Popliteal traumatic arteriovenous fistulas

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this report is to analyze the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and outcome of surgical treatment in patients with popliteal arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) in order to make trauma surgeons aware of the various issues patients with popliteal AVFs might present. METHODS: From 1991 to 2000, 49 patients were treated for traumatic AVF. Among these patients, seven suffered from popliteal AVF of various durations. The patients were men and ranged in age from 17 to 27 years, with a mean age of 22.4 years. The time from injury to admission to our institutions varied from 5 days to 2 years. A diagnosis of popliteal AVF was made after clinical examinations revealed thrill and bruit over the injury sites. The diagnosis was confirmed in four of the patients after they underwent angiography. Patients with long-standing popliteal AVF underwent cardiology examinations to check for signs of heart failure. All patients with popliteal AVF received surgical treatment. Five patients had major blood vessels reconstructed, one patient had a minor blood vessel ligated, and another patient had a minor blood vessel reconstructed. RESULTS: Five of the seven patients experienced no postoperative difficulties. No serious heart failure occurred; however, there were signs of cardiac overload in three of the five patients. The two remaining patients of the seven underwent leg amputations. However, one of the two patients had a gangrenous foot at admission to our institution, and vascular reconstruction on the other patient was unsuccessful. For all seven patients, the average hospital stay in the vascular surgery department was 16.2 days and the follow-up ranged from 2 to 44 months, with a mean of 21.5 months. CONCLUSION: Trauma of the popliteal space requires special attention, since blood vessel injuries in that zone might result in serious complications. Popliteal traumatic AVFs result in a high rate of leg amputation and long-standing fistulas produce cardiac overload. The presence of thrill and bruit over the injury site should alert the examiner to consider the existence of AVF. Angiography is a reliable diagnostic tool, and should be used in all vitally stable patients. Surgical or nonsurgical closure of AVF will prevent local and systemic complications that might be irreversible in long-standing fistulas.     

Necrotizing fasciitis caused by group A streptococcus

The first case of the confirmed necrotizing fasciitis caused by Group A Streptococcus in Yugoslavia was presented. Male patient, aged 28, in good health, suddenly developed symptoms and signs of severe infective syndrome and intensive pain in the axillary region. Parenteral antibiotic, substitutional and supportive therapy was conducted along with the radical surgical excision of the necrotizing tissue. The patient did not develop streptococcal toxic shock syndrome thanks to the early established diagnosis and timely applied aggressive treatment. He was released from the hospital as completely cured two months after the admission.     

Recurrent episodes of focal cerebral ischemia in a female patient with mitral valve prolapse and migraine headache

Migraine is episodic, paroxysmal disorder where the headache represents the central symptom and is followed with different combinations of neurologic, gastrointestinal and vegetative changes. Not until the diagnostic procedures were developed, ischemic lesions were verified even in the patients with ordinary migraine. This is a report of a patient with migraine headache, followed twice by verified episodes of temporary ischemic attacks and verified focal ischemic lesion of cerebral parenchyma. The mitral valve prolapse was also detected. This all imposed the administration of combined prophylactic antimigrainous and anticoagulant therapy as an imperative because of the risk of the development of repeated ischemia of cerebral tissue. This association also confirmed an opinion that migraine is a wider disorder with the dominant dysfunction of limbic system.     

Genome-wide loss of heterozygosity analysis of chemically induced rat hepatocellular carcinomas reveals elevated frequency of allelic imbalances on chromosomes 1, 6, 8, 11, 15, 17, and 20

