Chlorhexidine washing in intensive care does not reduce bloodstream infections, blood culture contamination and drug-resistant microorganism acquisition: an interrupted time series analysis.

Background: Health care-associated infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in intensive care patients. The effect of daily washing with chlorhexidine on these infections is controversial.

Methods: Single-centre, retrospective, open-label, sequential period, interrupted time series (ITS) analysis in a 31-bed tertiary referral mixed intensive care unit (ICU), comparing daily washing with water and soap (from January 2011 to August 2013) with chlorhexidine washing (from November 2013 to December 2015), after the introduction of a unit-level policy of chlorhexidine washing.

Impact of metformin on endothelial ischemia-reperfusion injury in humans in vivo: a prospective randomized open, blinded-endpoint study.

Introduction: Large prospective studies in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus have demonstrated that metformin treatment improves cardiovascular prognosis, independent of glycemic control. Administration of metformin potently limits infarct size in murine models of myocardial infarction. This study examined, for the first time in humans, whether metformin limits ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury in vivo using a well-validated forearm model of endothelial IR-injury.

Evaluation of early versus delayed lymphoscintigraphic imaging in detecting internal mammary sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer: a multicenter study to establish an optimal lymphatic mapping protocol.

Objective: Metastases in the internal mammary lymph nodes have an important prognostic value in breast cancer. Lymphatic mapping and sentinel node biopsy of internal mammary nodes improves staging and permits specific therapeutic strategies, thereby possibly improving final outcome. Therefore, optimal lymphoscintigraphic results are needed.

Results of sentinel node biopsy not affected by previous excisional biopsy.

Aims: Sentinel lymph node (SN) biopsy has been validated in the treatment of breast carcinoma. Patients with previous excisional biopsy are regarded as ineligible for SN biopsy. We evaluated the results of SN biopsy for this group of patients based on confirmatory axillary lymph node dissection.

Halsted revisited: internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy in breast cancer.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of internal mammary sentinel lymph node biopsy as a method to refine and thereby improve nodal staging in breast cancer.

Summary Background Data: The internal mammary lymph node status is a major prognostic factor in breast cancer. If positive, prognosis is less favorable.

Sentinel node biopsy in 70 unselected patients with breast cancer: increased feasibility by using 10 mCi radiocolloid in combination with a blue dye tracer.

Aims: Lymphatic mapping and sentinel node (SN) biopsy in breast cancer contribute to more accurate staging, while using less invasive techniques. The aim of this study is to improve the accuracy and feasibility of this concept, increasing the identification rate of the SN, by using an alternative technique.

Methods: In 70 unselected patients with primary breast cancer, of whom 51% had undergone previous excisional biopsy, lymphatic mapping was performed using 10 mCi (370 MBq) 99mTc-nanocolloid peritumorally, combined with an intradermal blue dye tracer.

Categorization of abnormal left ventricular function: comparison between radionuclide angiographic and echocardiographic technique in postinfarction patients.

In postinfarction patients, only biplane echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) accurately predicts radionuclide EF > or <0.35, 0.40, and 0.

Late cardiotoxicity after treatment for a malignant bone tumor.

Cardiac function was assessed in long-term survivors of malignant bone tumors who were treated according to Rosen's T5 or T10 protocol, both including doxorubicin. Thirty-one patients, age 10-45 years (median age 17.8 years) were evaluated 2.

Pharmacokinetics and scintigraphy of indium-111-DTPA-MOC-31 in small-cell lung carcinoma.

Unlabelled: Radiolabeled MOC-31 retains its immunoreactivity and shows good in vivo immunolocalization to human SCLC xenografted in nude rats.

Methods: We evaluated the immunotargeting properties and safety of 111In-labeled monoclonal antibody (MAb) MOC-31 (125 MBq, 5 mg) in six patients with histologically proven small-cell lung cancer (SCLC). Scintigraphy and pharmacokinetics were performed up to 3 days after injection.

Iodine-131 Hippuran for the estimation of renal plasma flow: requirements for radiochemical purity.

For many years iodide-131 Hippuran has been used as a tracer to measure effective renal plasma flow (ERPF). Because of the low renal clearance of free 131I-iodide and the inability to count it separately from 131I-Hippuran, free 131I-iodide will lower the calculated 131I-Hippuran clearance, resulting in a lower estimated ER-PF. This study was performed to establish the maximum allowable radiochemical impurity of free 131I-iodide in 131I-Hippuran preparations for ERPF measurements in continuous clearance studies.

Radioimmunodetection of human small cell lung carcinoma xenografts in the nude rat using 111in-labelled monoclonal antibody MOC-31.

The applicability of mouse monoclonal antibody MOC-31 for in vivo radioimmunodetection of human small cell lung cancer (SCLC) was investigated in a nude rat xenograft model. MOC-31 is reactive with a 38 kD pancarcinoma membrane antigen. [111In]DTPA-MOC-31 showed good in vivo immunolocalisation to xenografted SCLC cells, whereas antigen-related uptake was low in normal rat tissues and in a control antigen-negative, human-derived tumour.

Technetium-99m-MAG3 clearance as a parameter of effective renal plasma flow in patients with proteinuria and lowered serum albumin levels.

Although the renal clearance of 99mTc-MAG3 is about 60% of the 131I-hippurate clearance, 99mTc-MAG3 clearance may be useful to estimate ERPF. In one study, however, proteinuria seemed to influence the MAG3/hippurate clearance ratio. In order to establish whether proteinuria or serum albumin level has influence on this ratio, a comparison was made between 99mTc-MAG3 clearance and 131I-hippurate clearance in 14 patients.

Comparison of computed tomography and 57Co-bleomycin scintigraphy in staging the mediastinal lymph nodes of patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

The value of computed tomography (CT) and of 57Co-bleomycin scintigraphy (57Co-BLM) in staging the mediastinal lymph nodes was compared in 28 patients suffering from non-small-cell lung cancer. The results were assessed against the pathological findings obtained during thoracotomy or mediastinoscopy. CT staging of the mediastinum had a sensitivity of 75%, a specificity of 80%, an accuracy of 79%, a positive predictive index of 60% and a negative predictive index of 89%.

Nontropical pyomyositis as a cause of subacute, multifocal myalgia in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

We report a case of nontropical pyomyositis in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection, in which severe myalgia was the presenting symptom over several weeks. Multifocal muscle lesions were identified by gallium scanning and magnetic resonance imaging techniques. The epidemiology, possible pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnostic imaging, and therapy are reviewed.

Scintigraphic evaluation of Lyme disease: gallium-67 imaging of Lyme myositis.

A patient suffering from Lyme disease had cardiac conduction abnormalities, symptoms of arthritis, and myalgia. A Ga-67 image showed evidence of endomyocarditis, but intense skeletal muscle uptake pointed to Lyme myositis. Reference is made to two other case reports of Lyme myositis.