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SCOPUS: le.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

SCOPUS: ed.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Puumala virus (PUUV) is considered a classic Old World etiologic agent of nephropathia epidemica (NE), or hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). HFRS is considered to be distinct from hantavirus (cardio-)pulmonary syndrome (HPS or HCPS), described in the New World. Here, we report a severe case, which fulfilled most, if not all, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria for HPS, needing non-invasive ventilation and subsequent acute hemodialysis. However, the etiological agent was PUUV, as proved by serological testing, real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and sequencing. Viral antigen was detected by specific anti-PUUV immunostaining, showing, for the first time, greenish intracytoplasmic inclusions in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) macrophages. This case definitely confirms that HPS can be encountered during PUUV infections. Interestingly, special findings could render the diagnosis easier, such as greenish homogeneous cytoplasmic inclusions, surrounded by a fine clear halo in BAL macrophages. Therefore, although the diagnosis remains difficult before the onset of renal involvement, the occurrence of severe respiratory failure mimicking community-acquired pneumonia must alert the clinician for possible HPS, especially in endemic areas.

Our results suggest cerebral vasoconstriction in septic compared to non-septic patients. TCD is an efficient and feasible exam to evaluate changes in cerebral perfusion during sepsis.

BACKGROUND: Recommendations were applied before and during the Belgian pandemic (2009) H1N1 influenza wave at a university hospital (420 beds), for optimizing isolation processes and therapeutic management of possible and confirmed infected cases. METHODS: All patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) between August 1st and December 31st 2009 were screened for ILI symptoms, and were isolated for clinical assessment in case of positive screening. Patients categorized as possible influenza cases and who required hospitalization were isolated in dedicated wards. Specific diagnostic algorithms were implemented. Medical charts were retrospectively reviewed and matched with results of the microbiology laboratory. Patient's characteristics were analyzed, the contribution of laboratory diagnosis on therapy and lengh of stay (LOS) in isolation was also assessed. RESULTS: 310 patients out of 6068 had a positive screening for ILI, of these, 265 were retained as possible influenza cases and 139 required hospitalization. Twenty-eight children (8 requiring hospitalization) and 20 hospitalized adult patients had confirmed influenza infection. Five adult patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), 3 requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). There was no death related to the new influenza strain. The majority of confirmed patients were diagnosed during the Belgian epidemic wave, with a sensitivity of antigen detection of 50% in children and 35% in adults comparatively to real-time PCR (RT-PCR). CONCLUSIONS: The impact of (2009) H1N1 pandemic influenza remained limited, except for ICU patients requiring ECMO. Implementation of screening, isolation, and virological diagnosis processes led to significant improvement of patient management.

OBJECTIVE: Myocardial performance index, the sum of the 2 isovolumic times divided by the ejection time, contains information on global systolic and diastolic function. This study was performed to determine the feasibility of right ventricular myocardial performance index measurements if measured by transesophageal echocardiography in patients under general anesthesia and positive-pressure ventilation. DESIGN: A prospective cohort study. SETTING: A tertiary care university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The feasibility of the right ventricular myocardial performance index measurements was assessed in awake patients by using transthoracic echocardiography and reassessed in the same patients under general anesthesia and positive-pressure ventilation using transesophageal echocardiography. The time from the cessation to the onset of 2 consecutive right ventricular inflows was measured as time A; the time from the onset to the cessation of right ventricular ejection was measured as time B. Myocardial performance index was calculated as follows: (time A-time B)/time B. A first reader independently measured all recordings twice to assess intrareader variability and a second reader once to assess interreader variability. Variability (%) was calculated as the mean absolute difference between 2 readings divided by their mean. The myocardial performance index could be measured for all patients. The point estimates of inter- and intraobserver variability of the right ventricular myocardial performance index measurements were 4.3% to 5% in awake patients and 17.8% to 19.6% in anesthetized patients. CONCLUSIONS: This finding questions the use of right ventricular myocardial performance index measurements in anesthetized patients under positive-pressure ventilation.

