Bartonella henselae infection associated with autoimmune thyroiditis in a child.

Background: Bartonella henselae was discovered a quarter of a century ago as the causative agent of cat-scratch disease. More recently, Bartonella has been found to be responsible for a broad range of clinical syndromes (prolonged fever, hepatosplenic disease, encephalopathies, ocular disease) and associated with autoimmune conditions.

Case: This is the first report of autoimmune thyroiditis related to B.

US in the diagnosis of gastroesophageal reflux in children.

Several techniques have been used to diagnose gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in children, but no single test is sufficiently accurate to completely investigate the problem. Gastroesophageal US has been described as a widely available, noninvasive and sensitive method. It provides morphological and functional information, but its role in the diagnosis of GER in children is still debated.

[The rational use of drains in surgery].

The authors report their clinical experience in 100 cases in which various kinds of drainage were used. They outline the best present techniques, when it is wished to apply this free drainage in the abdominal cavity, at the end of the operation.

[Double hydatid cyst of the liver, one of them with a fistula and causing stenosis of the pyloric canal associated with calculous cholecystitis].

A case of double hydatid cyst of the liver (one fistulised into the pyloric canal where it had caused stenosis) and its association with calculous cholecystitis is reported. The therapy chosen to treat this rare phenomenon had a very satisfactory outcome in view of the complexity of the case given the need to perform several operations in contemporary (enucleation of the cyst, gastric resection and cholecystectomy) and the age of the patient.

[Post-traumatic arterio-venous popliteal aneurysm].

A case of artero-venous pseudo-aneurysm caused by traumatic aetiology is reported. After a description of the case and a review of the literature, the pathogenesis, clinical aspects and therapy of acquired artero-venous fistulas are discussed.