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Biomedical subjects

F Gaches

Publications and source records attributed to F Gaches.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

[Silent sinus syndrome: a rare case of enophthalmia].

INTRODUCTION: The causes of spontaneous enophthalmos, without trauma, surgical factors, or systemic illness, which can be found are rare. A particular entity called silent sinus syndrome in the Anglo-Saxon literature, which concerns the long-term effect of hypoventilation of the maxillary sinus responsible for an attraction of the sinus walls, resulting in sagging of the orbital floor, itself responsible for the enophthalmos. CASE REPORT: We report the case about a 29-year-old woman, presenting a left-side spontaneous enophthalmos, with sinus-type pains for 2 months. The clinical examination revealed a horizontal diplopia when looking leftwards. Computed tomography showed a maxillary homolateral sinusitis with characteristic attraction of the sinus walls. The draining of the sinus collection by inferior endoscopic enlargement of the maxillary ostium led to pain resolution. The enophthalmos and diplopia were stabilized. CONCLUSION: After eradicating the orbital causes of enophthalmos, the sinus causes were sought more precisely, the pauci-symptomatic causes such as the silent sinus syndrome. The recognition of this syndrome stopped the progression of enophthalmos by making the maxillary sinus permeable again. A surgical reconstruction of the orbital floor can be proposed in order to correct the motility of the eyes and esthetic considerations.

Adult↗

[Frequency of autoimmune diseases in 218 patients with autoimmune thyroid pathologies].

PURPOSE: The aim of our study was to investigate the frequency of auto-immune diseases in patients suffering from autoimmune thyroid diseases. METHOD: We realised a retrospective study from 1981 to 1993 including 218 patients suffering from thyroiditis who were followed in the same hospital service. There were 202 women and 16 men with a mean age 49 at the moment their thyroid pathology was discovered. RESULTS: Thirty patients had one or more autoimmune disease associated to their thyroid disorders, representing 13.7% of total patients. The two most frequent autoimmune diseases were lupus and Sjögren's syndrome. In 17 cases the diagnosis of the associated autoimmune disease was made simultaneously. The systemic disease preceded with an 8-year delay the thyroid disease in five cases, and the thyroid disease was annunciatory in eight cases with a delay of 5 years. The frequency of autoimmune diseases seems to be higher in patients suffering from thyroid disorders than in the general population. They are probably common physiopathological mechanisms. CONCLUSION: The frequency of these associations suggests the need for a long-lasting survey of those patients having thyroid disorders. Initial evaluation and a regular checking in patients suffering from an autoimmune disease is recommenced.

Comorbidity↗

[Clinical, biological and developmental aspects of alcoholic ketoacidosis].

OBJECTIVES: To review cases of alcoholic ketoacidosis in order to better ascertain therapeutic management. METHODS: The medical files of 32 alcoholic patients with ketoacidosis hospitalized in the Saint-Pierre general hospital of the Reunion island from January 1, 1991 through 31 August 1994 were analyzed. RESULTS: There were 18 women and 14 men, mean age 47 years. The first clinical signs were predominated by digestive (n = 22) or neurological disorders (n = 10). Acidosis was severe (mean pH = 7.12) and always associated with a wide anion gap (mean anion gap = 35). There were 3 types of glycemic status: hypoglycemia 10 cases, normal or subnormal glycemia in 19 cases (mean glycemia = 9.3 mmol/l) and hyperglycemia above 20 mmol/l in 3 cases. Hypophosphatemia, elevated serum lactate levels and cytolytic hepatitis were the main abnormalities associated. CONCLUSION: Short-term outcome was favorable in all cases after rehydration. The use of insulin may be dangerous and needs to be avoided.

Acidosis↗

[Systemic signs of primary Gougerot-Sjögren syndrome. 48 cases].

