INFRARED THERMAL IMAGING CONTROL OF RADIATION DERMATITIS DYNAMICS.

Background: Radiation-induced dermatitis impairs the quality of life of cancer patients and may lead to the need of interrupting radiotherapy. The grade of dermatitis is subjectively assessed by the visual examination. There is an urgent need for both objective and quantitative methods for assessing the current grade of dermatitis and predicting its severity at an early stage of radiotherapy.

Adaptive Support Ventilation as the sole mode of ventilatory support in chronically ventilated patients.

Objective: To describe the outcome of patients admitted to a new private facility for chronically ventilated patients in the Ashdod area of Israel.

Methods: On arrival, all patients were placed on Adaptive Support Ventilation (ASV) at 90% of target minute ventilation for lean body weight, reducing progressively in weekly decrements of 10% down to 60% of target minute ventilation if adequate spontaneous ventilation was maintained by the patient.

Results: Almost half (12/27) of these patients admitted in the first 12 months following establishment of the facility were successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation within 2 weeks to 2 months of admission.

Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy: control of pain and symptoms with pamidronate.

This case presents a patient with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy of the lower extremities that developed secondary to congenital cyanotic heart disease. The major clinical manifestation was severe bilateral leg pain. The pain that was debilitating in nature completely resolved following a single administration of 60 mg pamidronate.

Anti-dsDNA antibodies in sarcoidosis.

Background: Sarcoidosis is a chronic multisystem disorder characterized by an exaggerated cellular immune response to antigens with the production of various antibodies including rheumatoid factor and antinuclear antibodies (ANA). The prevalence and significance of antibodies to double-stranded DNA (anti-dsDNA) in sarcoid patients is unknown. The occurrence of anti-dsDNA antibodies is known to be a specific marker of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).