A hybrid approach to elephant trunk technique for treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms combines a conventional surgical and endovascular therapy. Compared to surgery alone, there is a presumption that mortality and morbidity is reduced. We present a case report of a 42-year-old man with a giant aneurysm of the entire thoracic aorta, significant aortic and tricuspid regurgitation and ventricular septum defect. The patient underwent multiple consecutive operations and interventions having, among others, finally replaced the entire thoracic aorta with the use of the hybrid elephant trunk technique. and T. Holubec, J. Raupach, J. Dominik, J. Vojácek
Brown tumors are bony lesions caused by rapid osteoclastic activity, which rare involved jaws. Renal osteodystrophy (ROD) is associated with different pathogenetic mechanisms--disorder of calcium-phosphate metabolism, impaired metabolism of vitamin D, increased parathyroid activity that lead to extreme concentrations of parathormone. The authors report two cases of jaw enlargement in patients received haemodialysis with excessive increase values of alkaline phosphatase and parathormone in serum. The patients were treated surgically with corrective procedures in maxillo-facial area. ROD of the jaws could be severe complication in dialysis patients with end stage of CKD if no appropriate care aimed at correction or prevention of parathyroid hyperfunction was applied to them. and PF. Pechalova, EG. Poriazova
In view of the high anti-oxidative potential oftocotrienol, the role of the tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF) of palm oil in preventing pregnancy induced hypertension (PIH) was explored in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial in an urban teaching hospital. Healthy primigravidae were randomized to receive either oral TRF 100 mg daily or placebo, from early second trimester until delivery. Out of 299 women, 151 were randomized into the TRF arm and 148 into the placebo arm. A total of 15 (5.0%) developed PIH. Although there was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of PIH (4/151 or 2.6% in the TRF arm vs. 11/148 or 7.4% in the placebo arm, p = 0.058) between the two arms, there was a tendency towards a lower incidence of PIH in the TRF arm compared to the placebo arm. With TRF supplementation, the relative risk (RR) of PIH was 0.36 (95% CI 0.12-1.09). In conclusion, although TRF from palm oil does not statistically significantly reduce the risk of development of PIH in the population studied, the 64% reduction in incidence of PIH is substantial. The findings warrant further clinical trials, particularly in high risk populations. and ZA. Mahdy, HH. Siraj, H. Khaza'ai, MS. Mutalib, MH. Azwar, MA. Wahab, AZ. Dali, R. Jaafar, NA. Ismail, MA. Jamil, N. Adeeb
The present article describes two unrelated cases of progressive myoclonic epilepsy (PME) of the Lafora's disease and Unverricht-Lundborg types who were treated with topiramate (TPM) as add-on therapy for their myoclonus. After the initiation of topiramate therapy both cases responded with marked decrease in myoclonic seizure frequency and improvement of quality of life. Topiramate appears to be a useful alternative agent in cases of PME and could be consider for adjunctive therapy. and CF. Demir, HH. Ozdemir, B. Müngen
INTRODUCTION: Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) became standard of care for patients with multiple myeloma (MM) under the age of 65 years. We routinely perform ASCT for newly diagnosed MM since 1996 in our department. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed all 285 transplants in 185 patients done for MM from January 1996 till December 2010. We analyzed overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) regarding conditioning, stage, complete or very good partial remission (CR, VGPR) achievement, renal impairment, single vs. double transplant. RESULTS: Estimated 10-years survival of the whole set of patients is 39% (median survival 95 months). Patients with renal impairment show same OS as those without (p = 0.22). Patients show similar overall survival and event free survival regardless of type of transplant. We observed better outcome in terms of overall survival in patients treated with new drugs (p = 0.0014). Reaching CR or VGPR was not translated into better OS (p = 0.30) and EFS (p = 0.10). Also stage of the disease and whether single or double transplant was used did not make any significant difference in the outcome. CONCLUSION: Stem cell transplantation greatly improved outcome of patients with MM. Poor outcome of allogeneic transplantation in our group of patients is related to high transplant related mortality (20% vs. 0%) and unexpected high relapse rate. There is a trend towards better survival, when new drugs are incorporated at any time in the course of the disease. This fact supports hypothesis that use of these drugs with ASCT should translate into better long-term outcome. and J. Radocha, V. Maisnar, A. Zavrelová, M. Cermanová, M. Lánská, M. Kmonícek, L. Jebavý, M. Bláha, J. Malý, P. Zák
