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Biomedical subjects

B Drettner

Publications and source records attributed to B Drettner.

71 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

The oxygen tension in transudate of the middle ear.

The pO2 of transudate in the middle ear was measured in situ by a small pO2-electrode introduced through the tympanic membrane. Errors involved in some previous methods using aspiration of gas from the middle ear were avoided by the present method since contamination by air from outside of the drum was almost completely eliminated. Seventeen patients, of whom the majority had a naso-pharyngeal carcinoma or chronic otosalpingitis, were investigated. The mean pO2 of the middle ear transudate was 46 mmHg or 6.5% with a pO2 range between 10 and 108 mmHg. Investigations of the function of the Eustachian tube by the aspiration-deflation method after application of a transmyringeal tube was performed in 10 of the patients, revealing no passage through the Eustachian tube. Among these 10 patients only 4 had a passage of air on Politzer, and these had a higher pO2 in the middle ear transudate than the remaining 6 patients in whom Politzer was performed with a negative result.

Adult↗

Elimination of contrast medium from the maxillary sinus.

Drainage of contrast medium from the maxillary sinus during blowing and sniffing was studied by cine-roentgenography in 11 healthy subjects. The functional size of the maxillary ostium was measured by a manometric method. Sniffing facilitated drainage more than blowing but the effect was minimal for both procedures except when sniffing was performed with the head tilted to the side opposite the filled sinus. The latter procedures may trap air in the sinus above the level of the ostium and thus facilitate drainage during sniffing. Another facilitating factor which is discussed is that blowing the nose may catch tenacious mucus which has partly passed through the ostium by the ciliary activity in the sinus. The influence of the fluid viscosity is discussed. The time required for complete emptying of the sinus from contrast medium, studied over a period of several days, was found to be inversely correlated to the functional diameter of the maxillary ostium.

Adult↗

Measurements of the air conditioning capacity of the nose during normal and pathological conditions and pharmacological influence.

A simple method is introduced for measuring the air conditioning capacity of the nose. A flow of 8 1/min dry air is introduced by a catheter into the nasopharynx, while 5 1/min is sucked out from the investigated nasal cavity through a psychrometer. The additional 3 1/min passes down into the pharynx, thus reducing the intermingling with expiratory air. By using CO2 as a tracer, this error was found to be maximally 15% and often about 1%. The three different enthalpy factors: increase in enthalpy of dry air, vaporization, and increase in enthalpy of water vapour, were calculated separately and the vaporization was found to be the dominant factor. The calculated total supply of humidity showed that the method presented causes at least a slight stress on the humidifying capacity. Pharmacological studies have shown that subcutaneously injected atropine decreased the total enthalpy and that of water vapour, while nasal administration of oximetazoline also decreased the total enthalpy. Nasal administration of homatropine or pilocarpine had no effect on the air conditioning. In comparison with normal subjects, those with vasomotor rhinitis had an increased enthalpy of the air, while the same enthalpy factor was reduced in cases with atrophic rhinitis. Laryngectomized patients had no significant difference in the air conditioning capacity of the nose in relation to normal subjects, while patients operated with partial maxillectomy had a considerable reduction in vaporization and total enthalpy.

Atropine↗

Pathophysiology of the paranasal sinuses.

The maxillary ostium is narrower when the subject is recumbent than when sitting. The oxygen content in the sinus is related to the patency of the ostium and to some extent to its size. A 90% gas exchange in the sinus normally requires only 5 minutes. The exchange is faster during nasal than during oral breathing. The mucosa of the maxillary sinus has a relatively high blood flow. Oxygen absorption by the mucosa is normally perfusion limited. A considerable part of the absorbed oxygen is utilized directly by the mucosa and not taken up by the blood flow.

Cilia↗

Comparative measurements of the mucosal blood flow in the human maxillary sinus by plethysmography and by xenon.

Two different methods, one plethysmographic and one where the elimination of radioactive inert gas was measured, have been used to calculate the blood flow in the mucosa of the maxillary sinus in living man. A total of 5 persons were investigated and the mean values of the blood flow in the two methods showed a close correlation. Plethysmography is more easily performed and is therefore the preferable method to be used in studies on the physiology of the maxillary sinus.

Adult↗

Experimental studies of the human nasal air-conditioning capacity.

