PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N D Manchon

Publications and source records attributed to N D Manchon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Is presentation of bacteremia in the elderly the same as in younger patients?

OBJECTIVE: To compare the presentation of bacteremia in young and elderly patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy-one elderly (mean age 80.4 years) and 34 younger inpatients (mean age 45.7 years) with bacteremia were prospectively studied. These were compared with a control group of 187 geriatric patients (mean age 81.3 years) with clinical signs of bacteremia but in whom blood cultures were negative. Bacteremia was defined as one or more positive blood cultures showing a pathogenic bacteria in patients with clinical signs of bacteremia. In all 105 patients with bacteremia, 16 common clinical or biological signs of the disease were immediately investigated after blood culture. Patients were classified into three groups: elder patients and young patients with bacteremia and elderly patients without bacteremia. RESULTS: Only three clinical findings of the 16 studied were found in at least 70% of the bacteremic elderly patients: fever, increased erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and a clinical indication of the source of infection. These three signs were found statistically more often in bacteremic elderly compared with nonbacteremic elderly patients (P < 0.01). Seven other signs (hypothermia, altered mental state, leukopenia, and lymphopenia) had a specificity above 80%. On a logistic regression analysis, four variables were significantly and independently associated with bacteremia in the elderly: rapid onset of infection (defined as a period < or = 48 hours between the earliest manifestation of bacteremia and the time of blood blood sample), fever, altered general state, and clinical indication of the source of infection. Younger infected patients had more chills, sweating, alter general state, altered mental state or lymphopenia than did the bacteremic elderly patients. Bacteremic elderly patients had statistically few symptoms than the young infected patients (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In elderly patients with early stage bacteremia, most of the signs or symptoms that are considered typical in the literature appear irregularly. None appeared pathognomonic. Elderly patients with bacteremia had fewer signs or symptoms than younger infected patients.

Aged↗

Prevalence and evolution of anticardiolipin antibodies in giant cell arteritis during corticosteroid therapy. A prospective study of 20 consecutive cases.

IgG and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies (aCA) were studied prospectively in 20 consecutive patients (12 females, eight males, mean age 74.6 +/- 14 yr, range 62-86 yr) with giant cell temporal arteritis before and during corticosteroid therapy (days 7, 30, 90 and 180). IgG-aCA were present in 10 out of 20 cases and in nine out of 12 with positive temporal artery biopsy but were not found in 20 paired control subjects. During steroid therapy aCA levels returned to within the normal range in 60% of patients with positive aCA at day 7 and in 80% at day 30. In two cases aCA persisted during the 6-month follow-up despite clinical and biological success. No association was found between aCA and thrombotic events.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

Does age play a role in clinical presentation of hypothyroidism?

OBJECTIVE: To determine if aging modifies the clinical presentation of hypothyroidism. DESIGN: Comparison of 24 clinical signs of hypothyroidism between elderly patients (> or = 70 years of age) and younger patients (< or = 55 years of age). SETTING: Prospective study of patients with chemically confirmed overt hypothyroidism. PATIENTS: Sixty seven elderly patients (79.3 +/- 6.7 years) and 54 younger patients (40.8 +/- 9 years) were included in the study. RESULTS: Neither mean duration of evolution nor mean thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) level were different between the 2 groups. Two signs were found in more than 50% of the elderly patients (fatigue and weakness). Four signs were significantly less frequent in elderly patients (chilliness, paresthesiae, weight gain, and cramps). Mean number of clinical signs in the elderly (6.6 +/- 4) was significantly smaller than in young patients (9.3 +/- 4.7) (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the presentation of hypothyroidism is altered in the elderly in comparison with young patients in that there are (1) fewer signs or symptoms and (2) diminished frequency of some classical signs. Our results underline the importance of TSH measurement in the elderly.

Adult↗

[Increase of aminotransferases].

Elevated aminotransferases activities are frequent in medical practice. In acute elevations, the mains causes are generally easily found (viral, drug-induced, toxic, ischemic). In moderate or prolonged elevations, the most frequent causes are steatosis (alcoholic, diabetes, obesity) and chronic hepatitis (viral B, D, C, drug-induced and auto-immune diseases.

Acute Disease↗

[Inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor and its derivatives in inflammatory syndromes].

