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R L Modignani

Publications and source records attributed to R L Modignani.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

A simple method for ascites concentration and reinfusion.

A rapid and simple method for ascites concentration and reinfusion was utilized to treat 103 episodes of tense ascites in 57 patients (38 men and 19 women, mean age 63 +/- 11 years). After a bedside total paracentesis, 6.06 +/- 2.87 liters of ascites were separately ultrafiltrated using a mechanical device during a mean interval of 134 +/- 88 min, and 430 +/- 368 ml of concentrate containing 39 +/- 42 g of albumin were restituted at bedside either intravenously (44 cases) or intraperitoneally (59 cases). Ultrafiltration was successfully and easily completed in all cases. Ascites concentration and reinfusion either intravenously or intraperitoneally did not adversely modify hemodynamic or renal parameters except for a transient decrease in mean arterial pressure (P < 0.05). Transitory hyponatremia and renal failure occurred in two patients. A transient decrease in platelet count and serum fibrinogen levels (P < 0.05) and pyrexia (12%) were observed only in patients reinfused intravenously. In conclusion, this new method for ascites concentration and reinfusion was effective, safe, and, with respect to traditional methods, simpler, faster and more comfortable. Therefore it is proposed for the routine management of tense ascites.

Albumins↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Thyroid storm with encephalopathic symptoms due to Graves' disease and inappropriate secretion of thyrotropin.

A 41-year-old woman is described, first hospitalized in the neurosurgical department for a transient ischemic attack with left hemiparesis followed after 6 hours by tonic-clonic seizures starting from the left hemiface and quickly generalized. Brain computed tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging were normal. Clinically the patient presented tremor, tachycardia, generalized muscle weakness, and profuse diaphoresis. T4 and T3 were elevated. The patient was transferred from the neurosurgical to the medical department where a thyroid storm due to autoimmune Graves' disease with normal thyrotropin (TSH) values responsive to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation was diagnosed. A syndrome of inappropriate secretion of TSH was suspected in an unusual presentation as autoimmune Graves' hyperthyroidism. The TSH alpha-subunit and alpha-subunit/TSH molar ratio were normal, which supported the diagnosis of non-neoplastic inappropriate secretion of TSH. However, severe autoimmune Graves' hyperthyroidism is very rare indeed because autoantibodies to thyroid antigens are generally non-detectable in such patients. Our patient was treated initially with barbiturates, then with dexamethasone, Lugol's solution, methimazole and propranolol. Treatment of this patient proved difficult, and definitive improvement was obtained only after triiodothyroacetic acid administration, but methimazole and propranolol administration could not be discontinued. Fine needle aspiration biopsies of the thyroid in 2 occasions showed follicular or follicular-papillary proliferation with lymphocytic infiltration as in chronic thyroiditis. The patient is now in good clinical conditions and is followed up regularly. Autoimmune Graves' hyperthyroidism may be associated in extremely rare instances with non neoplastic inappropriate secretion of TSH.

Adult↗