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Biomedical subjects

H Ben Maiz

Publications and source records attributed to H Ben Maiz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Conn's syndrome. Study of systemic cardiovascular hemodynamics after medical treatment with spironolactone and after surgical treatment].

OBJECTIVES: Assess hemodynamic effect of Conn's syndrome in order to better prepare patients for surgical resection of their adenoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Hemodynamic investigations were conducted before any treatment in 13 patients with Conn's syndrome. Results were compared with those in 13 control subjects with permanent primary hypertension. In the 13 patients with Conn's syndrome, the same hemodynamic parameters were studied in 13 after drug therapy using spironolactone and in 8 after surgery. RESULTS: Hypertension was associated with a significant increase in stroke volume and a non-significant increase in cardiac index. Blood pressure normalized after sprironolactone and after surgery in parallel with a significant decrease in blood volume. DISCUSSION: These hemodynamic disorders in Conn's disease patients suggest that the increase in stroke volume is a consequence of increased venous return and more likely, in myocardium contractility or a combination of both. CONCLUSION: These hemodynamic characteristics of Conn's disease should be useful in guiding monitoring schemes for these patients in the perioperative period.

Adolescent

[Primary hyperoxaluria: Tunisian experience apropos of 24 pediatric cases].

We report on 24 children (10 girls) presenting with primary hyperoxaluria. The mean age at diagnosis was 6.3 years (range: 3 months-14.8 years). The mean interval between initial symptom and diagnosis was 1.3 year. The average follow-up period was 22 months (range: 1-60 months). At the time of diagnosis the renal function was normal in 6 children, moderately altered in 1 and severely in 17. During the follow-up the renal function remained stable in 6 patients, improved in 2, deteriorated in 4. The 12 patients with end-stage renal disease at diagnosis remained unchanged. Urolithiasis were present in all patients older than 2 years, and in 1 among the 5 infants. Medullary nephrocalcinosis was observed in 3 patients in whom the renal function was preserved. Diffuse nephrocalcinosis was present in all patients with end-stage renal failure. Improvement of renal function was secondary to stone removal in 2 patients. Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy performed in 7 patients was efficient only in 3. In 10 patients oxalate bone disease was correlated with both renal function and dialysis duration, whereas retinal involvement noted in 6 patients was not.

Adolescent

[Urinary fistula after transplantation: eleven cases].

OBJECTIVES: To specify the anatomical features of urinary fistulas and to evaluate the results of percutaneous and surgical treatment of post-transplantation urinary fistulas. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 11 urinary fistulas were observed after 160 renal transplantations, corresponding to an incidence of this complication of 6.8%. Urinary fistulas were treated percutaneously in three cases and surgically in eight cases. THE FOLLOWING COMPLICATIONS WERE OBSERVED DURING SURGICAL TREATMENT: extensive necrosis of the urethra in four cases, rupture of the sutures in two cases, a punctate pelvic fistula in one case. RESULTS: The incidence of fistula was 5.8% for Leadbetter reimplantation and 8.1% for Lich-Gregoir extravesical reimplantation. We obtained one success in three patients treated percutaneously and one death and seven successes out of eight patients treated surgically. We performed ureteropelvic anastomosis with the native ureter in the case of extensive necrosis of the ureter (4 cases), a new reimplantation in three cases and suture of the pelvic fistula in one case. CONCLUSION: More than one half of post-transplantation urinary fistulas observed in our department are secondary to ischaemic necrosis of the ureter. We emphasize the value of preservation of the ureteric blood supply during organ harvesting. Post-transplantation urinary fistulas must be treated surgically, as soon as possible, to avoid infectious complications.

Follow-Up Studies

[Infantile forms of primary hyperoxaluria type I: apropos of 4 cases].

BACKGROUND: Approximately 10% of the cases with primary hyperoxaluria type I present before age 1 and are usually classified as neonatal primary oxaluria. CASE REPORTS: Four unrelated infants, aged 3 to 9 months, were admitted for severe renal failure due to primary hyperoxaluria type I. Other affected members were known in two of these four families but the disease was not present at the same age in each family. Echogenicity of kidneys was increased in all the patients and calcium oxalate crystals were seen in the collecting system and within the renal parenchyma. Urolithiasis was not present. Treatment of renal failure, ie, peritoneal dialysis, was uneffective in one patient and was interrupted in two others because organ transplantation was impossible. CONCLUSIONS: The infantile forms of primary hyperoxaluria type I may be rapidly complicated by severe renal failure in the absence of urolithiasis.

Female

[Adult uveitis: apropos of 1 case with acute idiopathic interstitial nephritis].

The association of acute interstitial nephritis and uveitis is rare. In 1975, Dobrin reported a new syndrome in two children presenting acute interstitial nephritis, anterior uveitis and marrow-lymph node granulomas. We report one case of this association in the adult. A 35-year-old man was admitted to the hospital for acute renal failure, arthralgia and anterior uveitis. The infectious and the immunological investigations were negative. The ocular examination shows bilateral anterior uveitis. The renal biopsy revealed acute tubulo-interstitial nephritis. He was treated by prednisone (0.5 mg/Kg/day). His clinical course was favorable. Seven years later, the renal function is normal and we not observed a relapse of his uveitis.

Acute Disease

[Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Decrease of incidence in a medical resuscitation unit at CHU Charles-Nicolle in Tunis].

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major pathogen in hospitals. Between 1985 to 1988, there has been an increase in the number of MRSA (92 %) caused by an epidemic emergency in medical care unit of our hospital. Infections control measures allowed to stop these outbreaks (20 % MRSA in 1990). But incidence of MRSA persist to decrease without supplement control measures and in 1994, only 7 % of Staphylococcus aureus strains are MRSA.

Cross Infection

[Lupus in children in Tunisia].

In this study, we have analyzed the clinical and serological features related to 16 Tunisian children in whom diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus was made before or at the age of 15. Renal involvement was found in 75% of cases and renal biopsies have mostly revealed severe histologic patterns. All of the patients who have been followed received corticosteroids and in some cases required additional cytotoxic drugs in order to control disease activity. Five children died in a context of a renal failure. This study of childhood lupus in Tunisia confirms that the clinical course of this disease in children is often aggressive.

Adolescent

[Spontaneous subcapsular hematoma of the kidney during periarteritis nodosa].

The authors report a case of spontaneous bilateral subcapsular haematoma of the kidney in a patient with polyarteritis nodosa. Although often easy to diagnose, the aetiology of these spontaneous subcapsular haematomas is sometimes difficult to establish despite ultrasonography and computed tomography. The authors emphasise the value of arteriography in these cases, which may reveal pathognomonic signs of polyarteritis nodosa. In this case, the diagnosis was established on the basis of arteriographic findings and the American College of Rheumatology criteria and not on histological criteria.

Adult