PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Janssens de Varebeke

Publications and source records attributed to S Janssens de Varebeke.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Universal newborn hearing screening.

Hearing loss is one of the most common congenital anomalies, occurring in approximately 1-2 infants per 1000. Left undetected, hearing impairments in infants can negatively impact speech and language acquisition, academic achievement, social and emotional development. These negative impacts can be diminished and even eliminated through early intervention at or before 6 months of age. Reliable screening tests that minimize referral rates and maximize sensitivity and specificity are available. The goal of universal neonatal hearing screening is to maximize linguistic and communicative competence and literacy development for children who are hard of hearing or deaf. Audiologic and medical evaluations should be in progress before 3 months of age. Infants with confirmed hearing loss should receive intervention before 6 months of age from health care and education professionals with expertise in hearing loss and deafness in infants and young children.

Achievement↗
PubMed2003

Epidemiology of hearing impairment at three Flemish Institutes for Deaf and Speech Defective Children.

A retrospective analysis of 190 records of hearing impaired children up to the age of 14, all educated at one of three Flemish Institutes for Deaf and Speech Defective Children in Belgium, was performed. Until 1999, the well-known behavioral test (Ewing test) was used in the Flemish national screening program for hearing losses. Because it presented a lot of disadvantages, it has been replaced by Automated Auditory Brainstem Responses (AABR), enabling the Flemish national neonatal screening program to commence. This study is an extension of the preliminary results of a recently performed retrospective analysis in one Flemish institute of the hearing loss of patients that were diagnosed in the pre-AABR era. The authors analyzed the following data: etiology, risk factors of congenital hearing impairment, the patient's history from the moment of the first suspicion to diagnosis and treatment. The median age of the children was 8.5 years (2-14 year). In 66.5% the parents and/or grandparents were the first to raise suspicion, this was at a median age of approximately 9 months. The diagnosis was often made late, at a median age of 15 months (0-88 months). The etiology was unknown in 32.6% of the cases. The only cast-iron certain diagnoses were pre- and perinatal infections, syndromal and genetic hearing loss, and acquired infections (meningitis and measles). No risk factors of hearing loss, as they are stated by the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing, were found in more than 50% of the cases. Audiometry was performed in all cases, often supplemented with Auditory Brainstem Responses and/or click-evoked otoacoustic emissions, while other diagnostic investigations (imaging, genetics, etc.) were only variably performed. Finally, the authors confirm the need for universal neonatal screening, which only recently started in Belgium, and suggest that a detailed protocol should be established to pursue a coherent diagnostic policy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Tympano-ossicular allografts and HIV transmission.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission by tympano-ossicular allografts by studying the efficacy of standard preservation techniques to eliminate the presence of proviral HIV-1 DNA fragments in contaminated ossicles. STUDY DESIGN: Randomized single-blind prospective study on the ossicles of HIV-1 patients. MATERIAL: Ossicles of five patients who had died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (HIV-1 infection) were taken within 6 hours postmortem and allocated randomly to a treatment and nontreatment group. Liver and skin biopsies were taken as positive control specimens. PROCESSING: The treatment group was processed with standard techniques (formaldehyde) for tympano-ossicular allograft preservation and the nontreatment group was only washed, dried, and stored in sterile tubes at -700 degrees without further processing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Proviral HIV-1 DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction amplification techniques. RESULTS: No proviral HIV-1 DNA was detected in any of the treated ossicles, whereas three of five sets of untreated ossicles were positive. The positive control specimens of all treated and nontreated sets were positive for proviral HIV-1 DNA. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the preservation technique for tympano-ossicular allografts is safe with regard to HIV-1 transmission.

DNA, Viral↗
PubMed1992

[Place of the otorhinolaryngologist in the multidisciplinary approach to neurofibromatosis].

Neurofibromatosis is one of the most common inherited human disorders. Two types have been recognized, NF 1 and NF 2. Clinical and genetic aspects of the disease clear the way to the aims and indications of the multidisciplinary approach of the neurofibromatosis patients and their families. To study the uniformity of patient management (protocol), a number of Belgian and Dutch medical centres were contacted. Great importance is attached to the common as well as the varying points of these protocols. We emphasize the part played by the ENT specialist in the multidisciplinary approach of neurofibromatosis type 1 and 2.

Algorithms↗