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Biomedical subjects

Michael E Höllwarth

Publications and source records attributed to Michael E Höllwarth.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2007

Bilateral congenital diaphragmatic hernia and gastroschisis in a newborn: can low intrathoracic pressure prevent the pulmonary hypoplasia?

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is associated with high mortality and morbidity due to pulmonary hypoplasia (PH) and persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPH). Bilateral CDH is extremely rare with poor prognosis. It is usually accepted that PH in CDH is due to the herniation of abdominal viscera in the thorax leading to compression of the lung and preventing the normal lung development. On the other hand, some authors suggest that the PH occurs independently from the intrathoracic pressure in foetuses with CDH because of embryologic and genetic factors. We report a case of a newborn with bilateral CDH and gastroschisis born without PH, with favourable outcome. We support the hypothesis that a low intrathoracic pressure in patients with CDH allows an improved lung development.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed2006

[Treatment of medial epicondylar apophyseal avulsion injury in children].

OBJECTIVE: Surgical reduction and retention of apophyseal avulsion injuries at the medial epicondyle to prevent joint instability, lasting malalignment, or pseudarthrosis. INDICATIONS: Absolute: intraarticular apophyseal dislocation of the medial epicondyle, complete lesion of the ulnar nerve. Relative: dislocation of the apophysis (> 4 mm) in children > 5 years of age; the need for intervention increases in children as the degree of dislocation, age, and athletic activity increase. CONTRAINDICATIONS: Dislocation of the medial epicondyle (< or = 4 mm) in children < 5 years of age, provided the fragment location is not intraarticular. SURGICAL TECHNIQUE: Open reduction of the apophysis through a medial approach. Identification of the ulnar nerve. In young children or with small fragments fixation with Kirschner wire. Screw fixation in older children or for larger fragments. POSTOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT: Long upper-arm plaster cast until wound healing is achieved. Subsequently, upper-arm plaster cast for 3 weeks. Removal of Kirschner wires after 4-6 weeks, screw removal after 8-12 weeks. Physiotherapy only if marked reduction of elbow mobility is found 6 weeks after cast removal. RESULTS: From January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2003, 25 children with an average age of 12 years suffering from medial epicondylar avulsion fractures were operated on using open reduction and Kirschner wire fixation. An average of 3 years after the injury 14 of these children underwent follow-up examination using a procedure that took subjective, clinical and radiologic parameters into account. Two children showed a slight reduction in overall strength of the injured extremity when compared with the contralateral extremity. One child had a flexion deficit of 10 degrees, all other children showed movement limitations of < or = 5 degrees compared to the contralateral extremity. In all the cases available to follow-up, there was a slight increase in valgus alignment of the elbow joint compared with the uninjured side (3 degrees on average). All fractures consolidated within 6 weeks.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Management of acute scrotum in children--the impact of Doppler ultrasound.