Nasal air-conditioning capacity was measured in human subjects by a method reported in 1977, which enables determinations to be made in each nasal cavity separately without introducing a foreign occluding structure between the soft palate and the posterior pharyngeal wall. The enthalpy for vaporization and for the warming of the air and the water vapour can be calculated separately. The error due to the escape of air from the lower airways, measured with both carbon dioxide and helium as tracer, was found usually to be about 1%, but sometimes greater. By varying the air flow through the relevant nasal cavity it was found that the maximum air conditioning capacity had still not been reached at 7 l/min. However, the patient suffered discomfort at flows in excess of 5 l/min. The nasal air conditioning capacity was lower at night than in the daytime. The total enthalpy and vaporization decreases with age.

Aging↗

Quality of life and state of health for patients with cancer in the head and neck.

Quality of life is an important factor for patients with cancer in the head and neck region and this factor has not previously been investigated in such patients. A series of 52 patients with head and neck cancer and 104 control subjects answered a questionnaires including two questions concerning health, one question concerning quality of life and one group of questions covering the health index proposed by Grogono & Woodgate (1971). The control series consisted of subjects of the same age, sex and domiciliary district as each of the cancer patients (two for each patient). There was a very high correlation between the answers to each of the four questions. The results were evaluated with special reference to patients who reported poor health and a low quality of life and the material was classified into patients with good vs. poor prognosis. There was a very high correlation between poor prognosis and low health index/low quality of life. Among the factors in the Grogono-Woodgate index, ability to work, physical and mental well-being, ability to eat and enjoy food, hobbies and leisure activities, and communication were better among patients with a good vis-à-vis a poor prognosis. The interval from diagnosis had no effect on the results. Patients with a considerable postoperative handicap reported a comparatively good health status. Cancer patients with a good prognosis often reported better health than the control subjects, but this difference was only significant for the total Grogono-Woodgate index.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Nasal problems in wood furniture workers. A study of symptoms and physiological variables.

The occurrence of symptoms from the upper airways in the furniture industry was studied by means of a questionnaire which was answered by 676 wood furniture workers from 50 different factories. Twenty per cent reported nasal hypersecretion and 40% nasal obstruction. A randomized sample of 61 workers was investigated further. Rhinomanometry confirmed the sense of nasal obstruction objectively. The air-conditioning capacity was normal. Nasal clearance was reduced in 54% of the wood-workers. Spirometry revealed a significantly reduced forced expiratory vital capacity in the investigated workers, compared with a normal reference material. The mean concentration of wood dust was 2.0 mg/m3 air (range 0.30-5.06 mg/m3). These results have initiated further allergological and morphological studies in wood furniture workers.

Air Pollutants, Occupational↗

Experimental studies on carcinogenesis in the nasal mucosa.

Of 24 Syrian golden hamsters exposed to wood dust in a concentration in the air of 30 mg/m3 for 6 h per day, 5 days a week, for a period of 40 weeks, one animal got dysplasia and one a malignant tumour in the nasal mucosa. In a group of 24 animals given 3 mg of diethylnitrosamine subcutaneously once a week for 12 weeks, a high frequency of benign and malignant tumours (mainly adenocarcinoma) of the nasal mucosa was found, but a group of similar size exposed to both wood dust and diethylnitrosamine did not show a higher frequency of nasal tumours than those given this latter substance alone.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Blood flow in the rabbit maxillary sinus mucosa. Measurement with a diffusible and a non-diffusible tracer.

The blood flow of the sinus mucosa was studied in 11 New Zealand White rabbits. Their body weight averaged 3.5 kg. The blood flow determinations were performed during neurolept anaesthesia with continuous blood pressure recording. The blood flow in the sinus mucosa and septum, as well as in other organs, was determined both with Sn113-labelled microspheres and with Rb86Cl. Cardiac output as determined with the microsphere method was 146 +/- 36 ml X min-1 X 1000 g-1 body weight. There was a good correlation between the blood flow values obtained with the two methods. The blood flow in the sinus mucosa was 0.58 +/- 0.41 ml X min-1 X g-1 when measured with microspheres and 0.43 +/- 0.34 ml X min-1 X g-1 with the Rb86Cl technique. In the septal mucosa the corresponding values were 0.42 +/- 0.20 ml X min-1 X g-1 and 0.49 +/- 0.43 ml X min-1 X g-1 respectively.

Animals↗

Effects of wood dust exposure and diethylnitrosamine. A pilot study in Syrian golden hamsters.

