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Biomedical subjects

P Foucaud

Publications and source records attributed to P Foucaud.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Nasal transepithelial difference of potential in mucoviscidosis. Clinical application of the measurement].

OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the value of nasal transepithelial potential difference measurements in the diagnosis and assessment of therapeutic effect in cystic fibrosis. METHOD: Nasal transepithelial potential difference was measured in 50 patients with cystic fibrosis (mean age 10 years) and 21 controls (mean age 8 years). RESULTS: There was a very significant increase in nasal transepithelial potential in cystic fibrosis patients (-28 +/- 8 mv) compared with controls (-8 +/- 3 mv) (p < 0.0001). The sensitivity and specificity of this test for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis were 92% and 95% respectively. Nasal transepithelial potential difference was positively correlated with age (r = 0.43; p < 0.002) in cystic fibrosis patients but no correlation was found in controls. There was no significant difference in potential differences as a function of sex or Delta F508 genotype (homozygous vs heterozygous; Delta F508 vs non-Delta F508). CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrated the value of transepithelial potential difference in the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis and emphasized its capacity to assess the effect of new therapeutic protocols aimed at modifying C1- and Na+ ion transport. It could be particularly helpful for the interpretation of doubtful sweat tests.

Adolescent

[Mucoviscidosis: in children and adults].

Because the lifespan of patients with cystic fibrosis is now longer, both pediatricians and adult care physicians are involved in the health care strategy. Respiratory manifestations occur due to bronchial dilatation and chronic bronchial infection, mainly due to Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas. Episodes of adult infection are frequent and death usually results from respiratory failure. Characteristically, the disease also involves exocrine pancreas insufficiency. Other intestinal tract manifestations include meconial ileus and liver disease which may reach the stage of biliary cirrhosis. Nutritional disorders are frequent. Clinically there are respiratory and digestive tract disorders, pansinusitis and frequent nasal polyposis, sometimes associated with diabetes mellitus or joint pain. Male sterility results from bilateral agenesia of the vas deferens and in the female, fertility is decreased although pregnancy is possible. Clinical presentation suggests the diagnosis which is confirmed by a sweat test and genetic analysis. Care should be provided by a centre specialized in cystic fibrosis. The main treatments rely on respiratory physical therapy, antibiotics and gastroprotected pancrease extracts.

Adolescent

Molecular epidemiological analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains causing failure of antibiotic therapy in cystic fibrosis patients.

A combination of esterase electrophoretic typing and analysis of the restriction fragment length polymorphism of ribosomal DNA regions (ribotyping) was used to compare 27 Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated before and after two-week courses of anti-pseudomonal treatment in seven cystic fibrosis patients. A total of 12 courses of therapy were studied in which ciprofloxacin, ceftazidime, azlocillin or imipenem were used alone or in combination with tobramycin. Isolates at a count of greater than or equal to 10(6) cfu/ml of sputum were collected when there was evidence of therapeutic failure on the basis of persistence of isolates whether or not they were resistant to the antibiotic used for therapy. Emergence of resistance was observed in ten cases and failure to eradicate sensitive strains in five cases. Among the 27 isolates, eight zymotypes and five ribotypes were identified. With this typing approach, resistant post-therapy isolates were found to be identical to pre-therapy isolates in all cases but one. However, in one case an additional resistant strain was isolated after therapy besides that initially present. In all five cases in which susceptibility was still observed after treatment, pre-therapy and post-therapy isolates were indistinguishable. Using this molecular typing approach, all the strains were typable. Thus combination of esterase typing and ribotyping should improve the analysis of therapeutic failure in cystic fibrosis patients.

Azlocillin

[Results of dietetics and nutritional assistance in cystic fibrosis].

The development of gastric acid-protected pancreatic extracts has radically transformed the diet of patients with cystic fibrosis, who are now provided with a high-caloric, hyperproteinic and normo- or hyperlipidic diet, with a correct supplementation in minerals, vitamins and oligo-elements. Nutrition has a major influence on the course of the disease, and the evaluation of the patients' needs has already shown that these are clearly increased in cystic fibrosis. In the severe and advanced forms of the disease, when refractory anorexia is added to chronic infection, more or less sophisticated techniques of nutritional assistance, such as oral supplementations and enteral or even parenteral feeding, are carried out. These techniques not only improve the anthropometric nutritional parameters, but if they have been prescribed soon enough they also interfere with the outcome of the disease.