Modifications of inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor (ITI) in inflammatory syndromes were determined by studying its serum components: ITI 80 (the native form) and serum derivatives (SD), as well as urinary ITI derivatives (UID) excretion in 31 controls and 128 patients with inflammatory of various origins. The patients were divided into 4 groups: Group I bacterial infections (n = 29); Group II cancers (n = 50); Group III inflammatory diseases (n = 14); Group IV inflammatory syndromes due to other causes (n = 35). Other markers of inflammation were also studied. In bacterial infections and cancers ITI 80 concentrations were significantly decreased, with values of 0.55 +/- 0.15 g/l and 0.54 +/- 0.15 g/l respectively vs 0.65 +/- 0.11 g/l in controls. SD concentrations were significantly increased in all 4 groups: Gr I: 0.31 +/- 0.12 g/l; Gr II: 0.30 +/- 0.11 g/l; Gr III: 0.25 +/- 0.08 g/l; Gr IV: 0.24 +/- 0.10 g/l, as compared with 0.16 +/- 0.09 in controls. UID excretion was increased in all cases, particularly in bacterial infections and cancers (10.8 +/- 13.4 and 6.0 +/- 8.8 mg/mmol of creatinine vs 1.5 +/- 1.7 g/mmol). A significant correlation was observed between CRP levels and SD levels. In bacterial infections and cancers, a fall in ITI associated with a rise in SD and an increase in UID excretion is suggestive of degradation of the native form. In inflammatory diseases and inflammatory syndromes of other causes, the rise in SD without significant variations in ITI 80 suggests and increase in SD synthesis. The correlation between CRP and SD seems to indicate that SD are produced in the early stage of inflammatory syndromes.

Adult↗

[Liver lipogranulomas with log-term fever caused by paraffin oil].

In hepatic granuloma, identification of lipogranulomas generally leads to etiological diagnosis. The case reported here was granulomatosis due to mineral oil ingestion, revealed by prolonged fever. In the literature lipogranulomas are generally asymptomatic and diagnosed at autopsy.

Aged↗

[A case of primary osteosarcoma of the liver].

The authors report a case of primary osteosarcoma of the liver in a 75 year-old man with post hepatitic B cirrhosis. The hepatic tumor was discovered on ultrasound and computed tomography. Angiography showed a hypervascularized tumor. The patient died rapidly. Diagnosis of primary osteosarcoma of the liver was established through histopathological examination of post mortem specimens and was confirmed by immunohistochemical study. From this and two other previously reported cases the authors describe the different primary hepatic tumors mimicking osteosarcoma.

Aged↗

Carbimazole-induced acute cholestatic hepatitis.

A case of carbimazole-induced cholestatic hepatitis is presented. A woman received carbimazole for hyperthyroidism for 3 months. Five months later, she had prompt recurrence of cholestasis parameters after rechallenge (2 days of treatment). Histologic examination showed predominantly centrilobular cholestasis. Only 5 other cases have been published in the literature. An idiosyncratic mechanism seems likely.

Acute Disease↗

[Diagnostic value of a distinct rise in sedimentation rate].

Among the 931 patients who were admitted, over a 9-month period, to an internal medicine department, a group of 84 patients (9 p. 100) whose erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 70 mm or more at 1 hour was selected and compared to the remaining 847 patients whose ESR was below 70 mm at 1 hour. In most cases, a pathology likely to account for the distinct rise observed in ESR was found (infection in 42 p. 100 of the cases, malignant disease in 27 p. 100, inflammation in 20 p. 100), and only 5 p. 100 of these rises remained unexplained. This makes an ESR of 70 mm or more a good index of morbidity generally, without pointing at any specific disease. An ESR of 70 mm or more has very low sensitivity (always below 30 p. 100), so that no disease whatsoever can be excluded when the ESR is only slightly elevated. Moreover, in all but infectious diseases a distinctly high ESR is not an index of severity.

Aged↗

[Changes in arterial pressure in the postprandial period in the elderly].

The repercussions of food intake on blood pressure may account for certain malaises which occur after meals in elderly people. In this study, blood pressure and heart rate were measured during and after a meal in 39 elderly hospital patients divided into two groups depending on whether or not they were taking drugs likely to act on arterial blood pressure. The patients were compared with two groups of controls: 29 young adults examined after a meal and 16 elderly subjects examined at a distance from meals. A significant fall in blood pressure starting 18 minutes after the meal and without concomitant increase in heart rate, was observed in the 2 groups of elderly patients. No significant changes in blood pressure and heart rate were observed in the 2 control groups. In elderly people, food intake might act on blood pressure through entrapment of blood in splanchnic territories and/or through alteration of baroreceptors.

Aged↗