Neoplastic development is a multistep process that involves the stochastic accumulation of heritable genetic alterations in proto-oncogenes, DNA repair genes, and tumor suppressor genes. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis has been used successfully to identify the genetic determinants of neoplastic development, including tumor suppressor genes, in several species and organs but not in the rat liver. We report the results of a sensitive genome-wide LOH analysis of rat hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs). Heterozygous rats (Wistar-Furth x Fisher 344) were subjected to an Initiation-Promotion-Progression (IPP) protocol of hepatocarcinogenesis. Two weeks after initiation (by partial hepatectomy, 10 mg/kg diethylnitrosamine), the rats were placed on a diet containing 0.05% phenobarbital (PB). After 24 wk of PB promotion, the rats received either 100 or 1 50 mg/kg ethylnitrosourea. Hepatocellular tumors were resected after a total of 76wk of PB promotion. LOH analysis was completed on 26 HCCs by using 60 microsatellite markers covering all 20 rat autosomes and chromosome X. While 85% of the HCCs had one or more allelic imbalances, the average HCC had 3.3 allelic imbalances (range 0-9). A conditional hypothesis-testing method called the Hot-Cold model was used to determine the location of statistically significant elevations in the frequency of allelic imbalances. Elevated allelic imbalances were observed on chromosomes 1q, 6, 8, 11, 15, 17, and 20p. Together, these allelic imbalances suggest that the retinoblastoma and insulin-like growth factor genes as well as the resistance to chemical carcinogenesis (rcc) locus may be involved in HCC development in the rat but that LOH of the p53 gene is not. The elevated rate of allelic imbalances on chromosomes 8,11, and 17 may indicate the location of undiscovered tumor suppressor genes important to neoplastic development in rat liver. Microdissection-based LOH analysis of HCC revealed that contamination of non-neoplastic and nonhepatocellular tissue was not masking LOH in the whole-tumor analysis. There were no statistically significant differences in the frequency of allelic imbalances between HCC of any differentiation state (histological grade). To the degree that it does not reflect differences in etiological factors, the absence of allelic imbalances in chromosomal regions containing the p53 and mamose-6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor II receptor tumor suppressor genes and the generally low frequency of allelic imbalances in these tumors, suggests that LOH and allelic imbalances play a less significant role in the molecular pathogenesis of HCC in rats than humans.     

Usefulness of distraction osteogenesis in the treatment of knee arthrosis]

AIMS: The purpose of this study is the assessment of efficiency of distraction osteogenesis (DO) as a method of operative treatment of knee arthrosis with co-existent varus deformity. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Authors undertook an attempt of evaluation of results of tibial corticotomy in 21 patients (25 operated knee joints) treated in Orthopaedic Clinic of Wroclaw Medical University in years 1995-2001, with the use of circular, external Ilizarov's fixator. All the operated patients underwent corticotomy of proximal tibial metaphysis followed by slow axis correction and bone regenerate formation started at 7th postoperative day. In orthopaedic examination functional evaluation of knee joint with modified point scale according to Ranawat (HSS-score) there were taken into account. In rentgenometric examination the limbs axis in the frontal plane and joint space morphology according to Ahlback were evaluated. RESULTS: The results in our group of patients were very encouraging. Accordingly to Ranawat scale, in majority of patients assessed before the treatment as poor and fair moved to group assessed as fair and good and even excellent. We observed decelerated regenerate formation and remodeling probably caused by advanced age of patients in 6 cases. In 3 cases persistent lose of entire correction was observed. CONCLUSIONS: In author's opinion DO as a method of operative treatment of unicompartmental knee arthrosis could be advocated as alternative method to traditional tibial osteotomy considering its biological effect stimulating regeneration of all tissues including cartilage even in advanced unicompartmental arthrosis.     

Experimental carcinoma of liver in macaque monkeys exposed to diethylnitrosamine and hepatitis B virus.

The effects of treatments with diethylnitrosamine (DENA) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) on macaque monkeys were investigated by virus serology and by light and electron microscopy. The experimental groups comprised 43 newborn or juvenile cynomolgus and rhesus monkeys of both sexes. HBV neither had a carcinogenic effect nor increased the oncogenic effect of DENA. However, HBV given to juvenile primates before treatment with DENA resulted in subsequent gross and microscopic alterations consistent with mild hepatitis and postnecrotic cirrhosis; multifocal liver carcinoma apparently developed within these cirrhotic nodules. The pathologic findings in the experimental animals were strikingly similar to those observed in liver cancer patients.     

