PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Necla Tulek

Publications and source records attributed to Necla Tulek.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Evaluation of the clinical presentations in neurobrucellosis.

BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is a multisystem disease that may present with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations and complications. Neurobrucellosis is one of the complications. METHODS: In this study, we describe our experience in the diagnosis, treatment, and the final outcomes of 20 patients with neurobrucellosis out of 305 patients with brucellosis, within a five-year period between January 1999 and June 2004. RESULTS: The rate of neurobrucellosis was 6.6%. Twelve males and eight females with a mean age of 37.4 years were investigated. Fever, headache, confusion, and gait disorders were the main complaints. The duration of their complaints varied between one week and six months. On physical examination, 13 patients had fever, six had neck stiffness and confusion, three had motor deficit on either their upper or lower extremities, and four of them had diplopia. The Rose-Bengal test and standard tube agglutination tests were positive in all of the patients. Brucella melitensis was isolated from the blood of six of the 20 (30%) patients. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was analyzed in 18 patients. Pleocytosis with a mean value of 244x10(6)cells/L, and high protein levels were detected in all. A low glucose level in the CSF was detected in ten patients. Patients were treated medically and a complete resolution was achieved in all. CONCLUSION: Patients with a Brucella infection occasionally manifest central nervous system involvement. Clinicians, especially serving in endemic areas or serving patients coming from endemic areas should consider the likelihood of neurobrucellosis in the patients with unexplained neurological and psychiatric symptoms, and should perform the necessary tests on blood and CSF.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Bacteriuria, pyuria and bacteremia frequency following outpatient cystoscopy.

AIM: The assumed necessity of antimicrobial prophylaxis prior to cystoscopy is controversial. In this study, the rate of bacteriuria, pyuria and bacteremia in outpatients who underwent cystoscopy without antimicrobial prophylaxis is investigated prospectively. METHODS: The study included 75 patients who underwent cystoscopy for various indications and had sterile urine prior to intervention. A clean midstream urine sample was obtained 24 h before and 48 h after the procedure. Blood cultures were taken 1 h after cystoscopy. Patients were questioned for newly developed symptoms 48 h after cystoscopy. Blood cultures were taken again from patients who presented with fever. RESULTS: Six patients (8%) developed significant bacteriuria, and six patients (8%) developed pyuria without significant bacteriuria. Bacteremia was not determined in any of the patients. The association between presence of pyuria prior to the procedure and development of bacteriuria after the procedure was significant (P < 0.05). Four patients out of six who had bacteriuria were asymptomatic. In our study we found significant bacteriuria after cystoscopy in 8% of patients, and no bacteremia. CONCLUSIONS: Thus we conclude that cystoscopy is a safe and well-tolerated procedure. Antimicrobial prophylaxis should not be administrated unless specific indications are present.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Evaluation of brainstem auditory potential in brucellosis patients with and without neurological involvement.

This study investigated the changes in brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) in acute phase of brucellosis. Twenty-two patients with brucellosis without neurologic involvement and seven patients with neurobrucellosis were included. BAEPs were evaluated before treatment. No patient had a symptom of hearing loss. Patients who had neurologic involvement did not show any abnormalities in their BAEPs recording. This study suggests that patients with brucellosis who are in the acute phase of the disease with or without neurological involvement may have normal BAEPs. BAEPs do not seem to be a sensitive method for central nervous system involvement of brucella patients in the acute phase of the disease.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2005

Epididymoorchitis due to brucellosis in central Anatolia, Turkey.

Brucellosis may involve many organs and tissues. Epididymoorchitis is a focal genitourinary complication of human brucellosis. In this study, we describe our experience with the diagnosis, treatment, and final outcomes of 17 patients with epididymoorchitis out of 186 male patients with brucellosis between March 1999 and December 2003. The rate of epididymoorchitisdue to brucellosiswas 9.1%. All subjects complained about swollen, painful testicles. The duration of their complaint varied between 1 week and 2 months. Both testis and epididymis were involved in 15 patients and 2 had bilateral involvement. The patients were treated with medical treatment and a complete resolution was achieved in all of them. Patients with Brucella infection occasionally manifest genitourinary complications. Clinicians, especially those serving in endemic areas or serving patients coming from endemic areas, should consider the likelihood of brucellosis as a cause of epididymoorchitis.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Pulmonary involvement in brucellosis.

