LIPTÁK Judit
OCTOBER 20, 2011
Lege Artis Medicinae - 2011;21(10)
Lege Artis Medicinae
Lege Artis Medicinae
[INTRODUCTION - On the basis of current guidelines, acetylsalicylic acid plus dipyridamole or clopidogrel monotherapy should be used for the long-term treatment of patients with cerebrovascular disease, whereas acetylsalicylic acid monotherapy is not recommended. The efficiency of recently introduced generic clopidogrels has not been assessed in patients with a history of acute stroke. PATIENTS AND METHODS - 100 patients with a history of acute stroke or transient ischaemic attack were involved in our study. The patients received acetylsalicylic acid monotherapy in the first 48 hours, followed by clopidogrel-hydrogen sulphate (Egitromb®) monotherapy. The efficiency of the therapy was assessed on day 7 and 28 of medical therapy. RESULTS - At the first measurement (day 7) after clopidrogel-hydrogen sulphate treatment, the therapy seemed to be inefficient in 11 patients (11%). A strong, clinically significant correlation was found between blood pressure values, blood glucose and lipid parameters, hsCRP levels and platelet aggregation values. At the second measurement (day 28), an aggressive secondary preventive threapy resulted in the normalisation of the above mentioned parameters, and the efficiency of platelet aggregation inhibtion therapy was also improed, whereas no patients proved to be resistant. No unwanted events or haemorrhagic complications were registered. CONCLUSIONS - On the basis of the result of our study, treatment with clopidogrel- hydrogen sulphate is safe and efficient both clinically and on the basis of optical aggregometry. The significance of an aggressive secondary preventive therapy should be considered as a factor that might influence the efficiency of thrombocyte aggregation inhibitory therapy.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a rare disease, but it occurs more often in systemic autoimmune diseases, where it represents one of the most severe, life-threatening complications. Its development is due to an immunoregulatory disorder characteristic to systemic diseases, persistent inflammation and the subsequent endothelial dysfunction, the presence of pathogenic autoantibodies, smooth muscle cell dysfunction and complex angiogenetic disorder. As a consequence of endothelial cell dysfunction, the balance between regulatory factors of vasoconstriction and vasodilation is disrupted. Intimal hyperplasia, endothelial cell proliferation, media hypertrophy and local thrombus formation can be observed and one of the main pathomorphological characteristic features, plexiform lesion develops, leading to obliterative vasculopathy. A more severe form of the disease develops in systemic sclerosis, which is explained by the main pathophysiological elements of scleroderma, namely immunoregulatory disorder, vasculopathy and fibroblast dysfunction. It is not easy to monitor the disease in these cases, because the deterioration can be caused by many other factors as well. Therefore, beseides the usual examinations, biomarkers and screening methods have a significant role. Treatment is not simple either, since no wellapplicable algorithms are available. In many disorders (systemic lupus erythematosus, mixed connective tissue disease, rheumatoid arthritis), effective immunosuppressive therapy started in time is crucial, whereas in case of systemic sclerosis, the principles of therapy applied for the idiopathic form should be followed.]
Lege Artis Medicinae
[According to the latest guidelines, the goal in cardiovascular prevention is to achieve an LDL-cholesterol level no higher than 1.8 mmol/l in the high risk and extra high risk groups. According to international recommendations, statin should be used at the highest tolerable dose rather than any combination treatments. In a number of cases, higher doses are associated with increased side effects, which rarely affect liver enzymes and CK-parameters. A metaanalysis published in 2011 made it clear that higher statin doses compared with low-medium doses can increase the occurence of newonset diabetes by about 12%. This is presumably a class effect, which is not significant according to the guidelines, and which is much lesser than the benefits of this therapy in the prevention of cardiovascular events, thus, it obviously does not question the justification of statin treatment. However, the observed association implies that during statin therapy of nondiabetic patients, blood glucose control should be performed every year, and, if needed, an oral glucose tolerance test should be performed to detect the potential development of diabetes.]
