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Biomedical subjects

M Bertholet

Publications and source records attributed to M Bertholet.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Dog bite in a splenectomized patient].

We present a case of Capnocytophaga canimorsus fulminant infection linked to a dog bite in a splenectomized patient. Capnocytophaga canimorsus is a gram-negative rod that typically causes septicaemia with disseminated intravascular coagulation in both immunocompromised and immunocompetent hosts. It is associated with high mortality. We also reviewed the literature and provide some recommendations on the management of bite wound as well as on both prevention and treatment of infection in asplenic state.

Adult↗

[Treatment of refractory tachycardias using an implantable cardiac stimulator].

Treatment of tachycardia by permanent cardiac stimulation involves the application of techniques developed in laboratories of clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Clinicians using such treatment must possess detailed knowledge of the physiopathology of arrhythmias and of pacemaker technology, which is essential in the correct selection of patients. We report therapeutic (and not prophylactic) stimulation techniques for treatment of tachycardia, and discuss the possibilities of existing pacemakers and their clinical performance in the light of our own experience and literature data. The results are very promising and suggest that this is a treatment of the future for certain refractory supraventricular tachycardias, and particularly for rapid ventricular tachyarrhythmias. The efficacy and long-term value of this costly treatment in such cases must be evaluated by further studies.

Electric Countershock↗

Programmable extrastimulus pacing for long-term management of supraventricular and ventricular tachycardias: clinical experience in 16 patients.

Sixteen patients with recurrent, drug-resistant supraventricular (13 patients) or ventricular (3 patients) tachycardia were treated chronically by programmable extrastimulus pacing; either a fully automatic device (Telectronics PASAR 4151: eight patients with supraventricular tachycardia) or a patient--activated device (Medtronic Interactive Tachy System) was used. During a follow-up period of 5 to 30 months, five of the subjects treated with the fully automatic device showed successful results, one had recurrent tachycardia, and two had their units explanted for system-related problems. The patients treated with the externally activated device were, on the whole, very well controlled. This mode of treatment, if applied in well-selected cases, is promising; it seems safe and considerably reduces the number of hospital admissions.

Adult↗

Artificial circus movement tachycardias: incidence, mechanisms, and prevention.

In a group of 45 patients treated with Medtronic 7000 and 7100 pulse generators for sick sinus syndrome or second or third degree atrioventricular block, an atrial synchronous mode of pacing was programmed in 34 cases and spontaneously occurring artificial circus movement tachycardias (ACMTs) were observed in nine. An analysis of conditions of occurrence, triggering mechanisms and patterns of ACMT, is presented. Various modalities of prevention are discussed. They resulted in suppression of ACMT in five patients and decrease of incidence in a sixth; the three remaining subjects were managed by definitive reprogramming in the DVI mode. Our conclusion is that correct prevention of ACMT requires the use of dual chamber pulse generators with programmable atrial refractory periods. For patients in whom a unit has already been implanted, careful observation of the triggering mechanism and pattern of ACMT may help in determining the most suitable way to prevent and suppress the arrhythmia.

Adult↗

Clinical experience with implantable devices for control of tachyarrhythmias.

Pacing is becoming an accepted form of treatment for reentry tachycardias. The different pacing modalities available and experience with a patient-activated antitachycardia pacemaker are presented in this paper. This system has bidirectional communication between pacemaker and pacemaker-activator and between pacemaker and prescription formulator (which is a sophisticated portable stimulator used for non-invasive electrophysiological evaluation of the system). This pacemaker was implanted in 18 patients with drug-resistant tachycardias. Six patients had ventricular tachycardia, 3 had A-V nodal reentrant tachycardia, 4 had the concealed accessory pathway, and 5 had the WPW syndrome. In the 3 months before implantation the mean number of admissions for termination of tachycardia was 2.1 per patient-month. During a follow-up period of 3-26 months only 6 patients were admitted once for termination of tachycardia (0.02 admissions per patient-month). The reasons for admission of these 6 patients were: defective pacemaker activator in 2 patients, inadequate control of tachycardia in 2 patients, inappropriate use of the device in 1, and inadequate intake of medication in 1. All these problems were solved easily. Eight pacemaker activators required reprogramming, which was done in 5 patients on an out-patient basis. The interval scanning mode was used in 9 patients. Nine patients required more than 2 stimuli for reproducible termination. A step-wise increase in number of stimuli was used in 5 patients. This system has proven to be a safe and effective form of treatment of drug-resistant supraventricular and ventricular tachycardias and has resulted in marked improvement of the quality of life of these patients.

Adult↗