever. The interval from hospital admission to diagnosis ranged from 1 to 14 weeks (mean 5.2). Constrictive pericarditis developed in six patients and effusive-constrictive pericarditis in one; all seven required pericardiectomy 2 to 3.5 months after admission. No patient died. It is concluded that 1) tuberculous pericarditis has a variable clinical presentation and therefore it should be considered in the evaluation of all instances of pericarditis without a rapidly self-limited course; 2) the diagnosis should be based only on objective data obtained with a systematic study protocol; 3) early definitive diagnosis is still difficult to achieve; and 4) development of subacute constrictive pericarditis requiring pericardiectomy is common.
INTRODUCTION: Palpation of soft tissues constitutes part of the physical examination when faced with a patient with fever of unknown origin. Our case highlights the difficulty of diagnosis when the tumor still remains impalpable ten months after onset of fever and severe biological inflammatory process. EXEGESIS: A 49-year-old woman was admitted for fever of unknown origin associated with important biological inflammatory process. In view of her past medical history of breast carcinoma, a search for a relapse was performed and remained negative. Despite multiple investigations and repeated physical examinations, no diagnosis was obtained. Finally, [18F] fluorodoexyglucose positron emission tomography led to a diagnosis showing a high fixation located in the right thigh, related to a myxoid liposarcoma after surgical resection. CONCLUSION: Dramatic regression of fever and biological inflammatory process after surgical treatment illustrates the concept of "small tumor and fever of unknown origin", an exceptional entity but which physicians should be aware of. The role of new technical imaging with [18F] fluorodoexyglucose positron emission tomography has however to be clarified in the evaluation of fever of unknown origin.
AIM OF THE STUDY: To report our experience with video-assisted enucleation of esophageal leiomyomas. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of six (five men and a woman) patients who underwent video-assisted submucosal tumor enucleation (4 with thoracoscopy and 2 with laparoscopy). RESULTS: Only one patient had postoperative complications: a parietal hematoma at a trocar site and a fever with right pleural, resolved after pleural drainage. Outcome was satisfactory for all patients, and no relapses have been noted. CONCLUSION: Video-assisted surgery offers incontrovertible advantages for the treatment of this benign pathology.
BACKGROUND: Azithromycin has demonstrated in vitro and in vivo activity against Plasmodium falciparum, but small treatment studies have given mixed results. METHODS: Participants with fever and with both a blood smear and a rapid diagnostic test positive for falciparum malaria were randomly assigned to groups that were treated with either azithromycin or chloroquine or to matched groups receiving a placebo. After an interim analysis, open-label combination therapy with both drugs was initiated. RESULTS: At day 28, 5 (33%) of 15 participants in the azithromycin-treated group had remained free of fever, compared with 4 (27%) of 15 in the chloroquine-treated group. All subsequently enrolled participants then received combination therapy with azithromycin and chloroquine. In 61 (97%) of 67 participants, resolution of fever and parasitemia had occurred by day 7, and, through day 28, no clinical or parasitologic relapse had occurred in them. CONCLUSIONS: Resolution of parasitemia was inadequate with monotherapy with either azithromycin or chloroquine, but combination therapy provided substantially improved clinical and parasitologic outcomes. The combination of azithromycin and chloroquine may be an effective alternative treatment for falciparum malaria and deserves further study.
We report here an autopsy case of neuro-Behçet's disease. The patient was a 28-year-old man, who developed a slight fever, right uveitis, and right sensory neural hearing loss at the age of 25. These symptoms relapsed repeatedly despite treatment. Eventually he was admitted to hospital because of progressing neurological deficits such as pyramidal symptoms, somatic sensorial and autonomic disorders, and bulbar palsy. The patient's condition deteriorated and he died of heart failure. Total clinical course was about three years. In postmortem examination, various-sized necrotic foci, often accompanied by gliosis and foamy macrophage infiltration, were scattered in the diencephalic region and brain stem. Meningitis was observed on the ventral side of the brain stem as well as inferior cerebral surface. Nonbacterial or non-fungal acute perivascular inflammatory foci were also present in the brain stem and cerebellar parenchyma. These histopathological findings suggest that a destructive multifocal neutrophilic inflammation might have caused the neurological deficits. Perivascular inflammation might be important to understanding the pathogenesis of neuro-Behçet's disease.
A total of 50 evaluable adult patients with relapsing lymphoma and two with Hodgkin's disease received bisantrene by central iv catheter every 3 weeks, at doses of 350 mg/m2 for patients with adequate marrow reserve and 300 mg/m2 for those with compromised marrow reserve. The overall response rate was 30% for 50 patients with malignant lymphoma, including seven complete remissions (14%) and eight partial remissions (16%). Neither patient with Hodgkin's disease responded. The 16 patients with follicular lymphomas did particularly well, with 31% attaining complete remission and 25% attaining partial remission. Five of seven complete responders remain in remission at 16-24+ months; two have relapsed, at 13 and 20 months. Leukopenia, of brief duration, was the most common toxic effect. Fever during neutropenia occurred in 23% of courses. There was minimal cardiotoxicity with cumulative doses of up to 7080 mg/m2 of bisantrene. Bisantrene is an effective and well-tolerated agent for the treatment of malignant lymphoma.
Fifty-one patients (47 evaluable) with AML, 27 in first relapse and 20 either in second relapse or refractory were treated with menogaril, 100 mg/m2/day as a 90-min infusion daily for 5 days. The complete response (CR) rate was 17% (8/47), and there was one partial response. Seven of eight responders were in first relapse with a 26% response rate among first relapse patients (7/27). The median duration of survival was 3 months for all first relapse patients and 4.3 months for all other patients. Toxicity included grades 3-4 pancytopenia and fever (100% of patients) and grades 3-4 stomatitis and hepatic enzyme elevation (25% of patients). Grades 3-4 cardiac toxicity occurred in three patients (two grade 3 arrhythmias and one heart block). All had previously received anthracyclines. Remission duration was 1.6-48+ months; two patients underwent bone marrow transplantation and continue in CR at 36+ and 48+ months. The nontransplanted patients remained in CR 1.6, 2.0, 3, 7, 14 and 27 months. Activity and toxicity of menogaril in this study were comparable to that of other clinically useful anthracyclines in AML. Further investigation of this agent in AML is warranted.
We have performed a non-randomised GVHD prophylaxis trial comparing cyclosporin/methotrexate with in vivo/ex vivo T cell depletion with the monoclonal antibodies Campath 1G/1M in patients with acute leukaemias in first complete remission. We observed significantly less acute and chronic GVHD, neutropenic fever and severe mucositis in the T cell depletion group. The incidence of graft rejection and relapses was no higher than in the cyclosporin/methotrexate group. There is a trend in favour of improved disease-free survival in the in vivo/ex vivo T cell depletion group (80% vs. 62%).
Clinical symptoms of the disease are: sterility, relapsing, adnexitis, chronic peritonitis or perimetritis, primary or secundary lack of menstruation, even spontaneous abortion with fever and tubal pregnancy. Any kind of physicotherapy causing hyperaemia or congestion, surgery or sexual hormontherapy may enhance local exacerbation even spread of the disease. Congestion may further enhance the growth of bacteria by supplying more oxygen, and the sex hormones are incorporated by them. These circumstances influence the pathogenesis in a particular manner. The iatrogen provocation can prevented by profilactic antituberculous care. Lack of the mentioned prevention results to local progression, exsudat, fistulas, severe adhaesions, which cannot be solved by surgery. The iatrogen damages can only be prevented if gynecologists and phthysiologists cooperate.