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Biomedical subjects

B Delcambre

Publications and source records attributed to B Delcambre.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Pigmented villonodular synovitis of the hip: review of radiographic features in 58 patients.

Clinical and radiographic findings were retrospectively reviewed in a multicentric survey of 58 patients with histologically proven pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS) of the hip. The most common clinical features were mechanical pain (47 cases) and limitation of joint motion (47 cases). On plain films, a classic form with large and multiple lucencies was found in 36 cases, followed by an osteoarthritis-like form (9 cases), an arthritis-like form (8 cases), normal radiographic appearance (3 cases), osteonecrosis of the femoral head (one case) and joint destruction with acetabular protrusion (one case). Bilateral involvement of the hips was probable in two patients. In contrast to the knee, the hip showed a high prevalence of bony lesions and joint space narrowing. Although an uncommon disease, PVNS of the hip has to be considered when arthritis is associated with uncharacteristic clinical or radiographic findings.

Acetabulum

Use of high resolution computed tomography of the lungs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the usefulness of high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lungs in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with and without respiratory symptoms. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Eighty eight RA patients with a mean duration of disease 12 (SD 8) years were evaluated. Eleven patients were excluded because of previous exposure to silica. The 77 remaining patients formed two groups according to the absence (group I, n = 38) or the presence (group II, n = 39) of chronic respiratory symptoms. A control group consisted of 51 non-smoking, healthy patients. RESULTS: The most frequent abnormalities observed in the 77 RA patients were bronchiectasis or bronchiolectasis (n = 23, 30%), pulmonary nodules (n = 17, 22%), subpleural micronodules or pseudoplaques (n = 13, 17%), ground glass opacities (n = 11, 14%), and honeycombing (n = 8, 10%). Bronchiectasis or bronchiolectasis (p = 0.012), rounded opacities (p = 0.016), ground glass attenuation (p = 0.004), and honeycombing (p = 0.002) were found more often in RA group II (with respiratory symptoms) than in group I (no respiratory symptoms). Non-linear septal opacities were more frequent in group I than in the control group, but other HRCT findings did not differ statistically significantly between group I and the control group. CONCLUSION: Bronchiectasis may be a characteristic lung change in RA patients. Abnormalities on HRCT are less frequently observed in the absence of respiratory symptoms than in the presence of such symptoms (29% versus 69%).

Adult

Intraosseous lipoma: role and limitations of modern imaging techniques.

We report a case of intraosseous lipoma involving the ilium in a 37-year-old male. There were no clinical symptoms. Plain films suggested the diagnosis, which was confirmed by computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging with fat-cancelling sequences. However, we were unable to rule out fatty involution of an old aneurysmal bone cyst. Modern imaging techniques are very reliable for the diagnosis of intraosseous lipoma. Computed tomography is usually sufficient to establish the diagnosis and to guide therapeutic decisions.

Adult

Bone tissue in rheumatoid arthritis (1). Bone mineral density and fracture risk.

Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with locoregional decalcification, which can be clearly demonstrated at the distal radius using single-photon absorptiometry. Bone loss at this site is probably due to the predominant involvement of the hands and wrists during rheumatoid arthritis. Estimates of the frequency of generalized bone loss have varied with the measurement technique used and the study design. Studies using dual-photon absorptiometry with a radioactive source have yielded conflicting data. The most recent studies of bone mineral density used dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, which is currently the best method in terms of reproducibility and precision; results suggested bone loss in the proximal femur, whereas lumbar spine measurements were usually normal or very slightly decreased. Findings from the few longitudinal studies are discordant; this may be ascribable to differences in bone mass measurement techniques, study population characteristics, and follow-up duration. Whereas bone loss was not demonstrated in the earliest longitudinal studies, recent investigations suggested that bone mineral density was decreased in rheumatoid arthritis patients as compared with controls. Corticosteroid therapy, even in daily dosages of less than 10 mg/d prednisone-equivalent, was associated with an approximately 10% decrease in bone mass after six months, in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Rheumatoid arthritis patients had a two-fold increase in fracture risk, independently from their bone mass. Factors associated with higher fracture risks were corticosteroid therapy, physical inactivity, and female gender.

Absorptiometry, Photon

Bone tissue in rheumatoid arthritis (2). Pathophysiologic data, pathologic findings, and therapeutic implications.

The occurrence of bone decalcification during rheumatoid arthritis is well documented, despite discrepancies among published data. The most recent studies support a decrease in bone mass, especially at the proximal femur, although estimations of the extent of bone loss ascribable to rheumatoid arthritis vary. The fracture risk is increased by approximately 100% in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Bone mass is negatively correlated with functional impairment, joint motion restriction and disease activity as assessed by laboratory tests for inflammation. Increased physical activity can reduce bone loss. Markers for bone formation (osteocalcin, procollagen type I carboxy-terminal propeptide) are normal or decreased, whereas markers for bone resorption (hydroxyproline, pyridinoline, and deoxypyridinoline) are elevated. This decoupling of bone formation and resorption may be responsible for bone loss. Although estrogen therapy can keep in check menopause-related bone loss, earlier findings suggesting that estrogens may have beneficial effects on the joint disease itself have been disproven. The value of preventive bisphosphonate therapy is currently under debate.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid

[Unsatisfactory results of intradiscal injection of triamcinolone hexacetonide in the treatment of sciatica caused by intervertebral disk herniation].