Anaerobic mediastinitis after cardiac surgery is a rare and poorly understood condition. We observed a patient with diabetes and myelodysplastic syndrome who developed Bacteroides fragilis mediastinitis in conjunction with a prostatic abscess, several days after coronary artery bypass surgery; this hitherto unpublished observation suggests that suppurative infection of the genito-urinary tract may constitute a portal of entry for postoperative anaerobic mediastinitis in predisposed patients. Keywords: Coronary artery bypass grafts; Mediastinal infection; Complication; Infection; Comorbidity.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE. Severe hypoxaemia due to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) still cause a high mortality rate in spite of the improvement of therapeutic measures. In these severely hypoxaemic patients, Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) may be a good additional therapeutic option. However, inter-hospital transfer of patients who need an ECMO can be very dangerous because extreme hypoxaemia or hemodynamic instability may be associated with cerebral hypoxia and death. In this work, we report our experience mobile ECMO system initiated in the referal hospital to secure the transfer, considering 2 groups of patients : first, patients with cardiac failure and ARDS, and secondly, patients with ARDS due to influenza A/H1N1. MATERIAL AND METHODS. Our database was retrospectively analyzed and we report on 18 consecutive patients transferred to our hospital under ECMO assistance. 3 of them required this technique because of cardiocirculatory failure unresponsive to best therapy, 12 others because of ARDS due to various causes and the last 3 because of ARDS specifically due to influenza A/H1N1 pneumonia. Percutaneous veno-venous (VV; n = 14) or veno-arterial (VA; n = 4) ECMO support consisted in a single membrane oxygenator and a centrifugal pump. RESULTS. The transfer of all patients was feasible thanks to a systemic oxygenation and hemodynamic status improvement by the ECMO, after a median door to door transfer time of 73 minutes (range: 26 - 105 minutes) in the first group and 96 minutes (90 - 115 minutes) in the second group. No significant complication was noted during the transfer except a transient loss of electric power supply. In the first group, PaO2/FiO2 improved from 57.2 mmHg (26 - 88 mmHg) to 219 mmHg (47 - 390 mmHg), and from 62.7 mmHg (54-74 mmHg) to 254 mmHg (126-334 mmHg) in the second group, respectively before and after the initiation of ECMO. The mean weaning length for the ECMO system was 7 days in the first group and 19 days in

Analysis of Doppler findings of transmitral inflow patterns did not allow for detection of myocardial ischaemia during surgical revascularization of the myocardium.

Decreased right ventricular function after coronary artery bypass graft surgery is a well-known phenomenon. The use of an artificial circuit and of cardioplegia during cardiopulmonary bypass (conventional coronary artery bypass graft surgery) has been evoked as possible reason for this dysfunction. With the availability of cardiac stabilisers (Octopus or Starfish), bypass surgery on a beating heart is now possible without the use of cardioplegia and cardiopulmonary bypass (off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery). Avoiding the potential damaging effects of cardiopulmonary bypass and keeping a nearly continuous perfusion in the coronary arteries of the beating heart have been postulated to offer a better protection of the myocardium with a better outcome and to reduce the perioperative morbidity. Aims: If right ventricular dysfunction is known to occur after conventional coronary artery bypass graft surgery, nothing is known about right ventricular function after off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Therefore we performed two prospective, randomised, controlled trials to assess and compare the short-term and medium-term effects of conventional and off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery on the global and regional right ventricular function. We used transoesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography as investigating tools of right ventricular systolic and diastolic function. Materials and Methods: Fifty consecutive patients scheduled for elective coronary bypass graft surgery and for whom the surgeon regarded off-pump and on-pump techniques as equally suitable were randomised. We performed a transthoracic echocardiography the day before surgery and 3 months after surgery, and a transoesophageal echocardiography just before opening and just after closure of the sternum. Results: Just after closure of the sternum, we could not observe a better protection of the right ventricular function by the off-pump surgery. Cardiac index and right ventricular, Introduction: La dysfonction ventriculaire droite après chirurgie coronaire est un phénomène bien connu. L'utilisation d'un circuit artificiel ainsi que d'une solution de cardioplégie pendant la circulation extra-corporelle (CEC) (chirurgie coronaire classique) a été évoquée comme origine possible de cette dysfonction. Une chirurgie sur coeur battant (chirurgie coronaire sans CEC) est actuellement possible grâce à l'utilisation de stabilisateurs cardiaques (Octopus ou Starfish®). Ce type de chirurgie sans CEC permet d'éviter l'utilisation de la CEC et de solutions de cardioplégie et d'en supprimer ainsi les effets délétères. Elle permet également de maintenir une perfusion quasi continue des artères coronaires. Ces différents éléments ont été évoqués comme offrant une meilleure protection myocardique ainsi qu'un meilleur devenir des patients, et comme pouvant réduire la morbidité périopératoire. Buts : La survenue d'une dysfonction ventriculaire droite après chirurgie coronaire classique est un phénomène bien connu, par contre nous savons peu de chose sur la fonction ventriculaire droite après chirurgie coronaire sans CEC. Pour cette raison, nous avons entrepris deux études prospectives, randomisées et contrôlées afin d'étudier et de comparer les effets à court et moyen terme de la chirurgie coronaire classique et sans CEC. Nous avons utilisé l'échographie cardiaque transthoracique et transoesophagienne comme outil de mesure de la fonction systolique et diastolique du ventricule droit. Matériel et Méthode : Nous avons randomisé cinquante patients consécutifs, programmés pour une chirurgie coronaire élective et pour laquelle le chirurgien estimait qu'une chirurgie sans CEC était aussi appropriée qu'une chirurgie avec CEC. Une échographie cardiaque transthoracique était réalisée la veille de l'intervention ainsi que 3 mois plus tard, une échographie transoesophagienne était réalisée juste avant l'ouverture et après la fermeture du sternum. Résultats : Juste après la f, (MED 3)--UCL, 2007

