Incidence of Severe Infections and Infection-Related Mortality During the Course of Giant Cell Arteritis: A Multicenter, Prospective, Double-Cohort Study.

Objective: To assess the incidence of infections leading to hospitalization, the mortality rate related to infections, and the determinants of these factors in patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Methods: In total, 486 patients with GCA (75% women) were enrolled at the time of diagnosis. All patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria for GCA.

Small-vessel vasculitis surrounding an uninflamed temporal artery: a new diagnostic criterion for polymyalgia rheumatica?

Objective: To assess the prevalence and clinical significance of small-vessel vasculitis (SVV) surrounding an uninflamed temporal artery (TA) in patients diagnosed as having giant cell (temporal) arteritis (GCA) and/or polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR).

Methods: Patients with GCA and/or PMR (n = 490) were included in this multicenter prospective study. Slides of TA biopsy specimens were reviewed by 2 pathologists who were blinded with regard to clinical information.

Pathological features of temporal arteries in patients with giant cell arteritis presenting with permanent visual loss.

Background: Permanent visual loss (PVL) is the most feared complication of giant cell arteritis (GCA), and its risk factors are still unclear.

Objectives: The aim of our study was to assess the pathological features predictive of PVL on temporal artery biopsy (TAB) specimens in patients with GCA.

Methods: The slides of 391 TAB specimens from patients with GCA were reviewed by two pathologists without clinical information.

[Incidence of cardiovascular events in giant cell arteritis: preliminary results of a prospective double cohort study (GRACG)].

Unlabelled: Giant cell arteritis is the most frequent vasculitis. Cardiovascular events such as cerebrovascular accident or ischemic heart disease may occur in patients with giant cell arteritis. However, their real incidence, as well as their relative risk compared to the general population, remains unknown.

[Giant cell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica: influence of past pregnancies? The GRACG multicenter case control study].

Background: The overprevalence of giant cell arteritis (GCA) and polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in women remains unexplained. Microchimerism pathogenicity has been discussed in some systemic diseases. We tested history of pregnancy as a risk factor for GCA.

[Hereditary diseases causing kidney calculi].

Urolithiasis and/or nephrocalcinosis due to hereditary diseases are a rare event which must be kept in mind of physicians who take care of children (10 to 40% of all causes of lithiases) as well as of adults (less than 15% of all causes of lithiases) since a specific management is usually required. The most frequent inborn disorders are idiopathic hypercalciuria, distal tubular acidosis, cystinuria and hyperoxaluria. Stone formation is always secondary to an increased urine concentration of promotors, i.

Prospective study of combined use of bronchial aspirates and biopsy specimens in diagnosis and typing of centrally located lung tumours.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of examining bronchial secretions in pulmonary cytopathology and whether cytology and histopathology can complement each other in routine practice among lung specialists.

Design: A prospective study comparing 1225 cytological and biopsy results, conducted during 1987-93. Tumours were confirmed by histopathology, imaging techniques, or clinical outcome and imaging techniques combined.

[Bronchial aspiration in the typing of bronchopulmonary cancers: apropos of 150 cytobiopsy correlations].

We analysed 150 cases of primary lung cancers investigated by bronchial aspirate and biopsy methods with clinical, radiologic and bronchoscopic findings. Among the 150 cases studied, three were characterized by mixed tumor cell components, thus allowing 153 cyto-histological comparisons. The cytologic and histopathologic typing agreed strictly in 102 cases of 153 (66.

[Volumetric analysis of urinary erythrocytes in the etiological diagnosis of hematuria].

Intravenous pyelography and cystography may fail to localize the origin of haematuria. Microhaematuria is known to be present in 2 to 10 percent of the general population, usually without pathological consequences. Study of red cell morphology by phase contrast microscopy is effective in distinguishing between "glomerular" (from renal tissue) and "non-glomerular" (from urinary tract) erythrocytes, but this technique is not currently available in all laboratories.

[Kidney biopsy puncture, kidney aspiration puncture with fine needle, examination of urine sediment in phase contrast. Comparative study for the diagnosis of acute rejection in kidney transplantation].

The relative importance of renal biopsy and cytological studies (fine needle aspiration biopsy and urine sediment examination by phase contrast) in the diagnosis of acute rejection episode was evaluated in 30 patients who received a kidney transplant. All patients underwent these 3 examinations simultaneously during an acute degradation of graft function. Sensitivity of renal biopsy, fine needle biopsy and urine sediment was 0.

[Microscopic hematuria in adults. Prevalence and associated factors].

The finding of microscopic haematuria in the course of systematic screening accounts for 10 percent of consultations in nephrology clinics. We carried out an investigation in a population of 8,194 workers of the metallurgical and chemical industries, 89.6 percent of whom were male and 69.

[Significance of cytolipiduria during a nephrotic syndrome].

Phase contrast examination of urine sediment of patients with the nephrotic syndrome shows cytolipiduria in 62.8% of cases. Cytolipiduria is mostly observed in patients between 20 and 80, and is, in most cases, associated to cytological features of glomerular and/or tubular injury.

Clinical prevalence of glomerular hematuria: a nine-year retrospective study.

The authors evaluated red blood cell (RBC) morphology by phase contrast microscopy and identified casts and lipidic material in 4,448 urine sediments (US). Microhematuria was discovered on systematic examination in 1,186 apparently healthy patients (group I). Another 4,362 patients (group II) with microscopic or gross hematuria were being treated or evaluated for various renal or extrarenal diseases (renal transplantation excepted).

[Urinary sediment in acute renal failure].

Over a one-year period, 31 episodes of acute renal failure in children have been studied for urine sediment by contrast phase microscopy (maintained diuresis: 15, oligoanuria: 16, dialysed patients: 9). The etiologies of acute renal failure were: sepsis = 8; nephrotoxicity = 7; hemolytic uremic syndrome = 5; acute nephritic syndrome = 3; hemodynamical changes = 4; obstructive renal failure = 2; others = 3; acute rejections after renal allograft were excluded. The first urine sediment examination was performed 5 days after the onset of renal failure, and has been controlled in 11 children.

[Urinary sediment in acute renal insufficiency. Diagnostic and prognostic value of phase-contrast microscopic examination].

Living cells from the urinary tract can be examined by phase-contrast microscopy in a pellet obtained by centrifugation of 10 ml of freshly voided urine. Once these cells have been identified and classified according to their sources, their respective proportions can be evaluated, thus providing some information on the renal structures affected. Urine sediment examination was performed in 60 cases of acute renal failure in order to determine the relationship between the abnormalities encountered and the clinical or histological diagnosis.

[Advantage of phase contrast for the identification of the cellular constituents of urinary sediment].

Phase contrast microscopic observation of the urinary sediment has to be performed on freshly collected urine. This technique, which permits an excellent definition of the cells and the maintenance of intra cellular motility, gives therefore a great accuracy in differential diagnosis, especially for little round cells. Among these, polynuclear granulocytes are easily recognized, because of their lobulated nuclei and of their numerous intra cytoplasmic motile granulations.