OBJECTIVES: Pulmonary involvement is a rare manifestation of brucellosis. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and forms of pulmonary involvement in the course of brucellosis. METHODS: A prospective study was carried out in 110 patients with brucellosis. All the patients were evaluated with their pulmonary symptoms, physical examination and chest radiography. If pulmonary pathologic findings were present, patients underwent additional diagnostic evaluations including computerized tomography of the thorax and pulmonary function tests. RESULTS: From 110 patients, 11 (six females and five males) were diagnosed as pulmonary brucellosis. Eight of 11 patients had pulmonary symptoms including cough, sputum and dyspnoea. Radiologic findings were parenchymal nodules, lobar pneumonia, paratracheal lymphadenopathy and pleural effusion. At the end of the treatment of brucellosis, clinical findings of pulmonary involvement were recovered in all patients except four dyspnoeic patients who had coexisting COPD. Radiological findings were normal in three and improved in four patients after 6 months of the treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Pulmonary involvement is a rare event in the course of brucellosis. But especially in endemic regions, brucellosis should never be forgotten as a causative agent in patients with pulmonary symptoms.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Osteoarticular involvement of brucellosis and HLA-B27 antigen frequency in Turkish patients.

The aim of the present study is to investigate a possible association between osteoarticular involvement of brucellosis and HLA-B27 antigen. Standard microtoxicity technique method was used for detection of HLA-B27 antigen in 78 patients with brucellosis and 100 healthy donors. Osteoarticular complications were defined in 25 of 78 patients (32.1%). Overall frequency of HLA-B27 in the study group was 14.1% (11/78) and 16% (4/25) in patients with osteoarticular involvement, while it was 8% (8/100) in the control group. Although HLA-B27 frequency in osteoarticular group was slightly higher than both of the other two groups, there was no significant difference (p > 0.05). Conclusively, we could say that further studies including a larger number of patients with osteoarticular involvement of brucellosis may need to be performed in order to find a possible association.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Unusual clinical presentations of brucellosis.

The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to atypical presentations of brucellosis. A prospective study identified 240 consecutive patients with brucellosis admitted to our department between December 1999 and July 2002. From these cases we present 11 patients with unusual clinical presentations. Neurobrucellosis, peritonitis, pericarditis, pancytopenia, and uveitis were diagnosed in 2 patients each and 1 presented with epididymo-orchitis.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

A rare cause of wound infection: Shewanella putrefaciens.

Shewanella putrefaciens has a wide geographical distribution, including all forms of sea water, fresh water, fish and soil. In humans, it is an unusual pathogen of wound infections. In this report, a wound infection was presented in a previously healthy man.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Comparative evaluation of Type 1 latex hypersensitivity in patients with chronic urticaria, rubber factory workers and healthy control subjects.

Latex hypersensitivity manifests itself most commonly with contact urticaria. In this study, we investigated the frequency of latex hypersensitivity as a possible aetiological factor in patients with chronic urticaria (CU) and compared latex hypersensitivity of CU patients (n = 50) with that of rubber factory workers (n = 50) and healthy controls (n = 50). Prick test with latex and fruit extracts and determination of latex-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) were performed. As a risk factor, contact dermatitis due to rubber additives was tested by patch test. Latex hypersensitivity was detected in 14% of CU patients, 12% of rubber factory workers and 12% of healthy controls (P > 0.05). Positive patch test with rubber additives was detected in 6% of CU and 4% of rubber factory workers. 3 of 7 CU patients had sensitivity to fruits in addition to latex hypersensitivity. In 1 patient with CU, the clinical complaints were found to be related to latex hypersensitivity. These findings suggest that the frequency of latex hypersensitivity in CU patients is no higher than that in healthy individuals. However, CU patients should be carefully asked about latex allergy, as we demonstrated that 1 of the CU patients had undiagnosed symptomatic latex allergy.

Adult↗