Ankylosing spondylitis: a difficult diagnosis in patients on long-term renal replacement therapy

We report the case of a 48-year-old male, whose musculoskeletal manifestations, previously related to long-term renal replacement therapy (RRT), were diagnosed as ankylosing spondylitis when symptoms changed their pattern on daily hemodialysis (DHD). The patient started RRT in 1981; in 1985 he received a cadaver graft, which failed in 1987. Secondary hyperparathyroidism, amyloid geoids, bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome and high aluminium levels were present. Musculoskeletal pain, reported since 1986, involved feet, heels, hips, shoulders, hands, spine. Symptoms impairing daily life did not improve after parathyroidectomy. He developed chronic hypotension and recurrent atrial fibrillation. In 1994 and 1998, because of thoracic pain, coronarography was performed (normal on both occasions). In June 2000, DHD was started. Equivalent renal clearance increased from 9-12 to 15-17 mL/min. Well-being remarkably improved. In September 2000, musculoskeletal pain worsened and bilateral Achilles tendinitis occurred. The worsening of musculoskeletal symptoms despite the improvements in well-being and other dialysis related symptoms prompted a re-evaluation of the case. The diagnosis of ankylosing spondylitis was based on: history of plantar fasciitis, bilateral Achilles tendinitis, inflammatory spinal pain with limitation of lumbar spine mobility (positive Schober test), radiological evidence of grade 2 bilateral sacroiliitis, presence of HLA-B27. This diagnosis cast light on the episodes of chest pain, explained by enthesopathy at the costosternal and manubriosternal joints and atrial fibrillation, due to HLA-B27 associated impairment in heart conduction. This case exemplifies the difficulty of differential diagnosis of multisystem illness in patients with long RRT follow-up.     

Rehabilitation and surgical management of ankylosing spondylitis

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease which, if untreated, may progress to severe damage of the spine with functional impairment, disability and poor quality of life. An increased mortality has been reported in AS patients compared to the general population. AS requires combined management (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) and advice by different health professionals. Even the pharmacological treatment in the last decade has dramatically changed the outcome, the severity of the disease might require a surgical approach for the hip involvement with total hip replacement, or the corrective spinal surgery. However, this surgery deserves some careful approaches since the complexity of the disease. Rehabilitation still represents a cornerstone of the global management of AS patients. The present review summarizes the state of art of surgical management of these two diseases.     

Ankylosing spondylitis: recent breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is generally easy to diagnose when the characteristic findings of the "bamboo" spine and fused sacroiliac joints are present on radiographs. Unfortunately, these changes are usually seen late in the disease after tremendous suffering has been incurred by the patient. Diagnostic delay averages seven to ten years. Historically, once the diagnosis was made, the treatment options were often inadequate or poorly tolerated in many individuals. This condition most often starts in early adulthood when people are typically in the earlier stages of their careers, resulting in diminished workforce participation and decreased quality of life. If an individual has a family physician, this might be the first encounter with a healthcare provider. Quite often, the initial practitioner is sought at a public walk-in clinic or chiropractic office. In recent years, there have been two major developments in the management of AS that make earlier diagnosis possible and offer the hope of alleviating pain and preventing structural changes that result in loss of function. These developments include the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the inflammatory changes in the sacroiliac joint and the axial spine, and the demonstration that tumor necrosis factor (TNF) blocking agents are highly efficacious in reducing spinal inflammation and possibly in slowing radiographic progression. This review outlines diagnostic strategies that can help identify AS in its earlier stages. Special attention is focused on treatment advances, including the use of anti-TNF agents, and how these medications have been incorporated into clinical recommendations for daily use.     

Ankylosing spondylitis: recent developments and anaesthetic implications

Ankylosing spondylitis can present significant challenges to the anaesthetist as a consequence of the potential difficult airway, cardiovascular and respiratory complications, and the medications used to reduce pain and control the disease. There is also an increased risk of neurological complications in the peri-operative period. Awake fibreoptic intubation is the safest option in those patients with a potentially difficult airway as it allows continuous neurological monitoring while achieving a definitive airway. Neurophysiological monitoring (somatosensory and motor evoked potentials) should be considered in patients undergoing surgery for cervical spine deformity. The medical management of the disease has improved with the use of anti-tumour necrosis factor-α agents. There is potential for increased wound infection in patients taking these drugs. This article reviews the anaesthetic issues in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. The challenge to the anaesthetist is in the understanding of these issues so that appropriate management can be planned and undertaken.     

