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Biomedical subjects

B Risbourg

Publications and source records attributed to B Risbourg.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Retrospective analysis of 1331 samples of cerebrospinal fluid in newborn infants with suspected infection].

BACKGROUND: Definitive diagnosis of a neonatal infection usually requires recovery of an etiologic agent from body fluids or tissues such as spinal fluid, blood and urine. Routine lumbar puncture (LP) may raise some problems in interpreting results. POPULATION AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 1331 samples of CSF was made. LP had been performed on 1041 neonates including 569 prematures (54.6%) as a part of the evaluation for suspected bacterial infection. RESULTS: In 50.7% of the cases, the CSF was haemorrhagic. The frequency of traumatic taps increased with the degree of prematurity, low birth weight, precocity of LP, association with respiratory distress and disorders of coagulating factors. In addition, haemorragic taps modified biochemical and cytologic characteristics of CSF. One hundred and six (8%) CSF samples contained organisms but the diagnosis of meningitis was certain in only 23 cases (2.2%). In the other 83 cases, CSF was thought to be contaminated, mostly by coagulase-negative staphylococci. Since both blood and CSF cultures were positive for the same bacterial organism in 18 cases, it was concluded that the LP had been useful in identifying the pathogens in only five cases. The high frequency of contaminated CSF led to overestimation of the incidence of true bacterial meningitis (0.57% in our study). CONCLUSIONS: The low incidence of meningitis in neonates, the risk of having an haemorragic tap associated with the possibility of clinical aggravation during LP and the fact that the same pathogen is frequently (78.2% of cases) identified in blood cultures suggest that the immediate and routine LP is of less value than expected in infants suspected to be infected. LP could be postponed when the neonate presents with a respiratory distress syndrome and/or a precarious haemodynamic state.

Bacterial Infections

[Role of home monitoring in the context of sudden infant death prevention. Current methods indications, monitoring].

Some infants are cared with a home monitoring system during their first year of life. An international clinical consensus has been obtained and has proposed this technique mainly for infants who have presented an apparent life threatening event or for ex-premature with bradycardia or apnea, rather than for siblings of sudden infant death syndrome or other infants. In any case, this monitoring must be held after a complete clinical evaluation of the infant and after a real education of the parents about the use of the device. Many types of devices are used. The most efficient is the cardio-respiratory monitoring. Some of them include a processor and record the alarms. The need to see or to call the medical team to decode them allows close collaboration between the family and the clinical team. Knowledge of the alarms and the circumstances in which they have occurred help the medical team to propose the withdrawal of the home monitoring. Thus, sometimes preventive, sometimes prophylactic, this device will provide us for an optimal help.

Heart Function Tests

[Home cardio-respiratory monitoring with alarm record system in infants at risk of life-threatening events].

In few infants, home monitoring is useful to prevent recurrent apparently life-threatening events. Some devices have an alarm record system. We report our experience of home monitoring with such a device in 22 infants. 43.3% of the recorded events were considered as false alarms and 56.7% as true alarms. Among the alarms relative to abnormal respiratory events (38%), more than half occurred after two min of very low impedance thoracic signal. Among the true alarms relative to cardiac abnormalities (18.7%) more than half occurred during high amplitude fluctuations of the thoracic impedance signal and were relative to obstructive apnea or hypertonic vagal reactivity. Three infants presented an apparent life threatening event during an alarm, and two of them were hospitalized. These results indicate that it is important to define precisely the significance of the alarms during the survey of home monitoring of infants at risk for sudden infant death.

Apnea

[A case report of Russel's diencephalic cachexia].

The case of an infant admitted for evaluation of severe emaciation with intermittent ocular anomalies including strabismus and nystagmus is reported. This case demonstrates the value of magnetic resonance imaging and transfontanellar ultrasonography for the diagnosis of diencephalic syndrome of infancy. The prognosis of this condition is usually grim, in particular because of the severe emaciation which is disproportionate with the tumour spread. Pathophysiologic hypotheses put forward to explain this cachexia are reviewed. Although cytokines such as TNF alpha are currently incriminated in the pathophysiology of cachexia induced by a number of conditions, they have not yet been studied in diencephalic syndrome of infancy. TNF alpha is a potent lipolytic agent. Excessive production of TNF alpha may be involved in the genesis of the emaciation characteristic of diencephalic syndrome. Inappropriate production of TNF alpha may respond to the administration of specific anti-TNF monoclonal antibodies. This approach may be considered as a means for treating emaciation in patients with diencephalic syndrome of infancy.

Astrocytoma

[Standardization of oculo-cardiac reflex in infants under 3 months of age].

The authors present a standardization of the oculocardiac reflex carried out in early-age infants (under 3 months). This standardization is easy to perform. It takes into account the fall of the cardiac frequency, the asystoly and the range of bradycardia until its normalisation. Thus, it allows inter or intra individual comparison and can be applied to the study of infants at risk for sudden infant death syndrome.

