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N Tahri

Publications and source records attributed to N Tahri.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

[Monoclonal gammapathies in Tunisia: epidemiological, immunochemical and etiological analysis of 288 cases].

From July 1992 to December 2000, 288 cases of monoclonal gammapathy (MG) were collected at the university hospital of Sfax. The middle age of the patients at the time of the diagnosis was 62 years and 7 months with extremes to 18 months and 99 years and median to 64 years. One hundred and eighty-two patients were men and 106 women. Among the 270 observations for which aetiology has been established, 73 were classified MG of undetermined significance (MGUS), 160 myeloma (or plasmocytoma) and 37 other malignant MG (Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia: 13, lymphoma: 9, alpha heavy chains disease: 6, primary amyloidosis: 5, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: 4). Rheumatological affections (19.2%), infections and renal failure (10% each), haematological and autoimmune diseases (9.6% each) were pathologies most often associated with MGUS. Agarose gel electrophoresis did not show a monoclonal peak in 16% of the cases. In the 242 patients with a peak on electrophoresis, the peak was in the beta zone in 22% of cases and in the gamma zone in 78% of cases. The IgG isotype represents more than the half of the cases of our set (51.7%). IgG is even more predominant in the MGUS group (65.8%). The IgA isotype counts for 20.8% of the cases in our set and the free light chains (kappa or lambda) for 13.6% of the cases whereas the IgM represents 8.7% only of the 288 cases of our set which involves three cases of IgD myeloma and six cases of biclonal gammapathy.

Adolescent↗

[Cutaneous metastases revealing gastric linitis].

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous metastases from gastric carcinoma are uncommon and are exceptionally the first sign of disease. CASE REPORT: A 33-year-old man presented with nodular lesions that had developed three months earlier on the trunk, scalp and limbs. A skin biopsy suggested a metastatic origin. The upper digestive fibroscopy with biopsy demonstrated gastric linitis. Due to the presence of bone metastasis, treatment was not initiated, the patient died four months later. DISCUSSION: Metastatic dissemination of gastric carcinoma to the skin usually occurs in advanced stage disease. Generally, the skin lesions are painless hard nodules on the anterior abdominal wall. Our patient developed unusual inaugural skin metastases with an exceptional localization.

Adult↗

[Thyrotoxicosis hepatitis: a case report].

Abnormal liver function in thyroid disorders may be secondary to thyrotoxicosis or to autoimmune injury to the liver. We report the case of a 36-year-old female who developed jaundice and pruritus with mild cholestasis and moderately elevated transaminase levels. The diagnosis of Graves' disease was made shortly thereafter. Laboratory findings were: alanine and aspartate aminotransferase 219 (IU/I (N: 9-50) and 102 IU/I (N: 10-15) respectively, alkaline phosphatase 336 IU/I (N: 40-135), bilirubin 24 micromol/I (N: 2-23), and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase 232 IU/I (N: 9-43). Abdominal ultrasonography showed normal bile ducts; echocardiography ruled out heart failure; viral and autoimmune markers for hepatitis and cirrhosis were negative. Percutaneous liver biopsy showed moderate intrahepatic steatosis, anisokaryosis, lymphocyte infiltration in the portal areas, and Kupffer cell hyperplasia. Outcome was favorable after seven months of iodine therapy, confirming the diagnosis of thyrotoxicosis hepatitis.

Adult↗

[Hodgkin's disease with esophageal involvement].

INTRODUCTION: Esophageal involvement in Hodgkin's disease, commonly known as a belated localization of the advanced forms, has been seldom reported (3 to 5% in post-mortem series and 0.7% in clinical series). EXEGESIS: We report the case of a 61-year-old man who had an esophagus localization revealing Hodgkin's disease stage IV EBb of Ann Arbor classification. The originality of this case was represented by: the revelation mode of the esophageal involvement such as dysphagia and upper gastrointestinal bleeding; the localization at the distal third of the esophagus with contiguous involvement of the gastric fundus; the absence of mediastinal nodes showing the primitive character of the esophageal injury. CONCLUSION: This observation incites us to consider Hodgkin's disease in the list of differential diagnoses of tumoral dysphagia, even if there was no ganglionic and/or visceral localization of the disease.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗

[Use of GEE for modeling censored correlated data: application to the study of risk factors for withdrawal of totally implantable vascular access devices in cystic fibrosis].