BACKGROUND: Investigation of the value of scrotal Doppler ultrasound (DUS) in the diagnosis of acute scrotum and its impact on the treatment strategy was undertaken. METHOD: Seventy-nine children (mean age, 9.2 years) with acute scrotum were prospectively studied. The protocol included history, clinical examination, scrotal DUS, and standard laboratory analysis. Depending on scrotal DUS findings, the children were treated either nonoperatively (normal or increased testicular blood flow) or surgically (reduced or absent testicular blood flow). A follow-up investigation 6 weeks after discharge included a scrotal DUS. RESULTS: In 66 children (84%), the result of DUS determined the management; 26 children with hyperperfusion (epididymitis and orchitis), 18 children with appendix testis torsion (ATT), and 9 children with normal perfusion (edema and hematoma) were treated nonoperatively. The follow-up examination revealed no testicular atrophy and confirmed the primary diagnosis. Ten children without testicular perfusion and suspected torsion and 3 children with orchitis and pyocele were surgically explored, and again, the initial DUS diagnosis was verified. In the remaining 13 patients (16%), the result of the ultrasound examination was unclear. Of these, 6 children were noncompliant and refused to undergo ultrasonography. Another 4 children were explored because of persistence of symptoms. In 3 additional patients, a testicular tumor was suspected. All these 13 children underwent surgical exploration, revealing inflammation (epididymitis) in 6 children and acute ATT in 4 children, whereas the suspected tumor emerged as postacute ATT in 3 boys. CONCLUSION: In 84% of children with acute scrotal pain, the DUS was able to differentiate between surgical emergencies and other etiologies. In 16% of our pediatric patients, the DUS remained unclear, thereby necessitating surgical exploration.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Antegrade scrotal sclerotherapy for treating primary varicocele in children.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of antegrade sclerotherapy (AS) for the treatment of primary varicocele in childhood. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From December 1996 to December 2004, 88 patients (mean age 13.3 years, range 9-18) with primary varicocele underwent AS (91 varicocele ablations in all). The indications for surgery were testicular pain (16 boys, 18%), a large varicocele with cosmetic implications, testicular hypotrophy (one) and in 71 (81%) the varicocele was detected incidentally during a routine physical examination; all were left-sided. According to the classification used by Tauber, 46 (52%) varicoceles were grade II and 42 (48%) grade III. The clinical and ultrasonography (US) results were evaluated over a median (range) follow-up of 11 (3-60) months, and the operative duration, X-ray exposure time, persistence rate of varicoceles and complications were compared with those using other techniques. RESULTS: In 11 patients there was a palpable difference in size between the testicles, but in only five (6%) was testicular hypotrophy (testicular volume (<75% testicular volume vs the normal side) confirmed by US. The mean (sem) operative duration for AS was 33.2 (2.14) min. In 16 (18%) patients it was necessary to expose a second or third vein because the first vein chosen was unsuitable for sclerotherapy. The mean operative radiation exposure was 2.18 (0.21) s. One patient (1%) was treated with a high ligature of the testicular vein (Palomo procedure) after initial unsuccessful AS, and was excluded from the analysis. Eighty-four (97%) patients were eligible for follow-up: six (7%) had a persistent varicocele (four grade II, two grade III), four of whom had repeat sclerotherapy successfully (no recurrence at follow-up). Fourteen (15%) patients had enlarged testicular veins only on US (varicocele grade 0). No patient developed a hydrocele after AS, There were complications after surgery in three (3%) patients (two superficial wound infections, one scrotal haematoma together with focal testicular necrosis). CONCLUSIONS: AS is an efficient minimally invasive surgical method for correcting varicoceles in older children, although the operative duration is sometimes longer than in adults, and surgery can be more difficult because of the smaller veins. Partial testicular necrosis, despite correct AS, is a very rare but serious complication.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Analysis of dog bites in children who are younger than 17 years.

OBJECTIVES: This study focuses on the pattern of incidence, mechanisms, and circumstances of accident and injury in a series of pediatric patients who sustained dog bites. METHODS: In our retrospective survey, the medical charts of all children who were younger than 17 years and sought medical attention after a dog bite between 1994 and 2003 were reviewed. To obtain the total number of each dog breed in the administrative district, we analyzed 5873 files from the community dog registers. For establishment of a risk index, the representation of a dog breed among the total canine population was divided by the frequency of dog bites from this breed. RESULTS: A total of 341 children (mean age: 5.9 years) were identified. The annual incidence of dog bites was 0.5 per 1000 children between 0 and 16 years of age. Incidence was highest in 1-year-old patients and decreased with increasing age. The relative risk for a dog attack by a German shepherd or a Doberman was approximately 5 times higher than that of a Labrador/retriever or cross-breed. The vast majority (82%) of the dogs were familiar to the children. Most (322; 94%) of the children had injuries to 1 body region; in the remaining 19 (6%) children, up to 3 body regions were injured. Of 357 injuries, the face, head, and neck region was the leading site affected (50%). Inpatient treatment was required in 93 (27%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Dog bites in children are frequent and influenced by the breed-related behavior of dogs, dog owners, children, and parents. Therefore, prevention strategies should focus on public education and training of dogs and their owners. Children who are younger than 10 years represent the high-risk group for dog attacks.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Somatosensory evoked potentials in children with severe head trauma.

UNLABELLED: We evaluated the predictive value of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) in a series of children with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The prospective clinical investigation was performed in a Level I paediatric trauma centre. We included 26 consecutive comatose paediatric patients aged from 1 month to 17 years (median age 11 years) following severe TBI (initial Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) 8 or below). Besides SEP recordings, the intracranial pressure and the results of an initial cranial CT scan were filed. The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) was used to assess outcome at discharge. Thirteen children had normal SEP measurements, three patients had abnormal SEP recordings and a cortical response was bilaterally absent in ten children. Out of 26 children, 10 died whereas two remained in a persistent vegetative state. Only one child suffered from significant neurological deficits (GOS 3) at discharge. Seven patients survived with a GOS of 4 and six children survived without neurological impairment (GOS 5). Normal SEP indicated a favourable outcome in most children but did not rule out the occurrence of death, while absence of SEP was related to unfavourable outcome in all cases. CONCLUSION: Measurement of somatosensory evoked potentials provides valuable data for determining the prognosis at early coma stages. Our data show that an unfavourable outcome can be predicted with higher precision than a favourable outcome.

