Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Enríquez.
Real-time sonography is a well-accepted technique for evaluating abnormalities of the eye. Most previous reports on sonography of the eye have been in adults [1]. In this pictorial essay, we illustrate normal and abnormal findings of ocular sonography in children.
Congenital mesoblastic nephroma (CMN) is a rare renal neoplasm which Bolande differentiated from Wilms tumour given its benign nature. We describe 7 cases of CMN which have been treated over the last ten years, in order to highlight to what extent a tumour which is generally considered to be benign can have an aggressive behaviour. 5 patients were diagnosed during their neonatal period (3 of them prenatally) and 2 after the third month of life. Clinical presentation, simple abdominal radiology, echography and abdominal CT scan, which showed characteristic images, led us to a final diagnosis. Tumoral resection was carried out in the 6 typical CMN. The atypical or aggressive CMN was urgently operated under critical circumstances due to spontaneous tumoral rupture. The pathological study showed a CMN of cellular variety with a sarcomatous component. Despite adjuvant chemotherapy, there was a tumoral recurrence which required a surgical second-look and subsequent chemotherapeutical treatment. Bolande's tumour is generally benign, but there is an aggressive cellular variant that fits into the intermediate zone of a pathological spectrum. This aggressive variant have different clinical, radiological and anatomo-pathological features and therefore it involves radical surgical treatment and additional chemotherapy with a rigorous follow-up in the short and the long term.
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Pancreatic pseudocysts are rare in children, with different etiology and prognosis than adults. We report four cases of post-traumatic pancreatic pseudocysts with their follow-up by echography and CT scan. Spontaneous resolution has been observed in three patients while one case was operated on. The better prognosis of the pancreatic pseudocyst in childhood, confirmed by our clinical observations and literature, lead us to promote a more conservative management and follow-up than in adults.
Results of 491 studies of the brain with gray-scale sonography in 341 patients with ages ranging from one day to one year are reported. Sonographic appearance of normal brain, cerebral abscesses and hemorrhages in neonates, together with sonographic findings of some congenital brain anomalies are described.
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To describe the incidence of mitral valve abnormalities among infants aged 0 to 24 months, their anatomic features, site of lesion, severity and associated heart defects, the records of 3,583 such patients submitted for bi-dimensional ultrasound and pulsed Doppler cardiac studies by presumptive heart disease were analyzed. Mitral valve abnormalities were thus detected in 88 of these cases, and were also documented by clinical examination (n: 88), heart catheterization and angiocardiography (n: 11), surgery (n: 17) and necropsy (n: 2). Seventy five cases had additional heart disease, most commonly aortic stenosis (27%), aortic coarctaction (26%) and ventricular septal defects (43%). Papillary muscle deformities at the subvalvar mitral apparatus were considered to be the most frequent mechanism for congenital mitral stenosis (100%), and annulus dilatation was the most frequent cause of mitral insufficiency (49%). Relative incidences of mitral valve stenosis and insufficiency among the whole studied sample were 0.5% and 1.48% respectively. There was a rough correlation between Doppler transmital gradient or regurgitation jet area and the corresponding mitral valve abnormality. This kind of noninvasively obtained data about mitral architecture and function seems to be a very useful and sensitive guide to define and manage this patients.
Concentrations of serum digoxin were measured by the polarized immunofluorescence Abbot TDx11 method in 59 samples from 53 children under treatment with mean beta methyl digoxin doses of 8.9 +/- 2.0 micrograms.kg.day. The therapeutic range for serum digoxin concentration was estimated to be 0.9 to 2.25 ng/ml. Simultaneous Na, K and creatine serum concentrations were measured. In 36 samples mean serum digoxin level was 1.52 +/- 0.45 ng/ml -within therapeutic range- and in only one of these cases clinical evidence of toxicity was apparent. In 15 samples digoxin level was above the therapeutic range and 11 patients of this group (73%) showed clinical signs of toxicity, consisting in arrythmias (six cases: supraventricular in 5 patients, ventricular in one child) and gastrointestinal symptoms (eight patients). Six patients with digoxin levels over therapeutic range and signs of digitalis toxicity had coincidental acute renal failure, which in 4 cases was subclinical--in 2 of these late it was pre-renal- and, in spite of this, all were inadvertently given the usual dosage of beta methyl digoxin. Almost invariably there was clinical evidence of toxicity when digoxin serum levels were above 2.4 ng/ml, so established maximal therapeutic level at 2.25 ng/ml seems adequate. Signs of digitalis toxicity must be looked on systematically in children treated with such drugs. In the critically ill or in children with acute renal failure it is necessary to monitor serum digoxin concentration. Among the clinical signs of toxicity, gastrointestinal symptoms are more frequent in children. An oral dose from 7 to 10 micrograms.kg.day of beta methyl digoxin in recommended.
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