Multicentre Etest evaluation of in vitro activity of conventional antifungal drugs against European bovine mastitis Prototheca spp. isolates.

Objectives: Bovine mammary protothecosis is a serious pathology that entails high economic losses in the dairy industry. The disease, the frequency of which has recently been increasing worldwide, is caused by unicellular, achlorophyllous, yeast-like algae of two species: Prototheca zopfii and Prototheca blaschkeae. The objective of this study was to investigate the in vitro activity of a panel of conventional antifungal drugs against Prototheca spp.

Large-scale screening of the in vitro susceptibility of Prototheca zopfii towards polyene antibiotics.

A large scale screening of the in vitro susceptibility of 105 strains of Prototheca zopfii to a panel of polyene antibiotics (amphotericin B, nystatin, primaricin and filipin) was conducted. Strains studied were isolated from dairy-associated environments in five different localities. Groups 1-4 included strains recovered from four separate regions of Italy, while group 5 included isolates from Belgium.

Relief of buttock claudication by percutaneous recanalization of an occluded superior gluteal artery.

We report a case of a woman presenting with right severe buttock claudication and normal neurological and osteoarticular examination, in whom a guidewire recanalization and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) of an occluded right superior gluteal artery (SGA) has provided relief of her symptoms. To our knowledge, this is the first report of percutaneous recanalization of the SGA. PTA can be considered the treatment of choice for buttock claudication caused by SGA stenosis or occlusion.

Is transcranial Doppler a worthwhile examination for preoperative evaluation of the Circle of Willis? Evaluation of 137 carotid endarterectomies performed under regional anesthesia.

Background: Transcranial Doppler is often proposed for evaluation of the Circle of Willis prior to carotid endarterectomy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate preoperative TCD before carotid surgery.

Methods: This is a retrospective report of 137 carotid endarterectomies performed under regional anesthesia operated between January 1992 on June 1996.

[Value of transcranial pulsed Doppler in artery carotid surgery. A comparison of clinical, paraclinical and peroperative data].

Blood flow in the middle cerebral artery was monitored during carotid artery surgery under loco-regional anaesthesia by plexus block in awake patients in order to assess the value of transcranial pulsed Doppler in understanding the embolic or haemodynamic mechanisms of peroperative cerebrovascular accidents. Blood flow changes in the middle cerebral artery ipsilateral to the operated carotid artery were compared with clinical, paraclinical and operative findings. Sixty-two patients were included in the study, 34 with symptomatic carotid artery lesions and 28 with very severe, progressive but asymptomatic stenosis.

[Percutaneous angioplasty of the renal arteries. Long-term results of 222 operations].

Objectives: Determine the relative role of percutaneous angioplasty of the renal arteries in the treatment of renovascular hypertension.

Methods: From September 1984 to June 1993, we performed 222 angioplasties in 196 patients with renovascular hypertension. There were 186 atheromatous stenoses of the renal arteries and 36 fibromuscular dysplasias.

Isolation of yeasts from bovine milk in Belgium.

A total of 436 milk samples from non-infected and 80 from infected quarters were investigated: 24.5% of the samples collected from non-infected and 55% of those collected from infected quarters were positive. Normal milk yielded not less than 16 different species and among them many potentially pathogenic yeast species such as C.

[Treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm: importance of the aorto-aortic tube?].

We compared retrospectively the immediate and mid-term outcome in 203 operations for AAA performed at the Saint-Michel Hospital in the vascular surgery department. Two groups of patients were treated either with a tube graft or with a Dacron bifurcated graft. In our experience, the tube was prefered when there were no haemodynamically significant stenosis or aneurysmal dilatations in the iliac arteries.

[Cervical plexus block for carotid surgery. 313 consecutive operations].

Objectives: The optimal method for protecting the brain from ischaemia during carotid surgery is still a matter of debate. The aim of this study was to report our early results after carotid surgery performed with cervical plexus blockade in vigilant patients.

Methods: From 1987 to 1992, 313 consecutive operations were performed on the carotid bifurcation (217 males, 96 females; mean age 67 years; age range 41-87 years).

[Results of endoprostheses in the iliac arteries; an experience apropos of 47 implantations].

Obstruction or stenosis of the iliac artery was treated by placement of an endoprothesis in 41 patients. A total of 47 lesions was treated. 26 patients had poor results of balloon angioplasty including residual stenosis (7 cases), restenosis post angioplasty (7 cases), and dissection (12 cases).

[Renal artery occlusion: percutaneous revascularization].

The value of percutaneous revascularization of acute or chronic occluded renal arteries is demonstrated in 9 cases. Recanalization and dilatation was technically successful in 6 patients. The authors stress the importance of anatomo-radiologic criterion for successful recanalization.

[Aneurysms of branches of the renal artery: surgery in situ].

