Retrorenal colon: implications for percutaneous diskectomy

It has been recommended that computed tomography (CT) with the patient prone be performed in every patient undergoing percutaneous diskectomy; this would enable detection of a retrorenal location of the colon, which could interfere with the percutaneous procedure. In this evaluation of 346 prone CT studies, only one patient (0.29%) was found to have retrorenal or retropsoas bowel that would have been perforated at diskectomy. Because of this extremely low prevalence, the performance of prone CT in every patient undergoing percutaneous lumbar diskectomy is not believed to be necessary.     

Survival following intentional massive overdose of 'Ecstasy'.

A case of intentional overdose with 18 'Ecstasy' tablets is described. 'Ecstasy' is a semi-synthetic hallucinogenic amphetamine and acute adverse reactions follow from the effects of sympathetic stimulation. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of massive intentional overdose reported in the literature.     

Mucopolysaccharidosis VII as cause of fetal hydrops in early pregnancy

We report on fetal hydrops presenting at 18 weeks of gestation and diagnosed as β-glucuronidase deficiency. The parents were first cousins and there were 2 previous similar fetal deaths. β-Glucuronidase was absent in cultured fetal fibroblasts and lymphoblasts but was normal in the tested relatives. The activities of other lysosomal enzymes were normal. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Key role for pregnenolone in combination therapy that promotes recovery after spinal cord injury.

Controlled compressive injury to rat spinal cord was chosen to test therapies that might attenuate the progression of tissue destruction and locomotor deficits that characteristically occur after spinal injury. A highly significant reduction of damage was achieved by immediate postinjury treatment with a combination of the following: an antiinflammatory substance, indomethacin; a stimulator of cytokine secretion, bacterial lipopolysaccharide; and the parent steroid, from which all other steroids arise, pregnenolone. This treatment reduced histopathological changes, spared tissue from secondary injury, and increased restoration of motor function. Remarkably, 11 of 16 of the animals treated with the above combination were able to stand and walk at 21 days after injury, 4 of them almost normally. The results were far superior to those obtained in controls or in animals to which the substances were given separately or in combination of two. This approach may prove to be applicable to nervous system injury, in general, and to injury in other tissues.     

Chronic Bullous Dermatosis of Childhoo Immonopathologic Studies

Chronic bullous dermatosis of childhood (CBDC) is a distinctive subepidermal blistering disorder that characteristically involves the lower face, neck, lower trunk, and diaper area. Nearly all affected patients have a continuous linear band of IgA at the dermoepidermal junction by direct immunofluorescence and many have circulating IgA antibasement membrane antibodies. Few ultrastructural studies have been performed to determine the location of these IgA autoantibodies. We examined an infant with the typical clinical, histopathologic, and immunopathologic features of CBDC in whom a circulating, lamina lucida-reactive IgA autoantibody was identified with a new, more sensitive, split-skin indirect immunofluorescence technique.