[Acute renal failure: epidemiology, incidence and prognostic criteria].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C Berton.
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The authors report a patient who had five relapses of encephalopathy with seizures and aseptic meningitis that coincided with the end of the menstrual cycle. High titers of antithyroid antibodies and the patient's response to corticosteroids suggested Hashimoto's encephalopathy. Pharmacologic suppression of the menstrual cycle made it possible to withdraw corticosteroids.
OBJECTIVES: To assess (1) the short-term hemodynamic, respiratory and arterial blood gas effects of NIPSV in patients with ACPE who were likely to require endotracheal intubation, (2) the initial causes of failure and (3) the side effects and the difficulties of this technique. DESIGN: Uncontrolled, prospective clinical study. SETTING: Teaching hospital intensive care unit. PATIENTS: 26 consecutive patients with severe ACPE. INTERVENTIONS: Noninvasive ventilation via a face mask, using a pressure support mode (20.5+/-4.7 cm H2O), with an initial fractional inspired oxygen of 93.0+/-16% and a positive end-expiratory pressure of 3.5+/-2.3 cm H2O. The need to intubate the patients within 48 h was considered as a criterion of failure of the procedure. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Clinical and biological parameters were measured at 15 and 30 minutes, 1 h and 2 h and at 1 h and 2 h, respectively. There were 5 (21%) failures and 21 (79%) successes. In both the success and the failure groups, clinical and blood gas parameters improved at the first measure. In the success group, within 15 min of the start of NIPSV, pulse oximetry saturation (SpO2) had increased from 84+/-12 to 96+/-4% (p<0.001), the respiratory rate (RR) had decreased from 36+/-5.3 to 22.4+/-4.9 breaths/ min (p<0.0001) and within 1 h the arterial oxygen tension and pH, respectively, had increased from 61+/-14 to 270+/-126 mm Hg (p<0.0001) and from 7.25+/-0.11 to 7.34+/-0.07 (p<0.01) and the arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) had decreased from 54.2+/-15 to 43.4+/-6.4 mm Hg (p<0.01). There were no statistical differences between the success and failure groups for the initial clinical parameters: SpO2, RR, heart rate, mean arterial pressure. The only differences between the success and failure groups were in the PaCO2 (54.2+/-15 vs. 32+/-2.1 mm Hg, p<0.001) and the creatine kinase (CPK) (176+/-149 vs. 1282+/-2080 IU/l, p<0.05); this difference in CPK activity was related to the number of patients who had an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) (4/5 in the failure group vs. 2/21 in the success group, p<0.05). All patients with AMI in the failure group died. CONCLUSION: Among patients in acute respiratory failure, those with severe ACPE could benefit from NIPSV if they are hypercapnic, but NIPSV should be avoided in those with AMI.
OBJECTIVE: To test the value of venous-arterial PCO2 gradient (deltaPCO2) measurements to reflect the adequacy of cardiac index (CI) to oxygen demand in patients submitted to rapid changes of CI and oxygen demand. DESIGN: Prospective, comparative study. SETTING: Medical intensive care unit of a university hospital. PATIENTS: Ten patients with congestive heart failure exhibiting low baseline CI (< or =2.5 L/min/m2) but no evidence of global tissue hypoxia, as attested by the absence of clinical signs of shock and by normal blood lactate concentrations. INTERVENTIONS: Infusion of incremental doses of dobutamine: 0 (D0), 5 (D5), 10 (D10), and 15 (D15) microg/kg/min. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The CI increased by a linear fashion from D0 (1.6+/-0.1 L/min/m2) to D15 (2.4+/-0.2 L/min/m2) (p< .05). The mixed venous oxygen saturation (SVO2) increased from D0 (49+/-2%) to D10 (61+/-2%) (p < .05) and remained unchanged from D10 to D15 (60+/-2%). The oxygen extraction ratio (O2 ER) and the deltaPCO2 decreased from D0 (48+/-2% and 9+/-1 torr [1.2+/-0.3 kPa], respectively) to D10 (36+/-2% and 5+/-1 torr [0.7+/-0.1 kPa], respectively) (p < .05 for both comparisons) and remained unchanged from D10 to D15 (36+/-2% and 6+/-1 torr [0.8+/-0.1 kPa], respectively). The biphasic courses of SVO2, O2 ER, and deltaPCO2 were related to the course of oxygen consumption that remained constant from D0 (113+/-9 mL/min/m2) to D10 (112+/-8 mL/min/m2) and significantly increased from D10 to D15 (127+/-10 mL/min/m2) (p <.05). CONCLUSIONS: deltaPCO2 can be reliably used at the bedside for informing on the adequacy of CI with respect to a given metabolic condition, and particularly for detecting changes in oxygen demand (e.g., the changes accompanying drug-induced changes in CI). In this regard, deltaPCO2, together with O2 ER and SVO2, can help to assess the adequacy of CI to global oxygen demand.
The present case report describes a case of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis with cerebromeningeal invasion in an asthmatic non-immunocompromised patient. This fatal complication occurred despite early anti-fungal antibiotherapy after a 2-week course of intravenous corticosteroid therapy for treatment of an exacerbated asthma. Diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are discussed.