Brain Injuries↗
PubMed2005

Should an infected Nuss bar be removed?

BACKGROUND: The Nuss procedure is a minimally invasive procedure for correction of pectus excavatum. It involves insertion of a substernal metal bar. A feared complication of any implanted device is infection, which often necessitates removal. The purpose of this report is to describe the authors' experience with infectious complications after the Nuss procedure. METHODS: From February 2000 to July 2002, 102 patients underwent the Nuss procedure in 2 pediatric surgical centers. In a retrospective way, the files of those patients in whom a postoperative infection developed were studied. RESULTS: Seven patients suffered postoperative infectious complications. Only one bar needed to be removed. CONCLUSION: The authors' experience indicates that there is no need for immediate removal of an infected Nuss bar. Most of these infections can be managed conservatively. However, early antibiotic treatment is warranted to ensure salvage of the bar.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Williams-Beuren syndrome associated with caudal regression syndrome and coagulopathy--a case report.

Williams-Beuren syndrome is a genetic disorder caused by a heterozygous deletion at 7q11.23. The present report describes a female patient with Williams-Beuren syndrome combined with caudal regression syndrome and two forms of coagulopathy. Besides the typical developmental abnormalities such as mental and growth retardation, a distinctive facial appearance, and cardiovascular anomalies, our patient showed fusion of fourth and fifth lumbar vertebra and a sacrococcygeal agenesis. Blood coagulation tests revealed a deficiency of coagulation factor XI and XII. Magnetic resonance imaging angiography showed multiple vascular stenoses mainly in the abdominal aorta and its major branches as a consequence of the insufficient elastin gene. Previous reports identified a deletion of HLXB9 as a possible genetic cause of the caudal regression syndrome, which could not be identified in the present case. This unusual combination of the above-mentioned genetic disorders has not been published so far.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Subsequent displacement of initially nondisplaced and minimally displaced fractures of the lateral humeral condyle in children.

BACKGROUND: Although conservative treatment is a well-established method for treating nondisplaced and minimally displaced (< or =2 mm) fractures of the lateral humeral condyle in children, there is still great uncertainty concerning the rate and time course of subsequent displacement. Therefore, the appropriate frequency of radiographic follow-up remains unclear. The aim of the study was to determine the rate of subsequent displacement after conservative treatment of nondisplaced and minimally displaced fractures of the lateral humeral condyle in children. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 51 consecutive patients with nondisplaced and minimally displaced fractures of the lateral humeral condyle was performed. RESULTS: Five fractures (9.8%) displaced within 5 days while immobilized and were safely detected by a follow-up radiograph within 1 week after trauma. Additional follow-up radiographs between the first and third weeks did not show relevant alterations in the fracture gap. Mean time of cast immobilization was 22 days, with a range of 17 to 34 days. No pseudarthrosis occurred. CONCLUSION: Fractures with less than or equal to 2 mm of displacement can probably be primarily treated safely by cast immobilization. Anteroposterior and lateral radiographs out of plaster between the fourth and sixth days are necessary to diagnose subsequent displacement of unstable fractures, whereas further "late" displacement did not occur.

Casts, Surgical↗
PubMed2004

Blunt liver trauma in children.

Diagnostic evaluation and treatment of blunt liver trauma in children have changed essentially over the last decades. In the period between January 1975 and December 2002, a total of 45 children, 18 girls and 27 boys, between the ages of 1 and 16 years (mean 8.19) were treated for liver rupture following blunt abdominal trauma. The most common causes of injury were traffic accidents (49%), followed by falls (22%), direct trauma due to impact (20%) and being run over by a vehicle (9%). A total of 26 patients had one or more concomitant injuries; the injury severity score was between 16 and 57 (mean 22.9), and 16 patients had additional injuries to other solid abdominal organs. Since we last used laparotomies to explore the abdomen and manage liver ruptures in 1984, we divided our patients into two groups with respect to the choice of diagnostic and treatment modalities: group I, consisting of children treated before 1984, and group II, consisting of children treated after 1985. In group I (n=12), a diagnosis was made in eight cases based on exploratory laparotomy, in two cases based on sonography and laparoscopy, in one case based on laparoscopy only, and in another case based on sonography only. In eight cases the rupture was treated operatively; there was one postsurgical sepsis and one ileus due to adhesions. One child hemorrhaged to death when the vena cava ruptured during surgery. In group II (n=33), sonography was sufficient for a diagnosis in 18 cases. In 12 cases an additional computed tomographic scan was performed following initial sonography, and in three cases a diagnostic laparotomy was done elsewhere. In five cases the rupture was treated operatively in other hospitals. Twenty-eight patients could be treated conservatively and without any complications. One child died 3 days after the accident as a result of a severe brain injury. Over the past 15 years we have seen a clear tendency toward conservative treatment of our patients, which is also in agreement with current literature. Initial sonography, supplemented by computed tomography when necessary, allows not only noninvasive initial diagnostic evaluation but is also helpful in the further course in hemodynamic stable patients. All patients who had been treated conservatively (n=30) had no complications related to the liver rupture.

