Nosocomial infection and multidrug-resistant bacteria surveillance in intensive care units: a survey in France.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate nosocomial infection (NI) surveillance strategies in French ICUs and to identify similar patterns defining subsets within which comparisons can be made. DESIGN: A questionnaire was sent to all French ICUs, and a random sample of nonresponders was interviewed. PARTICIPANTS: Three hundred ninety-five responder ICUs (69%) in France. RESULTS: In 282 ICUs (71%), a dedicated ICU staff member was responsible for infection control activities. The microbiology laboratory was usually in the hospital (90%) and computerized (94%) but issued regular hospital microbiology records in only 48% of cases. Patients receiving mechanical ventilation, central venous catheterization, and urinary catheterization were 90%, 79%, and 60%, respectively. Patients were screened for carriage of multidrug-resistant bacteria on admission and during the stay in 70% and 60% of ICUs, respectively, most often targeting MRSA. Quantitative cultures were used to diagnose ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in 90% of ICUs, including distal specimens in 80% and bronchoscopy specimens in 60%. Quantitative central venous catheter (CVC)-segment cultures were used in 70% of ICUs. All CVCs were cultured routinely in 53% of the ICUs. Despite wide variations in infection control and surveillance strategies, multiple correspondence analysis identified 13 key points (4 structural variables and 9 variables concerning the diagnosis of VAP, the surveillance and diagnosis of catheter-related and urinary tract infections, and the mode of screening of MRSA carriers) that categorize the variability of French ICUs' approaches to NIs. CONCLUSION: This study revealed profound differences in NI surveillance strategies across ICUs, indicating a need for caution when using NI surveillance data for comparisons and benchmarking.     

Surgical resection of locally recurrent cervical cancer: a single institutional 70 patient series

Pelvic recurrence of cervical cancer is a life-threatening situation and only local control can provide hope for remission. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of surgery in the treatment of cervical cancer recurrence. This retrospective study analyzed a series of 70 patients who underwent resection of cervix locoregional recurrence. Thirteen patients had palliative salvage surgery for pelvic complications. Twenty-nine resections were considered as curative. Fifty recurrences required pelvic exenterations. The hospital mortality rate was 9% and the morbidity rate was 44%. Overall 5-year actuarial survival rate was 23%. Survival was significantly higher: (a) after curative resection and (b) after centropelvic recurrence resection. Local control was obtained in 48% of the cases and 13 patients are alive with a median follow-up of 75 months. In conclusion, the results of this small and heterogen series seem to justify an attempt to resection for centropelvic recurrences whenever possible. Palliative surgery should be reserved to salvage therapy and highly selected patients.     

Rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap in radical oncopelvic surgery: A safe and useful procedure

AIMS: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the usefulness of rectus abdominis myocutaneous (RAM) flaps to treat locally advanced pelvic gynaecological or digestive tumours. METHODS: We reviewed 46 patients, who received RAM flaps after radical oncopelvic surgery, including: (a) total vaginal reconstruction (TVR); (b) partial vaginal reconstruction (PVR); (c) perineal reconstruction (PR). RESULTS: Between 1989 and 1998, 46 patients underwent pelvi-perineal reconstruction with RAM flaps after radical pelvic surgery for carcinoma of the cervix (n=22), anal carcinoma (n=11), rectal carcinoma (n=7), or other pelvic tumours types (n=6). There were two post-operative deaths. Overall surgical morbidity was 45, 6% (n=21). Specific morbidity of the RAM flap was 21, 7% (n=10). Global re-intervention rate was 13% (n=6). CONCLUSION: Rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap in radical oncopelvic surgery is useful for vaginal or perineal reconstruction and prevention of pelvic collections after extended resections with a low rate of associated morbidity.     

Phase II study of proteasome inhibitor bortezomib in relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

PURPOSE: Evaluate efficacy and toxicity of bortezomib in patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were stratified, based on preclinical data, into arm A (mantle-cell lymphoma) or arm B (other B-cell lymphomas) without limitation in number of prior therapies. Bortezomib was administered as an intravenous push (1.5 mg/m2) on days 1, 4, 8, and 11 every 21 days for a maximum of six cycles. RESULTS: Sixty patients with a median number of prior therapies of 3.5 (range, one to 12 therapies) were enrolled; 33 patients were in arm A and 27 were in arm B, including 12 diffuse large B-cell lymphomas, five follicular lymphomas (FL), three transformed FLs, four small lymphocytic lymphomas (SLL), two Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemias (WM), and one marginal zone lymphoma. In arm A, 12 of 29 assessable patients responded (six complete responses [CR] and six partial responses [PR]) for an overall response rate (ORR) of 41% (95% CI, 24% to 61%), and a median time to progression not reached yet, with a median follow-up of 9.3 months (range, 1.7 to 24 months). In arm B, four of 21 assessable patients responded (one SLL patient had a CR, one FL patient had a CR unconfirmed, one diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patient had a PR, and one WM patient had a PR) for an ORR of 19% (95% CI, 5% to 42%). Grade 3 toxicity included thrombocytopenia (47%), gastrointestinal (20%), fatigue (13%), neutropenia (10%), and peripheral neuropathy (5%). Grade 4 toxicity occurred in nine patients (15%), and three deaths from progression of disease occurred within 30 days of withdrawal from study. CONCLUSION: Bortezomib showed promising activity in relapsed mantle-cell lymphoma and encouraging results in other B-cell lymphomas. Future studies will explore bortezomib in combination with other cytotoxic or biologic agents.     

Treatment of Premature Ejaculation by Bibliotherapy: An experimental study

In this research, bibliotherapy combined with a positive reinforcement procedure was applied to the treatment of premature ejaculation. The results indicate that it is possible to obtain significant improvement in ejaculatory latency by using only a self-administered treatment. Moreover, this study indicates that this improvement is identical to the one obtained when therapists conduct the treatment. Although more subjects treated by bibliotherapy quit the treatment, bibliotherapy was very useful