Forty-eight patients with primary Sjögren syndrome are documented together with the results of their baseline investigations. The majority of patients were female (44 out of 48) and mean age was 63.2 years. Common clinical features included 20 parenchymal lung disease, among which 4 had interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and 2 lymphocytic interstitial pneumonitis, 12 neurologic manifestations, 16 Raynaud's phenomenon, 12 arthritis, and 3 gastrointestinal involvement. Haematological features occurred in 15 patients and another autoimmune disease was encountered in 13 cases. These extraglandular manifestations were the dominating reasons for hospital referral in 43.5% of cases, the sicca syndrome were most often only mentioned by the patients after special questioning which explain considerable delay before the diagnosis.

Adult↗

[Clinical course of Horton disease. Apropos of 42 cured patients].

We report a prospective study of 42 patients with biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis (CGA) who recovered for more than one year (mean follow up of 71 months since withdrawal of steroid treatment). It was used the same regimen of prednisone and well closely monitored along the whole treatment. In 22 patients, dapsone was given concomitantly with prednisone. Mean duration of steroid therapy was 23.1 months (range: 6-57 months); it was significantly decreased with treatment by dapsone (12 months and 12 days). Age, sex, initial clinical and biological (acute phase reactants) findings did not provide useful information for predicting steroid treatment needed for recovery. Thirty-six relapses were observed in 22 patients (60%) during treatment or after its withdrawal. Incidence of relapses declined during steroid treatment and relapses were (only) observed over first 6 months after steroid withdrawal. Three amaurosis fugax occurred at the beginning of treatment and an axillar bilateral stenosis was also observed. Forty-eight side effects of corticosteroids were recorded in 26 patients (63%): myopathy (n = 12), bone complications (n = 11), metabolic complications (n = 9). Twelve patients (63%) had experienced side effects of dapsone. This study emphasized the difficulty in treating CGA. Close monitoring is required. A steroid regimen is recommended.

Aged↗

[Autoimmune thyroid diseases and Horton disease].

In a retrospective study of 115 patients with giant cell arteritis, 5 clinically patent autoimmune diseases were recorded; including 2 patients (1.8%) with Grave's disease and 1 with hypothyroidism. Among these patients, 46 had systematic assays of blood thyroid hormones and 39 were systematically investigated for anti-thyroid antibodies (ATAb):3 (6.5%) had biological hypothyroidism and 4 (10.3%) had ATAb. These findings were not significantly different from those of a control group of 39 age and sex matched patients.

Aged↗

[Multiple autoimmune syndrome].

Report a case of multiple auto-immune syndrome with auto-immune thyroiditis, Sjögren's syndrome, primary biliary cirrhosis. Moreover the patient suffered from neuropsychiatric symptoms and anti-cardiolipid antibodies were significantly elevated.

Aged↗

[Periarteritis nodosa and parvovirus B19 infection].

The authors report a case of polyarteritis nodosa which coincide with serological conversion to parvovirus B19. After review of the literature, they recall the role of this virus in human pathology and also the role of different infectious agents in the PAN pathogenesis.

Aged↗

[Death in Horton disease. Prognostic factors].

The authors reported causes of death and searched for prognosis factors in Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA). The diagnosis was confirmed by temporal biopsy in all cases. Fourteen patients died during treatment; thirty-six patients had completely recovered (follow up > 6 months after withdrawal of steroid therapy). The commonest causes of death were cardiovascular (n = 7) and digestive (n = 4); they occurred after an average of 195 days of treatment, half of them during the first three months. One death was due to GCA (autopsy) and five deaths were attributed to the treatment with corticosteroids. The prognosis factors were searched for by comparing age, sex, clinical signs, laboratory data before treatment, past medical history in the both series; further more initial dose of Prednisone and the dose after 180 days of steroid therapy were compared in the two groups. The adverse prognosis factors revealed by this study were: advanced age (p < 0.01), previous ischaemic heart disease (p < 0.05) and higher dose of corticosteroids administered at 6 months of treatment (< 0.01).

Actuarial Analysis↗