Angiofibromas are rare vascular tumors which originate predominantly in the nasopharynx and occur typically in male adolescents. Extranasopharyngeal sites such as nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses are less frequent. This review article was undertaken to evaluate the incidence, clinical features and management of extranasopharyngeal angiofibromas originating exclusivelly from nasal cavity structures. Our focus of interest was to evaluate the significance of immunohistochemical analysis in diagnosis of such extremely rare neoplasms. In the PubMed and Google Search, we found only 39 cases of nasal angifibroma, 27 males and 12 females from 1980 to 2012. The most prevalent site of origin was nasal septum, followed by inferior and middle turbinate. The commonest symptoms were nasal obstruction and epistaxis. Nasal angiofibromas are clinically distinct from nasopharyneal angiofibromas and can therefore be misdiagnosed. The differential diagnosis includes other vascular lesions, such as lobular capillary hemangioma and sinonasal-type hemangiopericytoma. Although immunohistochemistry is not necessary for differentiation between angiofibroma and capillary hemangioma, that diagnostic procedure may be helpful in distinction from sinonasal hemangiopericytoma. As an ilustration for immunohistochemical analysis, we presented a case of an elderly woman with tumor arising from the middle turbinate, diagnosed as angiofibroma. The staining was positive for CD34, CD31, factor VIII, vimentin and smooth muscle alpha-actin, and negative for desmin. and A. Perić, J. Sotirović, S. Cerović, L. Zivić
There are various complications of prosthetic valvular surgeries. Among them, leaflet perforation should be emphasized and brought to mind when there have been eccentric valvular regurgitation. In this report, we presented 2 cases of iatrogenic aortic and mitral valve leaflet perforation after prosthetic valve surgeries. and M. Dogan, S. Acikel, U. Arslantas, T. Cimen, E. Yeter
We assessed the intensive care unit (ICU) patients for Invasive aspergillosis (IA) with culture and non-culture based diagnostic methods from Iran. Thirty-six ICU patients with underlying predisposing conditions for IA were enrolled in the study. Sixty eight Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected by bronchoscope twice a weekly. BAL samples were analyzed by microscopic examination, fungal culture and galactomannan (GM) detection. The Platelia Aspergillus GM EIA was used to quantify GM indices. Samples with a BAL GM index > or = 1 were considered as positive for GM. Patients were classified as having probable or possible IA. Out of 36 suspected patients to IA, 36.1% of cases showed IA which were categorized as: 4 cases of possible IA and 9 of probable IA. 76.2% of BAL samples were positive for GM. From 13 patients with IA, 11 (84.6%) had at least one positive BAL GM index. Of these patients, 9 (81.8%) showed probable IA. The main underlying predisposing conditions were neutropenia (53.8%) and COPD (30.8%). Our study has indicated that COPD must be considered as one of the main predisposing condition for occurrence of aspergillosis in ICU patients. Our data have also revealed that GM detection in BAL samples play a significant role to IA diagnosis. and MT. Hedayati, S. Khodavaisy, M. Alialy, SM. Omran, MR. Habibi
Diagnosis of nerve agent intoxication is based on anamnestic data, clinical signs and laboratory examination. For acute poisoning, cholinesterase activity in the blood (erythrocyte AChE, plasma/serum BuChE) is sensitive, simple and most frequent laboratory examination performed in biochemical laboratories. Specialized examinations to precise treatment (reactivation test) or to make retrospective diagnosis (fluoride induced reactivation etc.) can be conducted. Other sophisticated methods are available, too. and J. Bajgar