Sciatica caused by intervertebral disc herniation can be treated with intradiscal injection of chymopapain. A search for a cheaper and less allergizing product led to triamcinolone hexacetonide, this procedure being known as "nucleorthesis". The first results at 6 months were encouraging. In 3 centres where triamcinolone hexacetonide was tested with a more than 2 years' follow-up 92 patients could be evaluated. The results obtained were considered satisfactory in 34 patients (36.9 percent), but they were poor in 19 patients (20.6 percent), and 39 patients (42 percent) had to be operated upon within 2 years. Return to surgery took place within the 6 months following nucleorthesis in 18 patients (19.56 percent) and beyond this period in 17 patients (22.8 percent) with degradation of the results. Moreover, calcifications were found in 19 out of 38 patients; they were of varying size, sometimes detected only at computerized tomography, and some of them appeared to produce symptoms. All considered, the failure rates, the number of patients who required surgery and the occurrence of large and sometimes symptomatic calcifications make triamcinolone nucleorthesis unacceptable compared with the recognized percentages of success with papain nucleolysis and surgical operations. For these reasons, we consider that this treatment should be abandoned.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents

[Role of iatrogenic spondylodiscitis among pyogenic spondylodiscitis. 136 cases observed between 1980 and 1989].

The authors report 136 cases of spondylodiscitis due to ordinary organisms seen between 1980 and 1989 and note the increasing incidence of iatrogenic forms which during the past three years accounted for 50 per cent of cases. 60 per cent of these cases of iatrogenic spondylodiscitis complicated a medical of surgical procedure involving the spine (form by direct inoculation). In 40 per cent of cases, the organism came from a site of infection located at a distance (from by blood-borne spread). The clinical picture in cases of primary spondylodiscitis and of iatrogenic disease by blood-borne spread is essentially similar. That of iatrogenic forms by direct inoculation is different: most often young subjects, virtually exclusive involvement of the lumbar spine, fever and inflammatory syndrome less common. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were the organisms most often responsible for primary spondylodiscitis (23 and 21.7 per cent of case respectively). Streptococci were in third position only (15.6 per cent of cases). Staphylococcus aureus remained predominant in iatrogenic spondylodiscitis (34 per cent of cases), while Escherichia coli and streptococci were significantly rarer than in primary forms and there was the appearance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus albus. No organism was found in 23 per cent of cases of primary spondylodiscitis. This figure reached 44% of iatrogenic forms by direct inoculation. Because of their increasing incidence, these cases of apparently aseptic spondylodiscitis, frequently complicating a procedure involving the spine, are modifying the picture of infectious spondylodiscitis. No doubt worthy of separate identification, they raise the problem of the significance of the concept of aseptic spondylodiscitis.

Adolescent

[Importance of the study of the cytology and proteins of the spinal fluid in lumbago].

In the cerebrospinal fluid (C.S.F.) of hundred patients suffering from lumbago we have studied the existence of cytobiochemical and cytoradiological correlations in order to confirm the demonstration of cytologic and biochemical signs of organicisty or seriousness of this frequent pathology. We have realized cytorachia, that is to say differential cells counts and formulas on C.S.F. samples after cytocentrifugation and staining associated with biochemical determinations. Cytologically 96% of C.S.F. samples had normal count but 67% of them had a disturbed formula often associated with hyperproteinorachia. We have found lymphocytes and histiomonocytes the normal cells of C.S.F. but also neutrophilic, eosinophilic and basophilic polymorphonuclears and above all leptomeningeal cells. A disturbed cytorachia is often related with a pathological radiological picture (68% of cases). A cytologic anomaly with hyperproteinorachia in the same C.S.F. sample seems to be a sign of seriousness and to reveal a resistance to medical treatment. A technical presentation of cytorachia and an attempt of physiopathological explanation of observed cytologic abnormalities are proposed.

Back Pain

[Thiol-proteolytic activity in rheumatoid polyarthritis. Assay by spectrofluorimetry].

Joint and bone damage in rheumatoid arthritis is thought to be caused primarily by an imbalance between proteolytic proteinases and their specific inhibitors. Matrix destruction can in part result from the activity of lysosomal cystein proteinases such as cathepsin B and L. Cathepsins usually are determined by enzyme immuno-assay. The aim of this study was the direct determination of synovial thiol-proteolytic activity by spectrofluorimetry using a synthetic substrate (Z-Phe-Arg-NMec) and a cystein proteinase specific inhibitor (E64 = L-trans-epoxy-succinyl-leucylamino-(4 guanidino)-butane). 18 rheumatoid synovial fluids were tested compared to 10 osteoarthritic synovial fluids. Thiol-proteolytic activity appeared higher in rheumatoid arthritis compared to osteo-arthrosis (mean value = 1,311 mU/l vs 156 mU/l, p less than 0.01). Synovial thiol-proteolytic activity is well correlated with synovial elastase-alpha1-proteinase-inhibitor complex. The authors found no correlation with synovial polymorphonuclear count (p = 0.38) nor with clinical and biological parameters of disease evolution. The highest values were observed in patient with radiological signs of joint destruction. Synovial thiol-proteolytic activity might represent the potential destructive evolution of rheumatoid arthritis.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid

Septic Streptococcus milleri spondylodiscitis.

We describe 2 patients presenting lumbar spondylitis due to Streptococcus milleri. In both cases origin was related to preexistent intestinal pathology. Surgical drainage of a collection of pus was necessary in one case. Longterm antibiotic therapy led to full recovery. Despite confused nomenclature Streptococcus milleri must be considered a serious pathogen mainly associated with purulent infection with osteoarticular affinity.

Abscess