Ankylosing spondylitis and systemic sclerosis: A rare combination

We report a case of diffuse systemic sclerosis (skin, joints, esophagus, and Raynaud's phenomenon) in a 41-year-old Caucasian male with a 15-year history of ankylosing spondylitis and an episode of severe myocarditis of unknown origin. His HLA type included both the B27 allele conferring susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis and the B35, DRB1 11, and DQB1 03 described as associated with systemic sclerosis. This case-report confirms that two inflammatory joint diseases may co-exist, particularly in patients carrying one or two susceptibility alleles to both diseases.     

The surgical management of empyema thoracis in substance abuse patients: a 5-year experience

Postpneumonic empyema (EMP) may develop in substance abuse patients, requiring prolonged hospitalization. An algorithm that provides quality care and a rational basis for timely surgical intervention would be advantageous. We report our five-year experience with EMP in substance abuse patients and present such a treatment plan. Sixty-one substance abuse patients were treated for EMP. Posteroanterior, lateral, and decubitus x-ray studies were obtained before treatment to assess fluid movement. Chest tubes were placed to drain frank pus and to obtain material for positive smears. X-ray studies and computed tomography were done 24 hours later to assess parenchymal pathology and to detect any multiple loculations. Thirty-three substance abuse patients recovered following initial tube thoracostomy and 7 after a second chest tube was introduced. Twenty-one had multiple loculations and underwent thoracotomy. Twenty of the 21 required extensive debridement or decortication, or both; 2 required lobectomy and 1 pneumonectomy. Chest tubes were removed on an average of 6 +/- 1.5 days. Average postoperative stay was 10.7 +/- 2 days. There were 2 early deaths and 1 late death and no recurrent EMP. Bacteriology findings were nonspecific and often polymicrobial. We conclude that early thoracotomy can be lifesaving in the presence of a benign clinical course.     

强直性脊柱炎合并寰枢椎脱位的影像学特点及手术疗效

目的:分析强直性脊柱炎(ankylosing spondylitis,AS)合并寰枢椎脱位(atlantoaxial subluxation,AAS)的影像学特点,评估手术治疗的临床疗效.方法:回顾性分析2001年11月～2019年2月于我院接受颈枕融合或上颈椎融合术治疗的AS合并AAS的患者资料8例,均为男性,年龄1...     

Clinical versus subclinical pituitary apoplexy: presentation, surgical management, and outcome in 21 patients

A retrospective review of 16 consecutive patients with pituitary apoplexy treated over a 10-year period is reported. Eight men and 8 women (mean age, 48 years) underwent transsphenoidal decompression after an average duration of symptoms of 19 days. The diagnosis of pituitary apoplexy was made by the sudden onset of headache (88%), nausea (56%), or meningismus (13%), with or without visual disturbances (75%), in the setting of a sellar tumor on computed tomographic or magnetic resonance imaging scans. Thirteen of 16 patients showed significant improvement of symptoms after surgery (average follow-up, 2.5 years). In addition, 5 patients with clinically silent yet extensive pituitary hemorrhage were treated. Although extensive pituitary hemorrhage often produced fulminant apoplexy, it also presented insidiously over many days with few, if any, clinical signs. Rapid diagnosis, endocrine replacement, and transsphenoidal decompression constituted effective therapy. Magnetic resonance imaging (after at least 12 hours of symptoms) was superior to computed tomography in detecting hemorrhage.     

Improvement of the clinical outcome in Ankylosing spondylitis by balneotherapy

AIMS: This study is designed to show the efficacy of balneotherapy and balneotherapy (BT) + nonsteroid antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) use in Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients. METHODS: In this prospective study, BT, BT+ NSAID and NSAID therapy in 61 patients with AS were evaluated by ASAS core set. BT group (21 patients) was treated only with BT for 20 min, once a day, 5 days a week, over a period of 3 weeks. BT+NSAID group (20 patients) was treated with 1000 mg naproxen as well as BT. NSAID group (20 patients) was treated with 1000 mg naproxen. All of the participants did respiratory and postural exercises for 20 min a day and for the whole study period. Each patient was evaluated on admission (before treatment), at the end of the therapy and 6 months after the treatment. RESULTS: At the end of the study, statistically significant improvement was observed in all the clinical parameters of the patients in BT (G1), BT+NSAID (G2) and NSAID (G3) groups. This significant symptomatic and clinical improvement was maintained even 6 months after the treatment. The changes from baseline to follow up were similar in G1 and G2 except duration of morning stiffness (DMS) and chest expansion (CE). Improvements in CE and DMS were better in G1 and G2, respectively. Improvements observed in G1 and G2 were superior to the improvements observed in G3 for the variables of morning pain, nocturnal pain, DMS, global well being of the patient, occiput-wall distance, CE, finger to floor distance and functional index. In Schober test, improvement observed in G1 was statistically superior to G3. CONCLUSION: We concluded that BT can be suggested as an effective symptomatic treatment modality in patients with AS. Furthermore, sufficient improvement in clinical parameters can be obtained by BT alone.     

