MRI findings of myositis in Behçet disease

We report the magnetic resonance imaging findings in a case of localized myositis in a 23-year-old man with long-standing Behçet disease.     

Central pontine myelinolysis secondary to cytomegalovirus hepatitis in a 10-month-old child

We present a 10-month-old child with central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) secondary to chronic active hepatitis due to cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. A total of 35 paediatric cases of pontine and/or extrapontine myelinolysis are reported and, to our knowledge, CPM secondary to CMV hepatitis in an infant has not been previously reported. The MRI findings are highlighted.     

Malignant pleural mesothelioma in a child: long-term survival with ICE-WAC chemotherapy regimen

Malignant mesothelioma is a very rare tumor in childhood. Presently, treatment of this disease continues to be frustrating and prognosis remains poor. We here report a pediatric case of malignant pleural mesothelioma who gave a complete response to ICE-VAC chemotherapy regimen and achieved a long-term survival. An eight-year-old girl underwent exploratory thoracotomy and decortication because of a unilateral loculated and multicystic pleural effusion. Histopathological diagnosis was sarcomatoid pleural malignant mesothelioma. After decortication, chemotherapy with ICE (ifosfamide, carboplatin, etoposide) - VAC (vincristine, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide) combination was started. Six courses of chemotherapy resulted in complete clinical and radiological tumor response. She did not receive any further therapy and remains disease-free three years after the first remission. ICE-VAC chemotherapy combination resulted in a complete tumor response and a long-term disease-free survival for the presented case. The efficacy of this chemotherapy regimen in malignant mesothelioma needs to be documented in future trials.     

Acute iron ingestion

OBJECTIVE: Intoxication is one of the most common causes of admissions to emergency department in pediatric age group. Incidence of iron poisoning gradually increased because of wide spread use of iron containing drugs. METHOD: In this report, we present five cases of iron ingestion who were admitted to our emergency department within a year. RESULT: Whole bowel irrigation in addition to gastric lavage with an iron dose of over 50 mg/kg as well as deferoxamine treatment for patients in whom clinical and laboratory indications are present. CONCLUSION: The prompt recognition and treatment of children with acute iron poisoning is the single and the most critical point for decreasing the morbidity and mortality associated with iron containing products.     

Surveillance of Haemophilus influenzae among respiratory tract samples of Turkish children

We conducted three prospective studies of Haemophilus influenzae in different groups of children. Pharyngeal swab samples were taken (i). from 1382 healthy infants and children between 0 and 10 years of age (group 1), attending well child clinics (n=438), day care centres (n=440) and elementary schools (n=504), and (ii). from 322 children aged 2-10 years (group 2), clinically diagnosed as having upper respiratory tract infection. Pharyngeal swab samples and sinus aspirates were obtained from 49 children between 2 and 9 years of age (group 3), clinically diagnosed as having sinusitis. H. influenzae was isolated in similar rates from 315 (22.7%) of children in group 1, 72 (22.3%) of children in group 2 and 12 (24.4%) of children in group 3. Serotype b comprised 7, 5.2 and 2% of all H. influenzae isolates for group 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Production of beta-lactamase was detected in 1.0% of H. influenzae type b isolates in group 1, 1.2 and 6.1% of all isolates in group 2 and 3, respectively. There were no beta-lactamase negative ampicillin-resistant strains.