Is the urgent carotid endarterectomy in patients with acute neurological symptoms a safe procedure?

The aim of the present case-control study was to assess patients with acute neurological symptoms requiring urgent carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and compare the outcome of the procedure in this group with that achieved in stable patients. Twenty-eight CEAs were performed in patients with an acute neurological deficit and 302 in stable patients from December 2006 to April 2008. Those selected for urgent surgery fulfilled the following criteria: acute onset of hemispheric neurological symptoms or crescendo TIAs, significant carotid pathology, the absence of cerebral hemorrhage, uncompromised vigilance, and stable cardiopulmonary conditions.

Nemaline myopathy and cardiomyopathy.

A case report is presented in which a 4-year-old male is diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, respiratory distress, muscle hypotonia, and psychomotor retardation. Electron microscopic study of skeletal muscle biopsy revealed pathologic changes typical of congenital nemaline myopathy, and biochemical analysis revealed a disorder of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation. Therefore a previously undescribed combination of a structural and metabolic myopathy is reported.

A comparison of the monitors INVOS 3100 and NIRO 500 in detecting changes in cerebral oxygenation.

Background: Measurements of cerebral haemoglobin oxygenation of 2 near-infrared spectroscopy devices (INVOS 3100 and NIRO 500) were compared during and after hypocapnia.

Methods: Fifteen awake, healthy volunteers, who hyperventilated to obtain end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2) values of approximately 20 mmHg, were studied. During hyperventilation and 8 min thereafter, EtCO2, INVOS 3100 (RSO2 = regional cerebral oxygenation) and NIRO 500 recordings (HbO2 = oxyhaemoglobin, Hb = deoxyhaemoglobin, Hb-diff = HbO2-Hb, CtO2 = oxidised cytochrome oxidase aa3) were analysed.

IgG subclass reactivity to human cardiac myosin in cardiomyopathy patients is indicative of a Th1-like autoimmune disease.

Studies performed in mice together with the demonstration of increased levels of heart-specific autoantibodies, cytokines and cytokine receptors in sera from cardiomyopathy (CMP) patients argued for a pathogenic role of autoimmune mechanisms in CMP. This study was designed to analyse the presence of IgG anti-heart antibodies in sera from patients suffering from hypertrophic and dilatative forms of CMP as well as from patients with ischaemic heart disease and healthy individuals. Patients' sera were analysed for IgG reactivity to Western-blotted extracts prepared from human epithelial and endothelial cells, heart and skeletal muscle specimens as well as from Streptococcus pyogenes.

Myoadenylate deaminase deficiency, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and gigantism syndrome.

We report a 20-year-old man with gigantism syndrome, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, muscle weakness, exercise intolerance, and severe psychomotor retardation since childhood. Histochemical and biochemical analysis of skeletal muscle biopsy revealed myoadenylate deaminase deficiency; molecular genetic analysis confirmed the diagnosis of primary (inherited) myoadenylate deaminase deficiency. Plasma, urine, and muscle carnitine concentrations were reduced.