Thrombotic risk in patients submitted to splenectomy for systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid antibody syndrome-related thrombocytopenia.

Background: Splenectomy has been performed to treat refractory autoimmune thrombocytopenia. However, some reports have suggested that an increased risk of thrombosis could be present in splenectomized patients. This study aims to evaluate the possibility of an increased risk of thrombosis after splenectomy in patients with systemic lupus and antiphospholipid syndrome.

Assessment of the European classification criteria for Sjögren's syndrome in a series of clinically defined cases: results of a prospective multicentre study. The European Study Group on Diagnostic Criteria for Sjögren's Syndrome.

Objective: To assess the recently proposed preliminary criteria for the classification of Sjögren's syndrome (SS) in a multicentre European study of a new series of clinically defined cases.

Methods: The criteria included six items: I = ocular symptoms; II = oral symptoms; III = evidence of keratoconjunctivitis sicca; IV = focal sialoadenitis by minor salivary gland biopsy; V = instrumental evidence of salivary gland involvement; VI = presence of autoantibodies. Each centre was asked to provide five patients with primary SS, five with secondary SS, five with connective tissue diseases (CTD) but without SS, and five controls (patients with ocular or oral features that may simulate SS).

[Emphysematous pyelonephritis].

A case of emphysematous pyelonephritis to E. coli, in a 63-year-old female diabetic patient is presented herein. Imaging techniques (plain abdomen X-Ray, ultra-sonography and computed tomography) allowed the authors to make the diagnosis.