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[Severe infections due to Streptococcus milleri in children].

Streptococcus milleri (S. milleri) is found in healthy individuals in the mouth, nasopharynx, throat, vagina and in feces, and has been reported to be isolated from several infectious diseases in man, particularly from abscess in various parts of the body. We report two cases of severe infections due to S. milleri isolated from subdural abscess and pleural empyema. [Case 1] 13 year old boy who had been healthy until he was noticed to have meningeal signs and was diagnosed as left subdural abscess with siagonantritis by cranial CT scans. S. milleri was isolated from subdural abscess and maxillary sinus. [Case 2] 10 year old boy who had encephalitis and severe mental retardation after measles at 6 months of age. He had a fever, dyspnea and chest X-ray abnormalities and was diagnosed as right pleural empyema. Three strains of organism, S milleri, Bacteroides spp. and Fusobacterium nucleatum were isolated from the pleural effusion.

Adolescent↗

Acute intracranial hematomas in term neonates.

Acute intracranial hematomas in 17 term neonates are reported: 3 were subdural in the posterior fossa; 14 supratentorial, either subdural, intracerebral (1 frontal, 4 occipital) or intraventricular. The hematomas were aspirated in 3 cases and surgically evacuated in 10. In the remaining 4, the effusion was left in situ. Three patients died: 2 due to dramatic preoperative deterioration and 1 to hemostatic difficulties during surgery. In the 14 survivors, neurological sequellae are major in 3, nil or minor in 11. Comparison of these cases to the 110 others already published allows the following conclusions: the cause of such hematomas is usually multifactorial, combining obstetrical trauma, anoxia and/or coagulation disorders; early diagnosis of the hematoma requires early echography and/or tomodensitometry; when the hematoma causes a midline shift, the authors advocate its early evacuation by aspiration, or craniotomy if it is clotted; the prognosis is poor when there is associated severe perinatal anoxia; if there is no anoxia, the prognosis seems good, but as the follow-up is usually short, definite conclusions are difficult; in our series hydrocephalus requiring treatment occurred in 2 of the 14 survivors.

Cerebral Hemorrhage↗

A new self-adjusting flow-regulating device for shunting of CSF.

Traditional shunts were primarily designed to manage hydrocephalus by regulating intracranial pressure. However, in some circumstances, their performance characteristics can cause them to underdrain or overdrain CSF. Overdrainage has been linked with clinical complications such as valve-dependent shunt syndrome, cranial stenosis, slit-ventricle syndrome, and subdural hematomas, and it may contribute to ventricular catheter occlusion. In addition to complications associated with hypertension and ventriculomegaly, underdrainage has been linked with residual brain edema, and subcutaneous CSF effusion has been observed at the site of cranial perforation, mainly in pediatric patients. Newer designs attempt to reduce these complications, but fall short for various reasons. The author presents a new shunt design, which utilizes variable aperture technology (patent pending) that results in the physiologic regulation of CSF flow under both positive and negative pressure conditions. This new design offers encouragement for the management of hydrocephalus and the prevention of complications due to overdrainage.

Equipment Design↗

Phase I study of suramin given by intermittent infusion without adaptive control in patients with advanced cancer.