Humans

[Epiglottitis and pulmonary edema in children].

A case of acute epiglottitis complicated by pulmonary edema, after intubation in a 30 month-old child is reported. The pathophysiology of this complication and its treatment associating oxygen therapy and positive end expiratory pressure are discussed.

Child

[The importance of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis technics in relation to intermittent peritoneal dialysis in acute renal insufficiency in children. Apropos of 7 cases].

We report seven cases of acute renal failure (ARF) treated by continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD). ARF was caused by hemolytic uremic syndrome in six patients and acute fetal distress in one neonate. Mean age was 28 months (range 6 days-6 years). A flexible Tenckhoff catheter was inserted surgically under brief (10 minutes) general anesthesia in all patients. During the first 24 hours, in order to avoid clogging of the catheter, exchanges were done every 45 minutes with 20 ml/kg dialysate initially, gradually increased to 40-50 ml/kg. Thereafter, 5 to 8 exchanges were done every day (mean duration 9 days, range 4-21) until creatinine clearance reached 15 ml/mn/1.73 m2. No case of peritonitis or leakage was recorded. In two patients, migration of the straight catheter caused flow obstruction. None of the crook-shaped catheters migrated. Because dialysis was continuous and fluid balance could be controlled by using a hypertonic dialysate if called for, optimal protein (1-1.5 g/kg/d) and energy intake were possible. This intake was ensured mainly by continuous enteral nutrition. Improved patient comfort (no immobilization, no repeated punctures) and staff comfort (technical simplicity, independence from a cycler) are further non-negligeable advantages of CAPD.

Acute Kidney Injury

[Treatment of acute renal failure by continuous hemofiltration in newborn infants and infants].

During acute oligoanuric renal failure in neonates and infants, arteriovenous or veno-venous continuous hemofiltration is a simple, useful technique when peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis cannot be used. It allows fluid removal, optimal calorie intake and mild blood purification, when waiting for diuresis to stabilize. It does not give any control over hypercatabolism; the use of continuous dialysis increases epuration.

Acute Kidney Injury

[Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma diagnosed prenatally. Apropos of a case].

A case report of congenital embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the superior extremity (right shoulder) is described. This patient was the first and only child of a 24 year-old woman who had been previously treated for sterility. The diagnosis was done by echography during the 36 th week of gestation. This full term white boy was born by cesarean section in reason of tumor size. First he was treated surgically. Then, a cyclic chemotherapy (VAC) was performed. After 4 courses, local recurrence led to a second surgical excision followed by a new cyclic chemotherapy (IVA). The treatment had an acceptable tolerance. Seven months later the child is free disease alive.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols

[Reactive arthritis in children].

Reactive arthritis is arthritis in which, although the nature of the responsible infection is known or suspected upon serological grounds, attempts at recovering the pathogen from the synovial fluid have failed. One of the main pathogenetic problems is the multiplicity of etiologic agents. Some are exogenous and may be related to the articular tropism of certain microorganisms, to immunologic depression due to an antecedent or coincident infection, and to successive reinfections by the same pathogen or by others which may promote an exacerbation of the disease. Others are endogenous and attention should be given to the local or systemic presence of an antigen as well as, in some instances, to the persistence of residual forms of infecting agents, which are more readily demonstrated with current bacteriological and serological methods. Although reactive arthritis is to be distinguished from septic arthritis, it can no longer be clearly differentiated from the classical post-infectious rheumatism. Once it has been produced, the antigenic stimulation is responsible for an immunologic response which tends to check systemic extension but may also produce tissue damage in the host. Some patients have circulating immune complexes which may bind to the joint, thereby damaging it. In other patients, particularly those who are HLA B27 positive, host-pathogen cross-reactions are demonstrated. Actually, the most frequent pathogenetic sequence seems to be a combination of two or more of these mechanisms, as there are reasons to believe that presence of the pathogen in situ is not required for the persistence of the inflammatory process. Reactive arthritis was first reported in adults following either sexually transmitted urethritis due to chlamydiae, mycoplasma or gonococci, or hepatitis B or an intestinal infection due to Yersinia, Campylobacter, Shigella, Klebsiella or Salmonella. Later, it was described in pediatric patients, particularly in Scandinavia where, for genetic reasons, the HLA B27 group is prevailing. Reactive arthritis seems less frequent in caucasian ethnic groups and above all in Latin Americans among whom HLA B27 carriers are more uncommon; however, it must be pointed out that they have not been as extensively studied and that other etiologic factors may still remain to be discovered. The course and etiology of the different forms of arthritis share certain characteristics which have been determined through a better knowledge of these conditions: onset occurs one or several weeks after a respiratory, urinary or, most often in children, digestive infection. This episode is unremarkable or latent and often overlooked.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Antigen-Antibody Complex