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Biomedical subjects

S G Katz

Publications and source records attributed to S G Katz.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Spontaneous peripheral arterial microembolization.

Over a seven year period 52 patients having a clinical diagnosis of spontaneous peripheral arterial microembolization were identified. Sixty-one percent of patients were female, 15% were diabetic, and 73% used tobacco chronically. A striking finding was the very high incidence of associated systemic disorders such as thrombocytosis (8), polycythemia vera (3), metastatic adenocarcinoma (3), or collagen disease requiring steroid therapy (4). Forty-nine patients had significant proximal arterial lesions as the origin of their emboli. Three patients had digital ischemia as a result of increased platelet aggregation without arterial obstruction. Forty-eight patients underwent surgical therapy. Operative mortality was 4% and overall limb salvage in survivors was 96%. The clinical syndrome of arterial microembolization may result from several pathophysiologic mechanisms including cholesterol embolization from ulcerated plaques, fibrino-platelet aggregation in patients with hematologic disorders, or dislodgement of mural thrombus in those with aneurysmal disease. We observed aortoiliac disease to be more frequent than femoral-popliteal disease, and both were amenable to surgical correction. We conclude that the genesis of arterial microembolization is multifactorial and that a variety of systemic diseases may work in concert with atherosclerotic arterial disease to produce this clinical syndrome. Prompt recognition and appropriate treatment of this disorder can yield high rates of limb salvage.

Aged

Bilateral infrapopliteal artery aneurysms.

The authors report the case of a 37-year-old man with bilateral posterior tibial artery aneurysms and concomitant collagen vascular disease. The patient initially presented with pain and swelling of the calves. The diagnosis was made by duplex scan and confirmed with arteriography. Diagnostic studies later verified the presence of a lupus-like syndrome. To date, 10 patients with aneurysms of the infrapopliteal arteries have been reported in the literature; four of these have had associated systemic diseases. These reports are reviewed; their clinical manifestations are discussed, and a treatment plan for these uncommon lesions is presented.

Adult

Salmonella infections of the abdominal aorta.

Salmonella accounts for up to one-third of all primary abdominal aortic infections. During the past ten years, we have treated three patients with this disease and have reviewed an additional 61 instances found in the English literature. The overall survival rate was 46 percent. Fever and back or abdominal pain were present in more than 90 percent of the patients, while a pulsatile mass was present in only 42 percent of those reported. Blood cultures were positive in 73 percent of patients. Computed tomography and angiography were helpful in delineating the presence of aneurysms and defining the extent. Twenty-two patients were treated without undergoing aortic resection; there were no survivors. One patient had an aortic resection without reconstruction and survived. Twenty-eight patients were treated with aortic resection and anatomic reconstruction. Six patients in this group died of graft sepsis and an additional six patients required graft removal for persistent infection. In contrast, 18 of 19 patients treated with extra-anatomic grafting and aneurysm resection survived, with only one death from aortic stump sepsis. No patient has required graft removal for sepsis. These results suggest that aneurysm resection and extra-anatomic bypass is the treatment of choice in patients with Salmonella infections involving the infrarenal aorta.

Aged

Peripheral nerve lesions in hemophilia.

Between 1962 and 1986, eighty-one of the 1351 admissions of patients who had hemophilia to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre were for peripheral nerve lesions. Eighty-eight such lesions were identified in fifty-four patients, and thirty-nine of these patients (sixty-one lesions) had adequate follow-up (mean, 8.4 years; range, four months to eighteen years). The femoral nerve was most commonly involved, but involvement of other peripheral nerves also occurred. In thirty (49 per cent) of the sixty-one lesions, the nerve had full motor and sensory recovery; in twenty-one (34 per cent), a residual sensory deficit; and in ten (16 per cent), both a persistent motor and sensory deficit. Patients who had antibodies to factor VIII were significantly less likely to recover full motor or sensory function than were those who did not have such antibodies, and the time to full motor recovery in these patients was significantly longer.

Adolescent

Minimally invasive devascularization for variceal bleeding that could not be controlled with sclerotherapy.

The appropriate therapy for continued bleeding despite sclerotherapy remains controversial. This study evaluates a devascularization procedure performed without the risks of major surgery and general anesthesia. Fifty consecutive patients, each with an endoscopically proven variceal hemorrhage that was uncontrollable with sclerotherapy, were treated with minimally invasive devascularization. The procedure was performed in three stages. First, the portal pressure was sharply reduced by angiographic embolization of the midsplenic artery. Then the esophagogastric variceal network was thrombosed by means of a catheter introduced during laparotomy, which created a portoazygos disconnection. Finally, the left gastric and left gastroepiploic arteries were embolized, which completed devascularization of the proximal stomach. According to the Child classification, 16 patients were in class B and 34 were in class C. All Child's class B patients (16/16) and 71% (24/34) of Child's class C patients survived hospitalization. One-year survival was 94% (15/16) for Child's class B and 62% (21/34) for Child's class C patients. Rebleeding occurred in 63% (25/40) of the discharged patients but caused the death of only seven. In conclusion, the 20% initial hospital mortality for these difficult patients was significantly better than that reported for emergency surgery, and the rate of rebleeding was comparable to that seen with other nonshunting therapies.

Arteries

Mycotic suprarenal aortic aneurysm.

Two cases of mycotic suprarenal aortic aneurysm treated by anatomic reconstruction are presented. Diagnosis was facilitated by 67-Gallium Citrate Scanning, Computer Assisted Tomography (CT), and Angiography. Increasing symptoms with attenuation of the aortic wall identified by CT necessitated urgent resection and reconstruction in both patients. Contained rupture of the aneurysm was found in one patient. Cultures of the resected tissue grew Salmonella dublin and Bacteroides fragilis. The patients were treated with continuous antibiotic therapy. Follow-up demonstrated asymptomatic patients with sterile blood cultured and good anatomic results on CT at one year. No recurrent sepsis nor aneurysmal dilatation is evident to date. Based on our experience and the available literature we conclude that inline reconstruction is the method of choice for treatment on these lesions.

Aged

Thoracic and lumbar dural ectasia in a two-year-old boy.

A two year old boy, admitted for evaluation of failure to thrive was found to have multiple paraspinal masses and a widened spinal canal. The masses proved to be lateral meningoceles, present varying degrees at every thoracic and lumbar level.

Child, Preschool

Spontaneous rupture of an aortic aneurysm into the left renal vein. A diagnostic challenge.

Rupture of an aortic aneurysm into a renal vein presents a rare and difficult diagnostic problem. Often, therapy is delayed because the patient is thought to have a urologic problem. In this instance, CT scan provided useful clues leading to the diagnosis of this entity, and its rapid treatment. To our knowledge, this is the first CT scan done in a patient with aorto-renal vein fistula.

Aged