Biomedical subjects

Stipe Batinica

Publications and source records attributed to Stipe Batinica.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Intestinal duplications--experience in 6 cases.

Intestinal duplications are rare congenital anomalies, and most of them are detected in the first 2 years of life or antenatally. The clinical presentation depends on location, size, and the presence of ectopic gastric mucosa. Ultrasound scans during pregnancy result in a higher rate of antenatally detected duplications which allows early treatment and avoidance of possible complications. Resection of the duplication without adjacent bowel should be the treatment of choice. En bloc resection or partial excision with mucosectomy is advised in some cases. We present our experience with 6 patients treated in our institution from February 2002 to October 2005.

Child, Preschool↗

PubMed2006

An unusual outcome in a child with hepatosplenic cat-scratch disease.

Typical cat-scratch disease (Bartonella henselae infection) in an immunocompetent child is usually associated with a history of scratch, bite or intimate contact with a cat. Most patients develop a non-tender papule in the scratch line after three to ten days. This may persist for only a few days or as long as two to three weeks. During the next two weeks or more, regional lymph nodes that drain the area gradually enlarge and then slowly resolve in more than 10% of patients. The nodes develop overlying erythema and may suppurate. Atypical forms of cat-scratch disease occur in a minority of cases and are characterized by ocular or neurological manifestations, hepatosplenic involvement, vertebral osteomyelitis, endocarditis etc. Immunocompromised individuals with B. henselae infection may develop bacillary angiomatosis, bacillary peliosis, and relapsing bacteremia. There have been several reports of hepatosplenic granulomas caused by B. henselae in immunocompetent children. We report a case of a 6-year-old boy with the hepatosplenic form of cat-scratch disease. Despite early diagnosis and long-term antimicrobial treatment, splenectomy could not be avoided.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed2004

Intracardiac shrapnel in a polytraumatized child.

Penetrating cardiac trauma is a life-threatening condition and presents a therapeutic challenge for the surgeon. Additional multiple organ-system injuries, as are common in the setting of war, further complicate the management of such patients. We present the case of a 9-year-old girl who sustained multiple injuries from an unexploded artillery shell, resulting in a retained intracardiac shrapnel. Her cardiac pathology consisted of a shrapnel located in the interventricular septum accompanied by a pneumopericardium and a right-sided hemopneumothorax. The presentation and management of this patient are the subjects of this report.

Child↗

PubMed2003

The value of cholinesterase activity after Kasai operation.

Cholinesterase (ChE) is an enzyme synthesized in the liver. The aim of this study was to determine the value of ChE as an index of liver function. We measured the ChE activity as well as the values of bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase, aminotransferases and albumin before and 7 days after Kasai operation in 25 infants with biliary atresia. The increased activity of ChE in plasma after Kasai operation was accompanied by a decrease of other measured values ( P<0.0001), except for albumin. We can conclude that the increase of ChE activity together with the decrease of bilirubin, alkaline phosphatase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase show early improvement of liver function after Kasai operation. ChE activity can be used to assess liver function in terms of synthesis.

Biliary Atresia↗

PubMed2002

Choanal stenosis, hypothelia, deafness, recurrent dacryocystitis, neck fistulas, short stature, and microcephaly: report of a case.

We report on a 11-year-old girl with bilateral choanal stenosis, hypothelia, hearing loss, recurrent dacryocystitis, neck fistulas, short stature, and microcephaly. Only three individuals with choanal atresia from a consanguineous family have been reported. One of the patients also had hypoplastic nipples, hypotonia, and delay in speech development. Similar clinical features were seen in two children reported by Greenberg [1987: Am J Med Genet 28:931-934] and Wilson et al. [1998: Am J Med Genet 75:220-222]. They were prenatally exposed to methimazole because of maternal Graves disease. Neck fistulas and microcephaly noted in our patient were not previously reported as features of the syndrome or in the patients prenataly exposed to methimazole. Our patient and those reported by Qazi et al. [1982: Am J Med Genet 13:413-416] most probably have a rare syndrome characterized by this distinctive combination of symptoms. Prenatal exposure to methimazole can cause a phenocopy of the syndrome, which was probably the case in the patients reported by Greenberg and Wilson et al.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Successful early pyeloplasty in infants.

BACKGROUND: Early pyeloplasty for the treatment of congenital ureteropelvic junction obstruction to maximize nephron salvage is justified only if potential hazards of operating on small infants are avoided. METHODS: The records were analyzed of all infants who underwent pyeloplasty over a 5-year period. Open pyeloplasty was performed if collecting systems had deteriorated or were demonstrated to be obstructed; it was also performed for severe cases of hydronephrosis. Outcome of surgery in the younger infant (patients <2 months of age) was compared with the older infant group (patients >2 months of age). Preoperative evaluation in case of mild or moderate hydronephrosis was directed toward ruling out a non-obstructed collection system and included voiding cystourethrography, and serial ultrasonography and/or dual isotope diuretic renography. Postoperative assessment consisted of serial ultrasonography and/or nuclear imaging to confirm decompression and relief of obstruction. RESULTS: A total of 24 pyeloplasties were performed on 22 patients in the younger infant group (two bilateral) and 30 were performed on 27 infants in the older infant group (three bilateral). The only significant differences between the groups were as follows: patients in the younger infant group were likely to present in utero (75%, p = 2.69), whereas those in the older infant group were more likely to present with a urinary tract infection (48%, p = 4.12). During follow-up examination, 23 renal units in the younger infant group and 24 in the older infant group were judged to be stable or improved. Four kidneys were not salvaged after pyeloplasty, one in the younger infant group and three in the older infant group. CONCLUSIONS: Good results of pyeloplasties performed in the infants in this series support early correction of ureteropelvic junction obstruction in infants.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Diaphragmatic eventration].

Eventration of the diaphragm is an abnormal elevation of an intact diaphragm. There are two distinct etiologic types of eventration, congenital and acquired. Congenital eventration is characterized by muscular aplasia, and acquired eventration is caused by injury to the phrenic nerve. The one-year-old girl had recurrent respiratory inflammations and permanent cough since she was two months old. Examinations, such as chest radiogram, chest and abdominal ultrasound, liver doppler, computed tomography of thorax and abdomen, did not distinguish eventration from possible tumorous formation in the right lower lung. The eventration of the diaphragm and atelectasis of the right lower lobe was confirmed during the surgery. Diaphragmatic plication was done, and atelectactic lobe as well as hypoplastic part of the diaphragm were removed. The eventration was confirmed pathohystologically.

Diaphragmatic Eventration↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Ethics and organ transplantation].

Organ transplantation becomes an accepted method of treatment, being closely accompanied with the development of transplantation ethics. Numerous problems and dilemmas occurring in this process can be grouped as problems connected with confirming death, and ethic dilemmas connected with obtaining and distributing organs. An attempt to overcome a chronic great lack of cadaver donors is made by various creative attitudes that can be applied only if they fulfill ethical criteria. A difficult question of just organ distribution causes many ethical dilemmas. Solution should be sought in the multidisciplinary approach of bioethics with medicine, politics, legislature and sociology.

Brain Death↗