PURPOSE: Suramin is a promising agent for the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer. However, questions about the relationship of severe neurotoxicity to sustained peak plasma concentrations greater than 300 micrograms/mL raised concerns that this drug could not be safely administered without adaptive control. To test the adaptive-control hypothesis, we designed a phase I study that relied on clinical end points, using a fixed dosing scheme that did not rely on adaptive control. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a phase I dose-escalation study using fixed dosing without adaptive control, gradually decreasing doses of suramin were administered to 63 patients on days 1 (loading dose), 2, 8, and 9 of a 28-day cycle. Fifty-four patients with hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer and nine patients with other solid tumors have been treated. RESULTS: Doses of 400 mg/m2 to 2,080 mg/m2 on the first day have been administered. The mean peak plasma concentration following the loading dose at a dose level of 1,730 mg/m2 was 933 micrograms/mL (26% coefficient of variation), and the mean trough concentration was 139 micrograms/mL (40% CV) on day 1 of cycle 2 [corrected]. At 1,730 mg/m2, five of 13 patients experienced dose-limiting toxicity (DLT), including malaise, neurotoxicity, pericardial effusion, and coagulopathy. At 2,080 mg/m2, three of five patients experienced DLT. Two patients treated at this dose level died while on study. One of these patients died of a subdural hematoma sustained after a fall and had a prolonged prothrombin time at the time of his death. One patient developed classic suramin neurotoxicity, which led to respiratory failure, for which the patient refused intubation. No significant associations were noted between peak or trough concentrations during either cycles 1 or 2 and the occurrence of neurotoxicity. CONCLUSION: (1) Suramin can be safely administered without adaptive control, (2) suramin on this schedule may exhibit significant activity against hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer, and (3) based strictly on toxicity considerations, we recommended that a day-1 dose of 1,440 mg/m2 be used in subsequent clinical trials, with a maximum of three cycles. Further studies to establish the optimal empiric dosing regimen are needed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

[Hematomas and MRI at 0.15 T. Apropos of 100 cases].

One hundred hematomas were examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 0.15 T, all explored in SEpT1 and most in SEpT2. The number of cases examined in the acute phase during the first 48 hours was low: 8 cases. At this SEpT1 period the hematoma appears of elevated signal with good muscle contrast but without contrast in hepatic and cerebral parenchyma. In a weighted T2 sequence, the intense signals of cerebral edema and plasma or serum enables detection of the encephalic lesion. Findings from 68 hematomas observed in the subacute or chronic phase suggest that their appearance is pathognomonic with visualization in SEpT1 of a crown of an intense signal at least equal to that of fat. The only difficulty at this period is the discovery of a hematoma within the fat: orbital, retroperitoneal... The collection of a subdural hematoma usually appears homogeneous, the intensity of the signal varying with red cell concentration and time. In the soft tissues, the intensity of signal is a function of concentration of hemoglobin and its derivatives and of volume of serous effusion. Images of 24 hematomas during the sequelae phase confirmed the appearance of a "biochemical shell" without signal in SEpT2 and allowed detection of the hematic contents of an occupying process even after long periods, sometimes after one year.

Adolescent↗

[Craniocerebral trauma from bullets: the correlation between computed tomography, the clinical picture, neurosurgical treatment and the long-term sequelae].

PURPOSE: To demonstrate the usefulness of CT findings in the planning of brain neurosurgery in gunshot victims, for prompt and successful treatment. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty patients with brain gunshot wounds were examined with CT over 5 years. The patients were 27 men and 3 women whose mean age was 33 years (range: 17-56). Brain CT was carried out with thin (5-mm) slices and 10-mm gap; dynamic scanning (3-mm interscan time) was used especially in case of posterior fossa involvement and diffuse brain damage. The examination was integrated with cervical scout views to detect bullets in the neck and cervical dislocation. CT follow-up was carried out in 20 patients 24 hours postoperatively and every 6 hours in 9 patients in a severe postoperative coma. RESULTS: Twelve intracranial hematomas and 9 subdural hematomas, 3 of them bilateral, were treated and hemorrhage was resolved in 8 lacerocontusive foci. Skull plastic surgery was carried out in 5 cases. Surgical maneuvers were most difficult in the 5 crash bone injuries with wedged splinters; postoperative subarachnoid hemorrhage followed in 3 cases. Blood effusion in ventricles was drained in 6 cases; in 2 of them with permanent catheters. Eleven patients died: 4 right after surgery and 7 an average 15 days postoperatively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: In our series the mortality rate of firearm wounds of the skull base was 34% higher than that of the hemisphere; this is due to carotid hemorrhage and midbrain damage. Such traumas require emergency radiological diagnosis and neurosurgical treatment because of their severity and early irreversible complications. Complex operations and skilled surgeons may prevent disabling postoperative sequels. CT findings are indispensable and must be correctly interpreted. The radiologist and the neurosurgeon must collaborate closely and both must consider several diagnostic and prognostic factors affecting surgical planning.