Fine wood dust is epidemiologically associated with human nasal cancer. The aim of the present study was to elaborate an animal model for inhalation studies of the effects of fine wood dust on the upper and lower airways. Syrian golden hamsters were used. After 10 months one animal in the group which was exposed only to wood dust, had developed a malignant nasal tumour and another animal in the same group had nasal dysplasia. Spontaneous nasal tumours in this laboratory animal is not known. Many tumours of the nose, larynx and trachea arose in animals treated with a carcinogen (diethylnitrosamine). There was no increase in tumours in animals with combined exposure to diethylnitrosamine and wood dust.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Experimental acute sinusitis in rabbits. A bacteriological and histological study.

A bacteriological and histological study of experimentally induced acute pneumococcal sinusitis was performed in 69 New Zealand White rabbits. The sinus ostium was blocked on one side on the first day of the experiment. On the second day, 10(7)-10(9) Streptococcus pneumoniae in 1 ml were injected into the same sinus cavity. Purulent sinusitis developed unilaterally in all rabbits. Histological examination of the sinus mucosa revealed edema, dilated venules, leukocytic infiltration of the mucosa as well as localized epithelial lesions. On staining with acridine orange at pH 4.0, the bacteria were observed in the secretion but not in the mucosa. When we used Streptococcus pneumoniae subjected to an animal passage, the bacteria were re-isolated in 9/10 infected sinuses. Neither sole occlusion of the ostium nor injection of pneumococci into a sinus cavity with a patent ostium resulted in a bacterial sinusitis. Obstruction of the sinus ostium and the use of a virulent Streptococcus pneumoniae strain were essential for the induction of sinusitis in rabbits.

Acute Disease↗

Epidemiological studies of nasopharyngeal cancer in the Guangzhou area, China. Preliminary report.

In the city of Guangzhou (Canton) and its surroundings nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) constitutes about 32% of all cancer and is therefore the most common kind of cancer. Three types of etiological factors seem to be involved: 1) a hereditary factor, 2) Epstein-Barr virus, and 3) external factors in food and water. An epidemiological study has been started in the Guangzhou area with interviews of NPC cases, matching controls and mothers of the cases and controls concerning especially food and environmental factors and infections in childhood. The questions put to the controls and cases covered the last seven years and the age of ten, while those to the mothers covered the first three years of life and the age of ten for the controls and cases. Results are now available for 140 cases, 140 controls and the corresponding living mothers. They indicate that salted fish, particularly of Cantonese style, was consumed more by NPC cases than by controls and also had more frequently been given to weaning children in whom NPC later developed. Furthermore, salted vegetables and salted pork were consumed to a greater extent by NPC cases than by controls. Drinking of polluted water in childhood was more common among the NPC cases. Consumption of fresh fruit was more rare among the cases. Most of the NPC cases had a positive VCA-IgA titre.

China↗

[Measurement of transport in mucous membrane in the human nose with Cr-51-labeled resin beads].

The mucociliary transport of the human nasal mucosa was studied by using very small resin beads tagged with 51Cr. Several modifications of previous methods were introduced, e.g. kind of nuclide, particle size, pH, mode of application, measuring technique and reduction of local irradiation. Finally arrangements implying exact measurements of transport not only horizontally but also vertically or obliquely were obtained. No mucociliary transport was demonstrated in five of nine subjects with a common cold 10 days before or one week after the investigation. Xylometazolin as a nasal spray diminished the mucociliary transport significantly. In addition, the effects on mucociliary transport caused by homolateral or contralateral experimental nasal obstruction as well as by tobacco smoking were studied in healthy subjects. Finally, patients with various diseases: pollen allergy in free intervals, chronic rhinitis, septal deviation or perforation, and condition after laryngectomy were also investigated.

Adult↗

Experimental acute sinusitis in rabbit. A study of mucosal blood flow.

An experimental model of sinusitis in the rabbit was developed, using type 3 pneumococci. The superior parts of the rabbit maxillary sinuses were surgically exposed and the maxillary ostium was unilaterally blocked. The following day a challenge dose of 10(7)-10(9) colony-forming units of Streptococcus pneumoniae, capsular type 3, was injected into the sinus. When the pneumococci used had been subjected to an animal passage, bacteria were recultured after 4 days. Histological examination showed thickening of the mucosa, with dilated venules and infiltration of granulocytes. No bacteria were seen in the mucosa on staining with acridine orange. With use of microspheres 15 micron in diameter labelled with Sn113, the mucosal blood flow was found to be higher than on the control side.

Acute Disease↗