Ameboma: an unusual cause of gastrointestinal bleeding during severe leptospirosis.

Background: Severe leptospirosis occurs mainly in a tropical environment and includes icterus, acute renal failure and hemorrhages. These bleedings, which are mainly a consequence of acute homeostatic disturbances, can also reveal simultaneous diseases. Coinfections with other tropical diseases have been previously reported during leptospirosis.

Leptospirosis in Reunion Island (Indian Ocean): analysis of factors associated with severity in 147 confirmed cases.

Objective: Analysis of risk factors associated with severity in patients with confirmed leptospirosis.

Design And Setting: Retrospective study in 147 leptospirosis-confirmed patients at two tertiary nonteaching hospital in Reunion Island.

Patients: 138 men and 9 women, aged 36+/-14 years, 80 in the ICU and 67 in medical wards.

Severe community-acquired pneumonia: assessment of microbial aetiology as mortality factor.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains a major cause of mortality. The aetiology of CAP has rarely been identified as a mortality risk factor. A prospective study was conducted to assess the prognostic factors of CAP patients admitted to the intensive care unit (Centre Hospitalier Departmental Felix Guyon, St Denis de la Reunion, France), with a special emphasis on microbial aetiology.

Venous thromboembolism in passengers following a 12-h flight: a case-control study.

Objectives: There has recently been great interest in the possible relationship between air travel and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Based on a case-control survey, we measured the frequency of VTE, associated risk factors (RFs), and factors influencing the onset of pulmonary embolism (PE) or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

Methods: The study was conducted over 1 yr.

Inability of 99mTc-ciprofloxacin scintigraphy to discriminate between septic and sterile osteoarticular diseases.

Unlabelled: Ciprofloxacin labeled with (99m)Tc specifically binds to various bacteria. Thus, it potentially constitutes a specific marker allowing discrimination between septic arthritis/osteomyelitis and aseptic osteoarticular diseases. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate such properties in patients with skeletal diseases.

Merkel cell carcinoma in a black human immunodeficiency virus-infected patient.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare malignant tumour that develops in sun-exposed areas in immunocompromised patients (chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, transplant recipients) older than 50 years. We report MCC in a young black woman with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. A 2-cm binodular violaceous lesion developed on her left ear lobe.

Clinical impact of combination of scatter, attenuation correction, and depth-dependent resolution recovery for (201)Tl studies.

Unlabelled: A lack of specificity for myocardial perfusion imaging has been widely reported, mostly related to false-positive defects on the inferior wall. The application of depth-dependent resolution recovery (RR), attenuation correction (AC) using external source devices, and scatter correction has been proposed to resolve this pitfall.

Methods: We studied the clinical benefit of depth-dependent RR, nonuniform AC using a scanning line source, and scatter correction (photon energy recovery [PER]) compared with filtered backprojection alone.

Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy and gallium scintigraphy in patients with sarcoidosis.

Unlabelled: Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) has been shown to reveal sarcoidosis sites. The aim of this study was to prospectively compare SRS and gallium scintigraphy in the evaluation of pulmonary and extrapulmonary involvement in patients with proven sarcoidosis.

Methods: Eighteen patients with biopsy-proven sarcoidosis were included.

Detection of bone metastases in patients with endocrine gastroenteropancreatic tumors: bone scintigraphy compared with somatostatin receptor scintigraphy.

Unlabelled: Scintigraphy with somatostatin analogs is a sensitive method for the staging and therapeutic management of patients with endocrine gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) tumors. The aim of this study was to compare prospectively somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) using 111n-pentetreotide with bone scintigraphy using 99mTc-hydroxymethylene diphosphonate for the detection of bone metastases.

Methods: One-hundred-forty-five patients with proven endocrine GEP tumors were investigated.

POEMS syndrome, steroid-dependent diabetes mellitus, erythema elevatum diutinum, and rheumatoid arthritis as extramedullary manifestations of plasma cell dyscrasia.

POEMS syndrome is a rare synopsis of different multisystemic disorders (polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal gammapathy, and skin lesions) associated with plasma cell dyscrasia. We herein report the atypical case of a 44-year-old white man presenting with glomerulopathy, POEMS syndrome, and erythema elevatum diutinum with a few-year history of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis (RA) as early manifestations of IgAlambda multiple myeloma. The prescription of 1 mg/kg/day prednisone improved the patient's features dramatically.

High dose enalapril impairs the response to erythropoietin treatment in haemodialysis patients.

Background: The resistance to recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) therapy in haemodialysis (HD) patients has multifactorial aetiologies: erythropoietin insufficiency, dialysis insufficiency, iron deficiency, and secondary hyperparathyroidism. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors induce anaemia in patients with essential hypertension, congestive heart failure, chronic renal insufficiency, and renal transplants. Data exist suggesting that ACE inhibitors impair erythropoiesis in HD patients.

Epidemiology of end-stage renal failure in Reunion Island (results from the registry of the Indian Ocean Society of Nephrology).

Background: End-stage renal disease (ESRD) on long-term dialysis is a substantial problem in Reunion because of the high incidence and prevalence of this disease due to non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and systemic arterial hypertension.

Subjects And Methods: In 1996 the renal study group of the Indian Ocean Society of Nephrology established a regional registry of end-stage renal failure (ESRD) on long-term dialysis. The present report summarizes data obtained from this registry.

High-dose alfacalcidol improves anaemia in patients on haemodialysis.

Background: Alfacalcidol is efficient for treating secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients on maintenance haemodialysis (HD). Little is known about the direct impact of high-dose alfacalcidol on anaemia in end-stage renal failure. We therefore carried out a prospective study over 18 months to examine the direct effect of high-dose alfacalcidol on erythropoiesis in erythropoietin (rHuEpo)-dependent anaemic patients on HD for more than 6 months with moderate hyperparathyroidism.

[Renal vein thrombosis and constitutional protein S deficiency].

Venous and arterial thrombosis due to a constitutional protein S deficiency is well-known. We report the case of a 36 year-old patient admitted to hospital in 1991 for primary renal vein thrombosis due to a constitutional protein S deficiency of type I. The diagnosis was made by CT scan and angiography.

[Clinical aspects and prognostic factors of icterohemorrhagic leptospirosis in adults. Apropos of 249 cases in La Reunion].

Human leptospirosis of the classical and severe icterohemorrhagic type, usually due to the L. icterohaemorrhagiae serogroup, is frequent in La Réunion. In a retrospective study conducted between 1980 and 1984 in 249 adult patients, the mortality rate was 13 p.