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C-P Wu

Publications and source records attributed to C-P Wu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Acute renal infarction: a 10-year experience.

The diagnosis of acute renal infarction (ARI) is often delayed or unrecognised because of its non-specific presentation and the rarity of the disease. We evaluated the clinical presentations, laboratory findings, underlying medical conditions and treatment of 18 Chinese patients with ARI who presented to the emergency department (ED) of a tertiary teaching hospital from 1995 to 2004. We identified 14 non-trauma and four trauma patients with ARI. The mean duration from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of ARI was 1.9 days. The prevalence of concurrent events was 39%. About 64.5% of non-trauma patients had histories of atrial fibrillation, structural heart diseases or previous embolic events. The laboratory characteristics were neither specific nor sensitive for the diagnosis of ARI. Conservative treatment, local intra-arterial thrombolytic and i.v. thrombolytic therapies were provided in nine, five and two patients respectively. Decreased effective renal plasma flow in affected kidneys was found in three of three patients. Serum creatinine (Cr) was normal or elevated not more than 25% of baseline in 16 cases. ARI may resemble many non-renal diseases; however, repeated evaluation and a high index of suspicion are required for early diagnosis. Concurrent injuries or thromboembolism in other foci should be noticed. Early contrast-enhanced computerized tomography scan should be considered for high-risk patients. Patients with ARI should be followed by functional studies rather than serum Cr level.

Acute Disease↗

Short course of linezolid treatment for vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium meningitis.

Enterococci might be one of the meningitis pathogens, but meningitis is rarely caused by vancomycin-resistant enterococci. In this report, we present a 69-year-old man who had the underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with long-term steroid treatment suffered from a meningitis episode after hospitalisation for the urinary tract infection. The cerebrospinal fluid culture of the patient grew Enterococcus faecium which was resistant to vancomycin. A vancomycin-resistant E. faecium was also isolated from the rectal swab of the patient. These two E. faecium isolates were found to harbour the vanA gene and to be identical by pulsed field gel electrophoresis typing. The patient was treated successfully with intravenous linezolid, 600 mg every 12 h for 2 weeks. This was the first case of meningitis caused by vancomycin-resistant E. faecium in Taiwan.

Acetamides↗

Listerial meningitis in a patient with undiagnosed acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: ampicillin should be added to the empirical antibiotic coverage.

Meningitis is an important differential diagnosis in patients with fever, headache, and/or altered consciousness in the emergency department (ED). With human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection becoming increasingly common, patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) need to be recognised promptly to facilitate the choice of appropriate antibiotic therapy for potential opportunistic infections. Physicians should be able to recognise a patient with undiagnosed AIDS who presents to the ED and perform further confirmational tests without violating the rights of the patient. Additional tests focusing on discovering potential opportunistic pathogens should be performed. Ampicillin should be added to the empirical regimen for the coverage of Listeria meningocerebritis, which should be considered in all potentially immunocompromised hosts with suggestive clinical presentations. Failure to recognise patients with AIDS and provide antibiotics active against L monocytogenes in such hosts may lead to a catastrophic outcome.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