Complex regional pain syndrome type I: efficacy of stellate ganglion blockade

Background  

This study was performed to evaluate the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) type I with stellate ganglion blockade.     

Fever during post-acute rehabilitation in patients with brain injury.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the incidence of fever during the post-acute rehabilitation phase in patients with brain injury. DESIGN: Prospective study. SUBJECTS: Seventy-four patients with brain injury. METHODS: Patients were evaluated for the presence of fever during the rehabilitation phase. Demographics, time since injury, acute hospital and rehabilitation stay, brain injury and clinical characteristics were recorded for all subjects. RESULTS: Of the study group, 36 patients (36/74; 48.6%) had at least 1 event qualified as fever. The most common cause of fever was urinary tract infection. There were only 2 patients considered as having central fever. Fever was significantly more frequent in patients with a greater number of neurological impairments, more severe neurological impairments and a lower level of independence. The rehabilitation stay was prolonged in patients with fever. The average length of rehabilitation stay was 62.5 days and 49.8 days in patients with or without fever, respectively. CONCLUSION: Infection is the most common cause of fever after brain injury and the incidence of central fever is low.     

The Urinary Excretion of Glycosaminoglycans and Heparan Sulphate in Lupus Nephritis

Renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects the disease outcome. In order to advance the diagnosis and the initiation of therapy, non-invasive diagnostic techniques are required. In this study, urinary glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and heparan sulphate (HS) were measured in 26 patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis and compared to 16 healthy controls. Uronic acid as a representative of GAGs in urine was determined spectrophotometrically with the meta-hydroxydiphenyl, following acid treatment. HS was determined as hexosamine by the method of Smith and Gilkerson. The median values of GAG (3.99 mg/g crea./day) and HS (2.41 mg/g crea./day) in patients were significantly (P= 0.001) higher than in the control group (1.98 and 0.87, respectively). There was a positive correlation between GAG and HS values (P= 0.000, r= 0.924) in SLE patients. There were no differences in HS excretion, microalbuminuria and SLE-DAI scores between different classes of lupus nephritis. However, GAG values in class 3 nephritis were significantly (P= 0.033) higher than from both class 2 and class 4 lupus nephritis. There were no differences in all the measured parameters between normoalbuminuric, microalbuminuric and macroproteinuric patients. Furthermore, there were no correlations between GAG, HS excretions and SLE-DAI scores or microalbuminuria. These results suggest that urinary GAG and HS may serve as useful, independent and non-invasive markers of lupus nephritis. Received: 26 September 2001 / Accepted: 5 February 2002