Longitudinal follow-up of cardiac vagal activity in individuals undergoing endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy.

Objective: To conduct a longitudinal investigation of cardiac vagal activity (CVA) by measuring resting HR and calculating the cardiac vagal index (CVI) in individuals undergoing sympathectomy for the treatment of primary hyperhidrosis.

Methods: This was a descriptive longitudinal study involving 22 patients, 13 of whom were female. The mean age was 22.

Pulmonary amyloidosis: radiographic finding of nodular opacities in a heavy smoker.

Pulmonary amyloidosis is a rare disease, characterized by extracellular deposition of fibrillary protein in the lungs. Amyloidosis is a generic term for a heterogeneous group of diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes mellitus. In the respiratory system, it appears in various forms: tracheobronchial; nodular pulmonary; and alveolar septal (diffuse parenchymal).

Video-assisted thoracic sympathectomy in the treatment of primary hyperhidrosis: a retrospective study of 521 cases comparing different levels of ablation.

Objective: To compare different levels of ablation in terms of the degree of patient satisfaction and extent of postoperative reflex sweating in sympathectomized patients.

Methods: A retrospective study involving 521 patients with primary hyperhidrosis, submitted to thoracic sympathectomy at the Monte Sinai Hospital and University Hospital of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, from January of 2001 to December 2005. All patients were submitted to thermal ablation of the sympathetic stem and were divided into three groups: up to T2 (group I, n = 162); up to T3 (group II, n = 65); and up to T4 (group III, n = 294).

[Pulmonary amniotic fluid embolism syndrome: case report and literature review].

Background And Objectives: Amniotic fluid embolism is a rare complication of pregnancy whose physiopathology is not completely known and still not frequently remembered by intensive care physicians and obstetricians. The main aim of this case report was to emphasize the need of better knowledge of this disease by physicians.

Case Report: A 15 years old, primigravida, 35th week of gestation was admitted in our intensive care unit (ICU) with a sudden respiratory distress.

Atypical fulminant Rickettsia rickettsii infection (Brazilian spotted fever) presenting as septic shock and adult respiratory distress syndrome.

Brazilian spotted fever, caused by Rickettsia rickettsii, has been increasingly reported in Brazil especially in the southeastern states. The severe and fulminant forms of the disease are not unusual but most of the reported fatal cases have shown some typical clinical clue, which leads the attending physician to a correct diagnosis. We report a probable case of atypical fulminant Brazilian spotted fever that presented full-blown septic shock associated with Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and delayed uncharacteristic rash with an over four-fold increase in reciprocal IgM, but not IgG titer against Rickettsia rickettsii.