The first two observations of human poisoning involving the recently developed neuroleptic amisulpride are described. In both cases drug determination was performed using reversed-phase HPLC coupled with diode array detection. Case 1 was a nonfatal overdosage in which the ingestion of 3.0 g amisulpride induced an attack of seizures, then light coma with agitation, hyperthermia, mydriasis, minimal extrapyramidal features, tachycardia and slight prolongation of the QT interval; the blood concentration of amisulpride was 9.63 micrograms ml-1. Case 2 was a fatality attributed to amisulpride in which the measured blood concentration was 41.70 micrograms ml-1. Our results are discussed in the light of data previously reported on the toxicity of substituted benzamides.
In patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), catecholaminergic agents may exert thermogenic effects that limit their beneficial effects in terms of global tissue oxygenation. Oxygen extraction ratio (O2ER) or mixed venous blood saturation (SvO2) might take into account better than cardiac index (CI) the resultant effect of such agents on peripheral oxygenation. We tested this hypothesis in a series of 20 patients with severe CHF and normal blood lactate levels undergoing pulmonary artery catheterization and receiving incremental doses of dobutamine: 0 (Do), 5 (D5), 10 (D10), and 15 micrograms/kg/min (D15). A significant dose-effect relationship (p < 0.01) was found between dose of dobutamine and CI (CI = 0.06 dose + 1.82). By contrast, no dose-effect relationship was observed between dobutamine dose and either O2ER or SvO2. Indeed, a biphasic profile was observed for O2ER and SvO2. From D0 to D10, O2ER decreased (from 45 +/- 6 to 35 +/- 7 percent) and SvO2 increased (from 52 +/- 7 to 62 +/- 7 percent). From D10 to D15, no further change was observed for both parameters. This latter finding was related to a significant increase in VO2 at D15 (p < 0.01). In these normolactatemic patients with unchanged VO2 from D0 to D10 while DO2 linearly increased (from D0 to D15), the increase in VO2 at D15 was probably due to an increase in oxygen demand induced by the drug. Our results suggest that dobutamine at a dose of 15 micrograms/kg/min can induce an increase in O2 demand that might offset the improvement in CI. Thus, in patients with CHF, oxygen-derived parameters such as O2ER and SvO2 should be more appropriate than CI to assess the efficacy of dobutamine.
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Endoscopic sphincterotomy is the treatment of choice for stones in the common bile duct in patients with a high operative risk. However, when this modality is insufficient or fails, these patients need to be operated. The authors have operated 14 patients under these conditions. In addition to the cholecystectomy performed in 9 patients who still retained their gallbladder, the common bile duct was cleared in 3 cases and drained by means of choledochoduodenal anastomoses in 10 cases. Three patients developed complications and one of them died. Endoscopy and surgery appear to be complementary in this indication. Sphincterotomy should be proposed as first-line treatment as, even in the case of incomplete disobstruction, it enables high-risk patients to be operated under better conditions.
From January 1976 to June 1986, 154 patients (75 men and 79 women) who were 75 years of age or older were admitted for the surgical treatment of a colonic cancer. The mean age was 80.7 years. Patients were divided into two groups: 66 patients, between 75 and 80 years of age, were in Group I; 88 patients, 80 years of age and older, were in Group II. One hundred and forty-three patients (93%) were operated on and a resection was carried out in 125 patients (87%). The overall post-operative mortality rate was 12% (Group I: 5%; Group II: 17%; p less than 0.02). The actuarial survival rate of patients operated on was 32 +/- 8% at 3 years and 26 +/- 8% at 5 years (Group I: 37%; Group II: 17%). In both groups the survival rate was closely related to the extent of the disease according to Dukes classification. These results suggest that in the 75-80 year group age alone should no longer be considered a major risk factor for immediate surgical outcome. In patients aged 80 and older, the results are worse but it is not advanced age per se which influences mortality, rather the physiologic status of the patient.
One case of right ureteral stenosis due to a flow of necrosis from an acute lithiasic pancreatitis, treated with the insertion of a double J tube, is reported. 14 cases of ureteral stenosis following pancreatitis have been found in the literature. They occur whatever the severity of pancreatitis and can either reveal it or, on the contrary, be asymptomatic. The ureteral lesions are of three kinds: compression by a pseudocyst of the pancreas, sheathing of the ureter and "ureteritis" in the flows of necrosis, necrosis of the ureteral wall. The management of these ureteral stenoses involves treating both the pancreatitis and the obstruction, according to its type. In cases of compression or sheathing of the ureter, ureteral endoprostheses inserted in an early stage allow maintaining the patency of the ureter during the healing phase. In case of ureteral necrosis, nephrostomy, then ureteral resection prove to be necessary.
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Calcium antagonists decrease the intracellular concentration of calcium ions. They act essentially on the smooth vascular muscle, on the cardiac muscle and on the automatic and conducting cells in the heart. At toxic doses these effects induce hypotension, shock and disturbances of sinusal automatism and atrio-ventricular conduction. The toxicity of the different calcium antagonists varies according to their tissue specificity. The treatment of overdose includes gastric lavage, oral activated charcoal, cardiorespiratory support, especially alphamimetic vasopressors for shock or hypotension, adrenaline or cardiac pacing for atrio-ventricular block.