Adolescent↗

Pathology of chronic otitis media.

A review of 800 pathological temporal bones collected from autopsy cases revealed 333 ((41.6%) to have some type of otitis media; purulent otitis media (52.5%), serous otitis media (6%), mucoid otitis media (4.5%), and chronic otitis media (36.9%). The 123 temporal bones with chronic otitis media were further studied and found to have granulation tissue, cholesteatoma, cholesterin granuloma, bone changes, and fibrosis. Other findings included tympanic membrane perforation, tympanosclerosis, metaplasia of the epithelium with subepithelial glandular formation, suppuration, labyrinthitis, and evidence of complications of chronic otitis media (meningitis, subdural abscess, brain abscess, petrositis, and endolymphatic hydrops). From this study it was concluded: 1) chronic otitis media occurred quite frequently, from a histological standpoint, in the absence of tympanic membrane perforation; 2) granulation tissue in temporal bones was found much more frequently in chronic otitis media than was cholesteatoma; and 3) complications and sequelae of otitis media tended to occur more commonly secondary to granulation tissue than to cholesteatoma.

Adult↗

[Gunshot wounds of the cranium studied with computerized tomography. Personal experience in 23 cases].

INTRODUCTION: Gunshot wounds to the head are usually mortal injuries. Their frequency has been increasing in the last years because of increasing crime rates. Gunshot wounds to the head require close clinical and diagnostic cooperation of the neurosurgeon and radiologist, detailed assessment of skull and brain damage, and finally prompt treatment. Emergency Computed Tomography (CT) makes a useful tool for depicting bullet course and brain damage, and thus helps plan treatment. We investigated the CT signs of subdural hematoma, lacerocontusive focus, subarachnoid hemorrhage, hemoencephalus, skull bone fracture and thecal hollow and report them as an aid to the neurosurgeon and the radiologist, for best treatment planning, and in an attempt to establish useful prognostic criteria. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 23 cases of gunshot injuries to the head studied with CT at the Emergency Unit of Loreto Mare Hospital in Naples, Italy. Twenty patients were men and 3 women; their mean age was 31 years (range: 18-49). Three women and 2 men had been injured accidentally by wandering bullets, and one case was an attempted suicide; all the other cases resulted from shootings. CT slices were 10 mm thick, with 8 mm gap (5 mm in complex injuries and when posterior cranial fossa was involved); all scans were unenhanced. RESULTS: We found 22 penetrating gunshot wounds: 13 of them with thecal entry hole and intracranial bullet retention and 9 with an entry and an exit hole. One case was a superficial wound. Crash skull fractures were seen in 22 cases and they were fragmented in 12, with overlapping thecal fragments in 4, and with deep fragments in 2 cases. There were scattered bone splinters in 3 cases and the bullet was retained in the mastoid bone in one case. Lacerocontusive foci were assessed in 22 cases, brain swelling in 20, subarachnoid hemorrhage in 19, brain hematoma in 15, blood in the ventricular system in 9, pneumoencephalus in 7, air bubbles along the bullet course in 7, impression on ventricula and linear structures in 7, interhemispheric blood in 5, and finally blood effusion in Sylvian scissure in 4 cases. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Gunshot wounds to the head are complex and severe traumas with high mortality rates because of both early and late effects and complications. CT provides the neurosurgeon with abundant findings for diagnosis and surgical planning, which may result in improved survival rates. In these patients emergency CT plays a fundamental diagnostic role in depicting brain damage and thus remains the method of choice for thorough, rapid and accurate brain and skull studies, as well as to detect possible injury to the chest and abdomen.

Adolescent↗