Although vertigo is one of the most common complaints, intracranial malignant tumors rarely cause sudden asymmetry between the tone of the vestibular peripheries masquerading as a peripheral-like disorder. Here we report a case of simultaneous temporal bone infiltrating macro-metastasis and disseminated multi-organ micro-metastases presenting as acute unilateral vestibular syndrome, due to the reawakening of a primary gastric signet ring cell carcinoma. Purpose – Our objective was to identify those pathophysiological steps that may explain the complex process of tumor reawakening, dissemination. The possible causes of vestibular asymmetry were also traced. A 56-year-old male patient’s interdisciplinary medical data had been retrospectively analyzed. Original clinical and pathological results have been collected and thoroughly reevaluated, then new histological staining and immunohistochemistry methods have been added to the diagnostic pool. During the autopsy the cerebrum and cerebellum was edematous. The apex of the left petrous bone was infiltrated and destructed by a tumor mass of 2x2 cm in size. Histological reexamination of the original gastric resection specimen slides revealed focal submucosal tumorous infiltration with a vascular invasion. By immunohistochemistry mainly single infiltrating tumor cells were observed with Cytokeratin 7 and Vimentin positivity and partial loss of E-cadherin staining. The subsequent histological examination of necropsy tissue specimens confirmed the disseminated, multi-organ microscopic tumorous invasion. Discussion – It has been recently reported that the expression of Vimentin and the loss of E-cadherin is significantly associated with advanced stage, lymph node metastasis, vascular and neural invasion and undifferentiated type with p<0.05 significance. As our patient was middle aged and had no immune-deficiency, the promoting factor of the reawakening of the primary GC malignant disease after a 9-year-long period of dormancy remained undiscovered. The organ-specific tropism explained by the “seed and soil” theory was unexpected, due to rare occurrence of gastric cancer to metastasize in the meninges given that only a minority of these cells would be capable of crossing the blood brain barrier. Patients with past malignancies and new onset of neurological symptoms should alert the physician to central nervous system involvement, and the appropriate, targeted diagnostic and therapeutic work-up should be established immediately. Targeted staining with specific antibodies is recommended. Recent studies on cell lines indicate that metformin strongly inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition of gastric cancer cells. Therefore, further studies need to be performed on cases positive for epithelial-mesenchymal transition.
Hypertension and nephrology
[This consensus document is intended to provide guidance for the effective and efficient treatment of asymptomatic individuals with high uric acid levels and gout patients.]
Clinical Neuroscience
Acquired idiopathic generalised anhidrosis is an uncommon sweating disorder characterized by loss of sweating in the absence of any neurologic, metabolic or sweat gland abnormalities. Although some possible immunological and structural mechanisms have been proposed for this rare entity, the definitive pathophysiology is still unclear. Despite some successfully treated cases with systemic corticosteroid application, the dose and route of steroid application are controversial. Here, we present a 41-year-old man with lack of generalised sweating who has been successfully treated with high dose pulse intravenous prednisolone. We have discussed his clinical and histopathological findings as well as the treatment options in view of the current literature.
Clinical Neuroscience
Introduction - Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) is a frequent problem among young adults. Hopefully, regeneration can occur in PNI unlike central nervous system. If nerve cut is complete, gold standard treatment is surgery, but incomplete cuts have been tried to be treated by medicines. The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare clinical and histopathological outcomes of independent treatment of each of Vitamin B12 (B12) and Vitamin D3 (D3) and their combination on sciatic nerve injury in an experimental rat model. Materials and methods - Experimental animal study was performed after the approval of BEH Ethics Committee No. 2015/10. 32 rats were grouped into four (n=8) according to treatment procedures, such as Group 1 (controls with no treatment), Group 2 (intraperitoneal 1 mg/kg/day B12), Group 3 (oral 3500 IU/kg/week D3), Group 4 (intraperitoneal 1 mg/kg/day B12+ oral 3500 IU/kg/week D3). Sciatic Functional Index (SFI) and histopathological analysis were performed. Results - SFIs of Group 2, 3, 4 were statistically significantly higher than controls. Group 2 and 3 were statistically not different, however Group 4 was statistically significantly higher than others according to SFI. Axonal degeneration (AD) in all treatment groups were statistically significantly lower than in Group 1. AD in Group 4 was significantly lower than in Group 2 and 3; there was no significant difference between Group 2 and 3. There was no significant difference between Group 1,2 and 3 in Axonolysis (A). But A of Group 4 was significantly very much lower than all others. Oedema- inflammation (OE-I) in all treatment groups were significantly lower than in Group 1; there was no significant difference between Group 2 and group 4. OE-I in Group 2 and 4 were significantly lower than in Group 3. There were no significant differences between Group 1, 2 and 3 in damage level scores; score of Group 4 was significantly lower than of Group 1. Conclusions - B12 and D3 were found effective with no statistically significant difference. But combined use of B12 and D3 improve nerve healing synergistically. We recommend combined use of B12 and D3 after PNI as soon as possible.
Clinical Neuroscience
Short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing/short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with cranial autonomic features (SUNCT/SUNA) is a rare severe headache. At the time of an attack, it can hinder a patient from eating and requires acute intervention. The sphenopalatine ganglion is an extracranial parasympathetic ganglion with both sensory and autonomic fibers. Sphenopalatine ganglion block has long been used in the treatment of headache, particularly when conventional methods have failed. Here, we present a patient who was resistant to intravenous lidocaine, but responded rapidly to sphenopalatine ganglion block during an acute episode of SUNCT/SUNA.
1.
Clinical Neuroscience
Alexithymia is associated with cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson’s disease2.
3.
4.
5.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lege Artis Medicinae
[We do not know that the phenotype of the coronavirus would have changed]5.
Lege Artis Medicinae
[Teleconsultations in general practice during coronavirus epidemiological emergency]
COMMENTS
0 comments