BACKGROUND: The proportional hazards model proposed by Cox for modeling censored data is not suited for correlated delays, for instance when several events can be observed on each subject. METHODS: To analyze correlated delays, we propose to use a log-linear marginal model equivalent to Cox model. Correlations are taken into account through the use of Liang and Zeger's Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) and of their robust variance estimator. An advantage of this method is that it can be implemented through the SAS GENMOD procedure. When ties are observed, we propose to use multiple imputations, creating M data sets without ties from the original one. RESULTS: This method is applied to a retrospective survey on the risk of withdrawing totally implantable vascular access devices (TIVAD) because of complication in cystic fibrosis patients: 265 TIVAD implanted in 200 patients were observed. Risk factors were characteristics of the device or of the patient. Results obtained with the robust variance estimator and ten imputations show that the use of the device for taking blood (vs exclusive perfusion of antibiotics), polyurethane catheter (vs. silicon), use of counterpressure for upkeeping and pulmonary colonization by Pseudomonas Aeruginosa are significantly associated to withdrawal. Under the Cox model which does not account for the correlations, some conclusions differ because the robust variance of the estimators is smaller than the variance obtained under the working assumption of independent delays. CONCLUSION: This approach allows the modeling of correlated survival data with SAS software. Our results illustrate the necessity of accounting for existing correlations.

Catheters, Indwelling↗

[An unusual cause of dysphagia: cervical schwannoma of the prevertebral space. Radioclinical correlations].

The authors report a case of cervical schwannoma with an atypical clinical expression, site and imaging features. The anteromedian lesion lying in the prevertebral and retropharyngeal spaces accounts for its clinical expression in the form of dysphagia. The target appearance on computed tomography and on the T2-weighted MRI sequence was suggestive of a neurofibroma and was due to deposition of fibrin and haemorrhagic exudates in the center of the lesion. The presence of a prevertebral ansa cervicalis in front of the long muscles of the neck, between the longus capitis and longus colli muscles, accounts for the vertical, elongated appearance of this tumour involving the prevertebral space.

Deglutition Disorders↗

[Sensitivity, specificity and prognostic value of CEA in colorectal cancer: results of a Tunisian series and literature review].

In order to determine the sensitivity of CEA in the diagnosis of colo-rectal carcinoma, we studied a series of 48 patients with colo-rectal carcinoma (1992-1996). The sensitivity was at 52% with a reference value of 5 ng/ml and 68.7% for a reference value of 2.5 ng/ml. With a reference value of 5 ng/ml, the sensitivity of CEA was at 37% only for patients with colo-rectal carcinoma at Dukes B stage, 66.6% for patients at stage C and 75% for patients at stage D. The dosage of CEA was carried out with a sandwich immunoenzymatic technique in tube. There is no statistic significant correlation between the pre-operative rate of CEA and the localisation of the tumor and its histologic type; in contrast, it was significantly correlated with the ganglionnary metastasis. A significant relationship between the pre-operative rate of CEA and the Dukes stage was found for a reference value of 10 ng/ml but not for a reference value of 5 ng/ml. We calculated the specificity of the CEA for the cancers of colon and rectum which was at 76.98% with a reference value of 5 ng/ml and 86% with a reference value of 10 ng/ml.

Adult↗

[Gastrointestinal polyposis in Bourneville's tuberous sclerosis: an involvement often overlooked].

Ten patients (5 male, 5 female, mean age: 29.4 years) with tuberous sclerosis were investigated for gastrointestinal polyps. Three had adenomatous colonic polyps, one had a single duodenal hamartomatous polyp and the fifth a hyperplastic gastric polyp. This high prevalence (50%) should put the gastro-intestinal investigation as a useful test in the diagnosis of tuberous sclerosis, particularly in the incomplete varieties of disease. Conversely, tuberous sclerosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of digestive polyposis.

Adolescent↗