Renal artery aneurysms (RAA) are rare lesions, often associated with hypertension. In order to evaluate the benefit in terms of blood pressure of elective cure of a fibrodysplastic renal artery aneurysm in hypertensive patients, 22 patients were studied retrospectively. With a mean follow-up of 66 months, correction or improvement of hypertension was obtained in all patients with an isolated aneurysm or an aneurysm associated with haemodynamic lesions of the renal artery, treated at the same time, but only 40% of cases when the aneurysm was associated with non-haemodynamic lesions.

[Atrophic polychondritis presenting as multiple arterial stenosis. Report of a case].

A case of multiple arterial stenosis is reported in a pattern with atrophic polychondritis. The disease was diagnosed retrospectively nine years after the first vascular signs on the basis of clinical course. Atrophic polychondritis is a rare connective tissue disease with characteristic chondritis.

[Value of elective cure of fibrodysplastic aneurysms of the renal artery in hypertensive patients].

Renal artery aneurysms (RAA) are rare lesions, often associated with hypertension. In order to evaluate the benefit in terms of blood pressure of elective cure of a fibrodysplastic renal artery aneurysm in hypertensive patients, 22 patients were studied retrospectively. With a mean follow-up of 66 months, correction or improvement of hypertension was obtained in all patients with an isolated aneurysm or an aneurysm associated with haemodynamic lesions of the renal artery, treated at the same time, but only 40% of cases when the aneurysm was associated with non-heamodynamic lesions.

[Is it necessary to operate on small abdominal aortic aneurysms?].

The indication for surgical treatment of aneurysms of 5 cm diameter or larger is no longer the subject of much debate but the problem still arises for aneurysms equal to or less than 4 cm in diameter. This problem is a real one since epidemiologic studies have shown the frequency of aortic aneurysms to be about 45/100,000 in men and 20/100,000 in women. The incidence of rupture in these small aneurysms is null for some authors, such as Névitt, for those of less than 5 cm, but Crawford reported an incidence of 9%.

[Asymptomatic carotid stenoses. Analysis of randomized studies].

Results of recent randomized clinical trials in patients with asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis have progressively tended towards a more surgical than medical attitude to treatment. Interim results of the Veterans Administration study of 444 patients randomly allocated to receive either aspirin (233 cases) or surgery (211 cases) showed the percentage of vascular accidents and postoperative mortality to be 2.4% and 1.

Aortic false aneurysms after prosthetic reconstruction of the infrarenal aorta.

False aneurysm of the infrarenal aorta was found at the site of proximal anastomosis in 13 patients after vascular reconstruction for lower limb arterial disease. The grafts involved were aortoprosthetic in one patient, aortobiiliac in two patients, and aortobifemoral in 10 patients. They had been implanted eight years prior to reoperation on the average (range six months to 15 years).

Elastase-induced experimental aneurysms in rats.

An experimental in vivo model of aortic aneurysm was established by perfusing an isolated segment of rat abdominal aorta with pancreatic elastase. Ten rats were used in each protocol. Saline-perfused aortas developed no aneurysmal dilations.

[Magnetic resonance imaging in the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma].

The diagnosis of pheochromocytoma is biological. If ultrasound enables the visualization of certain adrenal tumours or hepatic metastasis, in fact two tests enable the topographic diagnosis, the screening of ectopic localizations and metastasis. They are IMBG scintigraphy and tomographic scanning.

[A case of artero-ureteral fistula. Review of the literature].

We report a case of a 78-year old male patient with a history of hematuria. Diagnosis of a shunt between a left common iliac artery aneurysm and the ipsilateral ureter was arrived at on the basis of arteriographic findings. Surgery consisted in ligating the left ureter proximal and distal to its communication with the aneurysm (left kidney silent on intravenous urogram), in closing the arterial orifices proximal and distal to the aneurysm, and in constructing an extraanatomical interfemoral bypass.

Coarctation of the abdominal aorta and stenosis of the left renal artery with hypertension caused by fibrodysplasia.

The causes frequently ascribed to coarctation of the abdominal aorta include atherosclerosis, trauma, inflammatory aortitis, and extrinsic compression. We present a case of coarctation of the abdominal aorta with stenosis of the left renal artery due to fibrodysplasia in a 35-year-old woman, hospitalized for treatment of intermittent claudication and hypertension. This coarctation was resected and end-to-end anastomosis with reimplantation of the left renal artery was performed.

[Spontaneous dissection of the renal artery].

In this paper we describe a case involving spontaneous dissection of the renal artery (DRA) successfully treated with an aorto-renal venous graft. DRA is a rare disorder which strikes men especially. Hypertension is the most frequent sign of its presence, which is usually of sudden onset, and with major adverse impact on the eye and brain.

[Transluminal angioplasty in renovascular hypertension with renal insufficiency].

From 1985 to 1986, 71 patients with renovascular hypertension were treated by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA). Among them, 13 (mean age 67 +/- 7 years) had a hypertension refractory to drug therapy (blood pressure: 194 +/- 33/103 +/- 15 mmHg) associated with an impaired renal function (creatinine clearance: 33 +/- 20 ml/mn). Ten had a stenosis in a solitary functioning kidney and a contralateral renal artery thrombosis.