强直性脊柱炎颈胸段后凸畸形截骨矫形手术进展

强直性脊柱炎（ankylosing spondylitis,AS）是一种以关节韧带骨化为特征的慢性炎症疾病;主要侵犯中轴骨,病变常从骶髂关节开始逐渐向上蔓延至脊柱。广泛的脊柱关节和韧带骨化最终导致脊柱的完全融合僵直。在骨化过程中,患者逐渐发展成严重的脊柱后凸畸形,胸腰段是最常受影响的部位,但颈椎和上胸段也不可避免的受到累及,导致颈胸段后凸畸形,表现为视野显著受限,平视功能丧失;严重者出现张口困难,呈“颌触胸”畸形,甚至出现吞咽困难和发作性窒息[1、2]。截骨矫形手术被认为是唯一有效的干预措施[1]。现就AS颈胸段后凸畸形截骨矫形手术的进展进行综述。     

Personal experience in surgical management of pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma

Background

Pleomorphic carcinoma is a rare epithelial malignant tumor. Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma was introduced by the 1999 World Health Organization classification as a new peculiar type of lung carcinoma showing concurrent malignant epithelial and sarcomatoid spindle cell elements. Few reports describe its clinical behavior. My colleagues and I report a series of patients surgically treated for pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma to describe our experience with this malignant neoplasm.

Methods

Twenty cases of pleomorphic pulmonary carcinoma were collected and studied clinicopathologically. All patients underwent surgical resection. The cases were as follows: 6 stage I, 12 stage II, and 2 stage IIIA. Histologic diagnosis was established by using light microscopic examination and immunohistochemistry. Survival rates were calculated with the Kaplan-Meier method.

Results

We postoperatively diagnosed 20 cases of pleomorphic carcinoma: 14 cases were exclusively spindle and giant-cell carcinomas, 2 cases were spindle and giant-cell carcinoma combined with adenocarcinoma, 2 were combined with squamous cell carcinoma, and 2 were combined with large cell carcinoma. At last follow-up, 4 patients were still alive; they were postoperative T1 N0 and T2 N0. The remaining 16 patients died from early distant metastases. The median duration of disease-free survival was 5 months. The median duration of overall survival was 8 months.

Conclusions

The prognosis of patients with pleomorphic carcinoma was poor, despite surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy, because of early relapse of disease. Nodal involvement was a determinant prognostic variable, because advanced stages were related to worse prognosis. In case of preoperatively proven pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma, surgery should be recommended to N0 patients.     

Ankylosing spondylitis: lateral approach to spinal anaesthesia for lower limb surgery

We describe three patients with long-standing ankyolsing spondylitis (AS) who underwent lower limb joint surgery under spinal anaesthesia. At preoperative assessment, it was considered that intubation of the trachea was likely to be difficult or impossible and previous general anaesthesia was associated with increased morbidity. Midline approach spinal anaesthesia failed but the lateral approach was successful. Spinal anaesthesia was induced using a 24 gauge Sprotte (Pajunk) needle with 3.5 ml heavy bupivacaine 0.5% at the L_3–4 interspace with the patients in the sitting position. This resulted in adequate sensory blockade for the surgical procedure. None of the patients required airway interventions but equipment and aids to secure airway were available.     

Amiodarone-associated thyrotoxicosis (AAT): experience with surgical management

Amiodarone (Cordarone), a benzofuran derivative containing two atoms of iodine per molecule (37% of molecular weight), has recently been released in the United States for the management of refractory cardiac arrhythmias. While it was still under investigation, 529 patients were managed with this drug at the Mayo Clinic between 1981 and 1986; eight of them (1.5%) had thyrotoxicosis 12 to 37 months (median, 28 months) after initiation of treatment. Low 24-hour iodine-131 uptake (less than 4%) and recognized refractoriness to thionamide treatment precluded the use of radioablation or antithyroid drugs. Cessation of the amiodarone treatment was considered undesirable from a cardiac standpoint. Near-total thyroidectomies were undertaken in six patients, and rapid correction of hyperthyroidism followed. There were no intraoperative or postoperative arrhythmias. The median postoperative hospital stay was 4.3 days (range, 2 to 13 days). Subsequently, all patients required thyroid hormone replacement. Near-total thyroidectomy has proved a safe and effective treatment for amiodarone-associated thyrotoxicosis in patients who required drug continuation.