Is mechanical bowel preparation mandatory for elective colon surgery? A prospective randomized study

BACKGROUND: Bowel preparation prior to colonic surgery usually includes antibiotic therapy together with mechanical bowel preparation (MBP). Mechanical bowel preparation may cause discomfort to the patient, prolonged hospitalization, and water and electrolyte imbalance. It was assumed that with the improvement in surgical technique together with the use of more effective prophylactic antibiotics, it was possible that MBP would no longer be necessary. HYPOTHESIS: There is no statistical difference in the postoperative results of patients who undergo elective colon resection with MBP as compared with those who have no MBP.Design and PATIENTS: The study includes all patients who had elective large bowel resection at Campus Golda between April 1, 1999, and March 31, 2002. Emergency operations were not included. The patients were randomly assigned to the 2 study groups (with or without MBP) according to identification numbers. All patients were treated with intravenous and oral antibiotics prior to surgery. The patients in the MBP group received Soffodex for bowel preparation. RESULTS: A total of 329 patients participated in the study, 165 without MBP and 164 with MBP. The 2 groups were similar in age, sex, and type of surgical procedure. Two hundred sixty-eight patients (81.5%) underwent surgery owing to colorectal cancer and 61 patients (18.5%) owing to benign disease. The hospitalization period was longer in the bowel-prepared group (mean +/- SD, 8.2 +/- 5.1 days) as compared with the nonprepared group (mean +/- SD, 8.0 +/- 2.7 days). However, this difference was not statistically significant. The time until the first bowel movement was similar between the 2 groups: a mean +/- SD of 4.2 +/- 1.3 days in the nonprepared group as compared with a mean +/- SD of 4.3 +/- 1.1 days in the prepared group (P = NS). Four patients (1.2%) died in the postoperative course owing to acute myocardial infarction and pulmonary embolism. Sixty-two patients (37.6%) of the non-MBP group suffered from postoperative complications as compared with 77 patients (46.9%) of the MBP group. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that no advantage is gained by preoperative MBP in elective colorectal surgery.     

Increased activity of Pgp multidrug transporter in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection

AIM: To determine whether local antibiotic resistance involves P-glycoprotein (Pgp)-mediated active drug out-pumping during Helicobacter pylori (H pylori) infection treatment with classic antibiotic therapy. METHODS: Pgp activity was determined in gastric mucosa biopsy specimens obtained from 53 patients with pathohistologically verified gastritis and microbiologically confirmed H pylori infection, and compared with the Pgp activity in 12 control subjects with normal endoscopic findings. The H pylori positive patients were treated with short-term 7-d therapy consisting of two antibiotics (amoxicillin and azithromycin/metronidazole and clarithromycin) and a proton pump inhibitor. Pgp activity was determined by flow cytometry in the test of rhodamine dye efflux and quantified as mean fluorescence ratio (RMF). RESULTS: Upon the first cycle, H pylori was successfully eradicated in 20 patients, whereas therapy was continued in 33 patients. In the course of antibiotic therapy, RMF increased (P＜0.05) and gastric cells showed higher rhodamine dye efflux. The mean pre-treatment RMF values were also higher (P＜0.0001) in patients with multiple therapeutic failure than in those with successful H pylori eradication and control subjects. CONCLUSION: Pgp might be one of the causes of therapy failure in patients with H pylori and antibiotic therapy could be chosen and followed up on the basis of the Pgp transporter local activity.     

Enterovirus type 70: the etiologic agent of pandemic acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis

A new enterovirus, now classified as enterovirus type 70, was isolated from the conjunctiva of patients with acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis during the 1971 epidemics that occurred in Japan, Singapore, and Morocco. These epidemics were parts of a pandemic involving Africa (Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, and Tunisia), Asia (Cambodia, China (Province of Taiwan), Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand), and England during 1969-71. A representative strain from each of the three epidemic areas was studied cooperatively. The strains exhibited the physicochemical characteristics of enteroviruses. Cross-neutralization tests showed that these viruses were distinct from all known human enterovirus immunotypes, but that they were antigenically closely related. The human origin of the viruses was demonstrated by the appearance of homologous neutralizing antibodies during convalescence in patients with acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis.