Benign intracranial hypertension and recombinant growth hormone therapy in Australia and New Zealand

Benign intracranial hypertension (BIH) is reported in three children from Australia and one from New Zealand, who were being treated with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH). Three males and one female, aged between 10.5 and 14.2 y, developed intracranial hypertension within 2 weeks to 3 months of starting treatment. A national database, OZGROW, has been prospectively collecting data on all 3332 children treated with rhGH in Australia and New Zealand from January 1986 to 1996. The incidence of BIH in children treated with growth hormone (GH) is small, 1.2 per 1000 cases overall, but appears to be greater with biochemical GHD (<10IUml ^-1), i.e. 6.5/1000 (3 in 465 cases), relative risk 18.4, 95% confidence interval 1.9-176.1, than in all other children on the database. The incidence in patients with Turner's syndrome was 2.3/1000 (1 in 428 cases). No cases in patients with partial GHD (10–20 IUml ^-1) or chronic renal failure were identified. Possible causative mechanisms are discussed. The authors'practice is now to start GH replacement at less than the usual recommended dose of 14IUm-² week^-1 in those children considered to be at high risk of developing BIH. Ophthalmological evaluation is recommended for children before and during the first few months following commencement of rhGH therapy and is mandatory in the event of peripheral or facial oedema, persistent headaches, vomiting or visual symptoms. The absence of papilledema does not exclude the diagnosis.     

Semiautomated determination of minimum bactericidal concentrations of antibiotics

Using a newly devised 50-channel photometer which records the opacity of growing bacterial cultures, it was shown that the time taken by cultures diluted 1/1000 in fresh broth to reach 50% of the opacity of a fully grown culture was inversely related to the concentration of organisms in the original culture. This relation was used to determine the numbers of survivors after exposure to benzylpenicillin and gentamicin alone and in combination. The procedure is commended as a labour-saving and potentially rapid method of obtaining comprehensive information on the bactericidal action and interaction of antibiotics.     

Initial evaluation of a continuous speech recognition program for radiology

The aims of this work were to measure the accuracy of one continuous speech recognition product and dependence on the speaker's gender and status as a native or nonnative English speaker, and evaluate the product's potential for routine use in transcribing radiology reports. IBM MedSpeak/Radiology software, version 1.1 was evaluated by 6 speakers. Two were nonnative English speakers, and 3 were men. Each speaker dictated a set of 12 reports. The reports included neurologic and body imaging examinations performed with 6 different modalities. The dictated and original report texts were compared, and error rates for overall, significant, and subtle significant errors were computed. Error rate dependence on modality, native English speaker status, and gender were evaluated by performing ttests. The overall error rate was 10.3 +/- 3.3%. No difference in accuracy between men and women was found; however, significant differences were seen for overall and significant errors when comparing native and nonnative English speakers (P = .009 and P = .008, respectively). The speech recognition software is approximately 90% accurate, and while practical implementation issues (rather than accuracy) currently limit routine use of this product throughout a radiology practice, application in niche areas such as the emergency room currently is being pursued. This methodology provides a convenient way to compare the initial accuracy of different speech recognition products, and changes in accuracy over time, in a detailed and sensitive manner.     

A method of treating serous fluid leak from a polytetrafluoroethylene Blalock-Taussig shunt

A 3 1/2-year-old girl with complex cyanotic congenital heart disease underwent palliation with a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, for which a 6 mm polytetrafluoroethylene graft was used. Seroma formation with serous leakage occurred. Two periods of conservative management failed. At reoperation, treatment of the graft with intraluminal "fibrin glue" resulted in immediate resolution of the leak.     

Does neuroretinitis rule out multiple sclerosis?

Neuroretinitis, a form of optic neuritis, is characterized by papillitis and a stellate macular exudate, or "macular star." The star implies the presence of a disc vasculopathy and secondary leakage of lipoproteinaceous material into the macula. Demyelinating optic neuritis would not be expected to produce a secondary macular exudate. We reviewed the literature on the risk of multiple sclerosis developing in a patient after an attack of optic neuritis, and rarely found a comment on the presence of a macular star. We then reviewed two series of 40 patients who had neuroretinitis and added ten patients of our own. Signs of multiple sclerosis had not developed in the 13 patients contacted retrospectively, nor in the patients followed up prospectively. We also noted that in our patients, neuroretinitis may be accompanied by other neurologic manifestations; neuroretinitis may be bilateral and may be staggered; papillitis may present without a macular star, only to have typical exudates develop up to two weeks later; and the macular exudate may take up to 12 months to resolve. We suggest that patients who demonstrate acute papillitis with a normal macula be reevaluated within two weeks for the development of a macular star. Its presence militates strongly against the subsequent development of multiple sclerosis.