Cystic Fibrosis

Duodenogastric reflux in children: measurement of phospholipids and trypsin in gastric content.

The duodenogastric reflux (DGR) is a suspected cause in some esogastric pathologies in adults: esophagitis, peptic gastric ulcers, stress ulcers, ulcers secondary to drugs, gastric cancer, and gastritis. The toxic substances of the reflux are essentially bile acids, lysolecithin, and trypsin. A number of diagnostic methods have been proposed in the adult. This study suggests a diagnosis technique for DGR in the child. Fasting gastric juice was collected by gastric intubation during 1 h and three substances were measured: phospholipids as markers of biliary reflux, trypsin as a marker of pancreatic reflux, and sialic acid as a marker of the degradation of gastric mucus. The sialic acid enabled us to evaluate some of the toxicity of DGR on the stomach. The study of 49 child subjects permitted us to show the existence, in the normal child, of biliopancreatic markers in the stomach under fasting conditions through a physiological DGR; to define the norms in the child, varying according to three age groups: 0-2 months, 2-12 months, and 1-4 years (the maximum values for an age above 4 years seemed to correspond to those in the adult); and to suggest the existence of a pathological DGR in children with antral gastritis or ulcers.

Age Factors

[Value of esogastroduodenal endoscopy with staged biopsies in children with Crohn's disease].

An upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with multiple biopsies was performed in 19 children suspected of Crohn disease (CD) who had also undergone X-ray investigations and colonoscopy with multiple biopsies. Biopsies were performed in pathological and/or normal mucous areas. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed macroscopic changes in 7 children (37%). Histologic examinations of the upper gastrointestinal tract were normal or showed only non specific changes in 12 cases (63%). Histopathologic changes specific for CD were found in 7 cases (37%), while specific histologic changes were identified at the rectal or colic level in 3 of these 7 cases only. Thus, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with multiple biopsies was most useful for the diagnosis of CD, since it was the only diagnostic means in 4 cases. It should be systematically performed when CD is suspected.

Adolescent

[The association of megaesophagus, Binder's syndrome and dysautonomia: a new neurocristopathy].

A case of esophageal achalasia is reported in a 12 year-old child. Nasal hypoplasia (Binder syndrome) and dysautonomia were associated. This may be explained by the common embryologic origin (neural crests) of nasal bud, autonomic nervous system and digestive intramural neurons. Such a neurocristopathy suggests exploration of the autonomic nervous system in cases of esophageal achalasia.

Autonomic Nervous System Diseases

[Primary intestinal lymphangiectasis with antenatal manifestation].

Antenatal ascites diagnosed by ultrasound examination was punctured and shunted in utero. Radiologic, endoscopic and histologic data led to diagnosis of primitive intestinal lymphangiectasia during the second year of life. Antenatal revelation of Waldmann's disease is extremely rare in pediatric literature.

Ascites

[Percutaneous extraction of pigment lithiasis of the choledochus in an infant].

The authors present the first report of a pigment gallstone of the common bile duct in a 2 month-old infant treated in a non-surgical manner. The gallstone extraction was percutaneous, by a small catheter introduced in the biliary tract under ultrasound control. The clinical and ultrasonographic follow-up (19 months) confirmed complete recovery. This new therapeutic modality might avoid surgery for primary common bile duct cholelithiasis.

Biliary Tract

[Intestinal pseudo-obstruction and cytomegalovirus infection of myenteric plexuses].

The authors report an intestinal pseudo-obstruction syndrome occurring in a 2 month-old boy, with acquired major and persistent abdominal distension, leading to total parenteral nutrition. Rectal biopsy revealed hypoganglionosis with thickening of nerve processes and intranuclear inclusions in some neurons. Suspected cytomegalovirus infection was confirmed by viruria and specific IgM and IgG antibodies.

Autonomic Nervous System Diseases