Abdominal Injuries↗
PubMed2004

Paediatric problems in a paediatric surgical department.

It is not unusual for paediatric surgical patients to suffer from paediatric diseases in addition to their surgical problems. These diseases demand further diagnostic procedures and pre- or postoperative therapy. The aim of this study was to discover how many and what kinds of additional paediatric diseases are seen in our paediatric surgical inpatients. We retrospectively evaluated the hospital charts of all inpatients for 1 year. The following data were collected: cause of admission, therapeutic procedure (conservative/operative), surgical discharge diagnosis, additional paediatric diagnoses, and transfer to other departments. A total number of 5,026 hospital stays for 5,840 operations in 4,300 children was evaluated. In 38% of all hospital stays, the children had one or more paediatric diseases. These could be divided into two groups: acute diseases and chronic conditions. In the acute group, 638 children suffered from acute infectious diseases such as respiratory infections and enteritis/gastroenteritis. The most common chronic conditions were allergy, asthma, epilepsy, anaemia, and mental retardation. A special group of patients consists of 21% of the children admitted because of suspected appendicitis. These children not only had a significantly higher incidence of additional paediatric diseases (mostly acute infectious diseases), but also a higher incidence of atopic diseases compared with the patients admitted for other reasons. The early diagnosis and treatment of additional paediatric diseases is essential for the success of paediatric surgery. The paediatrician has a significant role in caring for surgical patients and assisting in the perioperative management, but the paediatric surgeon should also be aware of the spectrum of medical diseases.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

Constipation and intestinal neuronal dysplasia type B: a clinical follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE: Intestinal neuronal dysplasia type B (IND B) is one of the gastrointestinal motility disorders with a defined malformation of the parasympathetic submucous and myenteric ganglia. The clinical presentation of IND B is variable, ranging from intestinal obstruction in the neonatal period to acute or chronic constipation in childhood. METHODS: Between 1993 and 1996, 105 patients (49 females and 56 males) were treated for constipation, and in all of them an IND type B was confirmed histopathologically. Twenty-two neonates, 42 infants to 6 months of age (38% of them were premature, and 5% had additional malformations), and 41 patients to the age of 4 years were included in this study. All 105 patients had been treated conservatively. Treatment consisted of diet in all patients, cisapride in 70% of them, laxatives in 52%, and repeated anal dilatations in 12% of the patients. The mean duration of their treatment lasted from 3 months to 10 months (mean, 6 months). RESULTS: The clinical follow-up 5 to 9 years later in 89 of the 108 (85%) patients showed daily defecation in 80% of them and every second day in 14% of them. Only 5 (6%) patients experience recurrent constipation, which responds well to diet and laxatives. CONCLUSIONS: In young patients, constipation related to IND B can be treated successfully by conservative treatment regimens, including diet, laxatives, and prokinetic drugs.

Age of Onset↗
PubMed2003

Multiple trauma in pediatric patients.

We analyzed the causes and diagnoses, the treatment, short and long-term outcome of a consecutive series of 70 pediatric polytrauma patients. From 1989 to 1996, 70 children (aged 10 months to 16 years, mean 7.4 years) presented with multiple trauma. A follow-up investigation was performed 4.2 years (mean) after the accident. Traffic accidents (68%) were the leading cause of injuries. Among all injuries (mean ISS 24.6 range 17-57), injuries of the head/neck area were most frequent (87%) followed by extremity fractures (76%) and 135 operations were performed on 55 children, mostly for fracture stabilisation. All multiple injured children survived. At discharge 25 children were still impaired (36% of 70). At follow-up 58 patients were revisited, 11 (19% of 58) presented with impairments, 8 of those (73% of 11) following severe head trauma. This study showed a 10% rate of late impairment due to the severity of the primary head trauma.

Adolescent↗