PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Pransky

Publications and source records attributed to S Pransky.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Cervical thymic anomalies.

Because of its infrequent occurrence, cervical thymic tissue is rarely considered in the differential diagnosis of neck masses. Consequently, diagnosis is most often made by pathologic examination of the excised specimen. The preponderance of reported patients have been children and adolescents, typically asymptomatic. The clinical presentation, evaluation and surgical management of five new cases of cervical thymic anomalies ranging from infancy to adulthood are described. The authors also review the embryology and histopathology of these lesions and discuss their recommended approach to the evaluation and management of cervical thymic anomalies.

Adolescent↗

Pediatric aerodigestive foreign body injuries are complications related to timeliness of diagnosis.

Foreign body (FB) injury from aspiration or ingestion is a common pediatric health problem. Diagnosis relies on clinical judgment plus medical history, physical examination, and radiographic evaluation. A multi-institutional review of 1269 FB events revealed that 85% were correctly diagnosed following a single physician encounter. However, 15% of the children had an elusive diagnosis (>1 week), despite previous evaluation. Delays in diagnosis were seven times more likely to occur in aspirations than in ingestions. Secondary injuries (e.g., pneumonia and atelectasis) occurred in 13% of airway FBs but in only 1.7% of esophageal FBs. Plain radiographs were used in 82% of children, and special studies (e.g., fluoroscopy) in only 7%. We conclude that diagnosis of FB injury in children is frequently achieved at the initial evaluation but that continued surveillance by follow-up visits to health care facilities from parents and other caretakers is important, to reduce pulmonary injuries.

Adolescent↗

Prospective study of subglottic stenosis in intubated neonates.

Although numerous retrospective studies have attempted to investigate the incidence, etiology, and pathogenesis of subglottic stenosis, there have been few prospective studies. The retrospective studies focused initially on diagnosed cases, then drew inferences regarding incidence and causality based upon data obtained from review of patient records. In contrast, this prospective study accrued data on all neonates intubated for 48 hours or longer during the 1-year intake period. There were 195 neonates entered in the study; then 36 were excluded, leaving 159 for data analysis. Parameters assessed included age at intubation (mean, 5.7 days), duration of intubation (mean, 12.3 days), and number of times reintubated (mean, 0.79). Results of this prospective study are compared to results from previous retrospective studies.

Causality↗