The ratio of tricuspid peak early inflow velocity to peak early diastolic velocity of the lateral tricuspid annulus (the E/Ea ratio) measured by transthoracic echocardiography has been reported to correlate with right atrial (RA) pressure. In this study, the correlation between the E/Ea ratio and RA pressure was tested in 44 anesthetized, paralyzed, and mechanically ventilated patients by transesophageal echocardiography. Mean RA pressure and the following echocardiographic data were recorded simultaneously: tricuspid peak early inflow velocities by Doppler echocardiography, peak early diastolic velocity of the lateral tricuspid annulus by tissue Doppler imaging, and right ventricular and left ventricular end-diastolic areas. Linear regression did not indicate a correlation between the E/Ea ratio and RA pressure (r = -0.11, p = 0.48) or between the E/Ea ratio and the right or left ventricular end-diastolic area index; it revealed a weak correlation between RA pressure and the inspiratory plateau pressure and body mass index. In conclusion, the E/Ea ratio failed to predict RA pressure or planimetric indexes of ventricular preload in anesthetized, paralyzed, and mechanically ventilated patients. In these patients, RA pressure was largely influenced by extracardiac factors. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

BACKGROUND: The poor prognosis of patients with persistent gastrointestinal radio-opacities after oral arsenic poisoning supports efficient gastrointestinal decontamination as critical for survival. In a case of massive arsenic ingestion, we performed repetitive gastric endoscopy and a continuous alkaline irrigation of the stomach over several days. CASE REPORT: A 41-year-old woman was admitted 4 hours after intentional ingestion of trivalent arsenic powder 5 g. The admission abdominal X-ray confirmed the presence of multiple gastric opacities. Initial treatment was gastric lavage with normal saline, dimercaprol chelation, and supportive therapy. Since gastric opacities persisted on the abdominal X-ray at 34 hours despite repeated gastric lavage, a gastroscopy was performed showing nonremovable agglomerates. In an attempt to achieve further gastric decontamination, we performed a continuous gastric alkaline irrigation. After 3 days of alkaline irrigation, the abdomen was normal on X-ray but the gastroscopy still showed arsenic concretions. Alkaline irrigation was continued for another 3 days until total disappearance of arsenic agglomerates at the gastroscopy. Admission urinary arsenic was 3663 microg/L. A total of 46.2 mg of inorganic arsenic, or less than 1% the ingested dose, was extracted from the stomach by this technique. The patient was discharged from the intensive care unit 20 days after admission without sequelae.

Superwarfarins have progressively replaced warfarin as rodenticides as they are more potent and have a longer anticoagulant activity. Human exposure may be complicated by spontaneous haemorrhage in various sites. We report the case of a 51-year-old woman who was admitted with spontaneous haemoperitoneum and intramural haematoma along the small intestine. After the evidence of a deficit of vitamin K1-dependent clotting factors (II, VII, IX, X), the patient admitted that she was chronically ingesting difenacoum. She was successfully treated with fresh frozen plasma and vitamin K1. Follow-up was not accepted.