A single testing of serum amyloid a levels as a tool for diagnosis and treatment dilemmas in familial Mediterranean fever.

Objectives: In a significant proportion of patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), serum amyloid A (SAA) remains elevated during attack-free periods, thereby increasing the risk of developing amyloidosis. The aim of the study was to determine various correlates of elevated SAA and evaluate the role of SAA measurement in the diagnosis and management of FMF.

Methods: We reviewed the medical files of all 204 patients from our FMF center in whom SAA measurements were performed.

The prodrome: a prominent yet overlooked pre-attack manifestation of familial Mediterranean fever.

Objective: To identify and characterize pre-attack symptoms (prodrome) in patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF).

Methods: Forty-eight patients with FMF whose attacks are preceded by a prodromal period composed the study population. Clinical, demographic, and genetic characteristics of the study group were compared to those of a control group of 48 patients with FMF whose attacks begin without a premonitory phase.

Evaluation of disease severity in familial Mediterranean fever.

Objective: To establish a new, objective, statistically based severity score for familial Mediterranean fever (FMF).

Methods: One hundred consecutive FMF patients were evaluated independently by 2 FMF experts for severity of their disease and were assigned to 1 of 3 severity levels: mild, intermediate, or severe. Nine candidate criteria, reflecting objective suffering and disability, were analyzed to determine their weight for patient placement in the 3 predefined severity groups.

Acute renal embolism. Forty-four cases of renal infarction in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Acute renal embolus is rarely reported in the medical literature; thus, accurate data regarding presentation, laboratory tests, diagnostic techniques, and treatment are lacking. To better define this condition, we examined the medical records of all patients admitted to Kaplan Medical Center and Sheba Medical Center in central Israel from 1984 to 2002 who had a diagnosis of renal infarction and atrial fibrillation. We noted demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters; method of diagnosis; treatment received; and patient outcome.

Analysis of the three most common MEFV mutations in 412 patients with familial Mediterranean fever.

Background: Familial Mediterranean fever is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and serositis. The disease is caused by mutations in the MEFV gene, presumed to act as a down-regulator of inflammation within the polymorphonuclear cells.

Objectives: To present the results of 412 FMF patients genotyped for three MEFV mutations, M694V, V726A and E148Q.

Cholesterol crystal embolization to the digestive system: characterization of a common, yet overlooked presentation of atheroembolism.

In the 1359 published patients with multiorgan cholesterol crystal embolism (CCE), the digestive system seems to be the third most frequently affected system. Yet, this system received hitherto only little attention in the medical literature. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to clinically characterize the subset of patients with CCE involving the digestive system, based on our institutional experience and a review of the literature.

[Fever and chills following intravenous administration of NeyTumorin--an unconventional xenogenous derived peptides extract].

We report a 54 year old patient who was recently diagnosed with retroperitoneal recurrence of colon carcinoma, and who was admitted because of fever and chills. Extensive work-up yielded no source of infection, multiple blood cultures were sterile, and symptoms resolved within two days. During hospitalization, it was learned that her symptoms appeared an hour after a drug named NeyTumorin was administered to her intravenously by an alternative medicine practitioner.