Whole body MR imaging in ankylosing spondylitis: a descriptive pilot study in patients with suspected early and active confirmed ankylosing spondylitis

Background  

Ankylosing spondylitis is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disorder which usually begins in early adulthood. The diagnosis is often delayed by many years. MR imaging has become the preferred imaging method for detection of early inflammation of the axial skeleton in ankylosing spondylitis.     

Long-term follow-up and the role of surgery in adolescents with morbid obesity

PURPOSE: Obesity has become a health-care crisis in the United States. Adolescent obesity is now one of the most common childhood disorders, with 4.7 million American adolescents having a body mass index (BMI) greater than the 95th percentile. Most patients do not respond to diet modification or exercise programs and attention is now turning toward surgery as a source of weight loss in adolescents. Few studies have looked at the overall morbidity and mortality of weight loss surgery in this patient population. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of medical charts of 15 bariatric surgical procedures performed on 14 adolescents without known genetic syndromes associated with severe childhood obesity from 1971 to 2001 at the University of Minnesota. Procedures performed on these patients included vertical banded gastroplasty (n = 7), Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (n = 5), and jejunoileal bypass (n = 3). Jejunoileal bypass procedures were performed from 1971 to 1977, after which time this procedure was abandoned. Patient age ranged from 13 to 17 years (mean, 15.7 years). Mean follow-up time was 6 years, with 9 patients available for long-term follow-up. RESULTS: All procedures were performed using an open technique by 1 surgeon. There were no perioperative deaths; complications included 1 case of wound infection, 2 episodes of dumping syndrome that resolved without revision, 1 episode of hypoglycemia, and 1 case of short-term electrolyte imbalance in a patient who underwent jejunoileal bypass. The average BMI dropped from 58.5 +/- 13.7 to 32.1 +/- 9.7 kg/m(2) (P < .01)--a 45% reduction. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery for morbid obesity is safe and results in significant weight loss in adolescents who fail medical therapy.     

Bilateral Achilles tendon rupture: an unusual occurrence.

Bilateral Achilles tendon rupture is an unusual injury. This rare entity usually occurs in patients on chronic steroid therapy or with underlying disease. Bilateral Achilles tendon rupture is extremely rare in a previously healthy individual. A case involving traumatic Achilles tendon rupture as a result of a sky diving accident is reported. Evaluation of patients with suspected Achilles tendon rupture is briefly reviewed.     

Hypokalemic periodic paralysis with unusual responses to acetazolamide and sympathomimetics

Five members in three generations of a family were affected by an illness that had many clinical features of the hypokalemic form of periodic paralysis (HPP). The serum potassium was either moderately reduced or normal during attacks, and there was no evidence of myotonia or cold-intolerance. All of the patients improved to a variable degree with oral potassium supplements, and 3 responded favorably to triamterene. The usually beneficial drug acetazolamide, however, invariably caused weakness in these patients, an effect previously described in only one other family with HPP. In addition, amphetamine-like sympathomimetic drugs effectively aborted or prevented paralysis in several members. Muscle biopsy in two patients revealed some unusual features, and electromyography showed myopathic potentials. There was no evidence of diabetes. The urine electrolyte concentrations during glucose tolerance tests, however, were different from those previously reported in HPP. This family may represent a variant form of HPP.