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C Bartolomei

Publications and source records attributed to C Bartolomei.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

[An unusual case of pulmonary infiltrates with hepatic involvement in a woman with eosinophilia].

The literature reports many cases of eosinophilic pulmonary infiltrations, with different etiology. In our case clinical pictures were not very clear and specific at first and the clinical course was altered by an ex adjuvantibus steroid treatment before admission to hospital. It was new and unusual because it presented some characteristics of chronic eosinophilic pneumonia and idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome, with hepatic involvement as in the former, but without serious heart disease as in the latter. This confirms the difficulties in making a classification of the different clinical pictures because of their indistinct margins, which might appear as different forms of a single disease. In our case the patient refused transbronchial lung biopsy which is commonly considered a minimum diagnostic requirement. Some authors are not in agreement and think it is sufficient to find eosinophils in BAL to start steroid treatment, avoiding biopsy risks. Another interesting finding is the need for a long-term low-dose steroid treatment, to avoid relapses.

Female

Lithium-induced sinus node dysfunction.

A 74-year-old woman, on lithium carbonate treatment, developed symptomatic sinus node dysfunction and central nervous toxicity, which disappeared after discontinuation of the drug and when serum lithium fell from 2 to 1.27 mEq/L. Our review of the literature demonstrates that sinus node abnormalities can occur both in presence of therapeutic and toxic serum lithium levels and are frequently asymptomatic and completely reversible. All patients receiving lithium should have their pulse regularly recorded and the drug should be promptly discontinued if severe bradycardia or other rhythm disturbances appeared during the treatment.

Aged

Free-cortisol assay by immunoextraction: comparison with an equilibrium dialysis procedure.

We describe a new method for directly determining the apparent free cortisol concentration in plasma samples by use of an antibody-coated test-tube RIA. Buffer-diluted plasma or standard serum is added to antibody-coated test tubes, incubated at 4 degrees C for 4 h, and the solutions are aspirated. 125I-labeled cortisol is added to each tube and incubated for 3 h at 4 degrees C. Then the insides of the tubes are washed and their radioactivities counted. The standard curve is in terms of free cortisol, the standard serum solutions having been measured with an equilibrium dialysis procedure. Plasma samples (n = 155) from normal subjects and from various patients, measured with the new immunoextraction method and the equilibrium dialysis technique, gave results that correlated well (r = 0.847, p less than 0.001). Results by this direct RIA also correlate well with the clinical adrenocortical status of patients for whom data on total plasma cortisol may be misleading. This simple, easy RIA is suited to be the routine method for free cortisol in plasma.

Anorexia Nervosa

Prenylamine-induced ventricular arrhythmias and syncopal attacks with Q-T prolongation. Report of a case and comment on therapeutic use of lignocaine.

A 70-year-old man, on prenylamine for exertional angina, complained of syncopal attacks which seemed to be caused by bursts of ventricular tachycardia associated with Q-T prolongation. These symptoms disappeared after treatment with lignocaine, and the Q-T interval gradually returned to normal when prenylamine was stopped. This communication emphasizes the possibility of the occurrence of Q-T prolongation with associated ventricular arrhythmias in patients treated with prenylamine and the usefulness of a cautious trial with lignocaine in ventricular arrhythmias linked to Q-T prolongation.

Aged

[Pheochromocytoma and autoimmune hypothyroidism].

The association of multiple endocrine diseases is frequent and the coincidental involvement of the thyroid and adrenal glands is well recognized. On the contrary, two cases of hypo or hyperthyroidism have only been reported in literature: one concerning adrenal pheochromocytoma with simultaneous autoimmune hypothyroidism and another of a diffuse toxic goiter associated with pheochromocytoma. The purpose of the present report is to point out a new case of a pheochromocytoma associated with an autoimmune hypothyroidism in which the latter is florid and not biochemical.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms