Primary polyarteritis nodosa presenting as acute symmetric quadriplegia.

We report a case of peripheral neuropathy presenting as acute symmetric areflexic quadriplegia in the setting of a well-defined clinical, histopathologic, and angiographic diagnosis of classic polyarteritis nodosa. While it is usually easy to recognize the typical clinical presentation of necrotizing angiopathy-induced peripheral neuropathy as a mononeuritis multiplex or a distal polyneuropathy in association with a collagen vascular disease, clinicians must be equally sensitive to a number of more challenging possibilities. Acute quadriplegia similar to that seen in Guillain-Barré syndrome can be secondary to primary classic polyarteritis nodosa and the former may be the chief or even the sole manifestation of the latter.

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in primary Sjögren's syndrome: prevalence and clinical significance.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of cytoplasmic (c) and perinuclear (p) antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) in patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (SS), and to correlate the presence of ANCA with extraglandular and immunological manifestations related to SS.

Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we included 82 consecutive patients (75 female and seven male; mean age 61 yr; range 33-87 yr) attending our unit. All patients fulfilled four or more of the diagnostic criteria for SS proposed by the European Community Study Group in 1993.

The association between Crohn disease and the myelodysplastic syndromes. Report of 3 cases and review of the literature.

We report 3 patients who developed Crohn disease and myelodysplastic syndrome concurrently and review 9 previously reported cases of this association. Demographic and clinical features, treatment, and outcome are presented from previous reports and our own 3 cases. Of the 12 patients, 8 were men, and the mean age was 68.

[The Sociedad Española de Cardiología on the Internet: current resources and future prospects. The Internet Committee of the Sociedad Española de Cardiología].

The Internet can help physicians to identify needed clinical information quickly providing continued medical education. Internet also improves medical information of the non-medical population. Researchers have quick access to library catalogs, Medline and other important databases from the most recognized research centers.

[Improvement in the treatment of acute myocardial infarct by the establishment of a thrombolysis unit in a cardiology servic].

Introduction And Objectives: Lack of available beds in the coronary care unit, makes time to thrombolysis still too long. Although fibrinolytic therapy is administered in the emergency department in most hospitals, mean in-hospital delay continues to be long. Our purpose was to improve the treatment of these patients and to evaluate if this delay could be shortened by creating a thrombolysis unit for the treatment of patients with acute myocardial infarction.