Hyperoncotic colloids and acute kidney injury: a meta-analysis of randomized trials.

Introduction: It has been hypothesized that hyperoncotic colloids might contribute to acute kidney injury (AKI). However, the validity of this hypothesis remains unclear.

Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted of randomized controlled trials evaluating AKI after infusion of hyperoncotic albumin and hydroxyethyl starch (HES) solutions.

Bacillus species infective arthritis after knee arthroscopy.

Background: Bacillus species infection of the joints is a very rare occurrence, with sporadic reports in the medical literature.

Case Report: A 67-year-old woman with osteoarthritis developed infection in the knee joint after arthroscopy. Percutaneous needle aspiration of articular fluid performed post-operatively showed a positive culture for Bacillus species.

Awareness and use of recommendations for withholding and withdrawing therapy in Austrian intensive care units.

During the past decade there has been growing interest in the development of practice guidelines on medical end-of-life decisions. A questionnaire about awareness and use of end-of-life decision guidelines was applied by e-mail in a cross-sectional survey among 1494 attendants of Austrian intensive care medicine conferences held in 2008. Of a total of 246 evaluable responses from physicians, only 140 said to have been aware of national end-of-life decision-making guidelines (56.

Hypoalbuminemia and acute kidney injury: a meta-analysis of observational clinical studies.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that hypoalbuminemia is independently associated with increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI).

Methods: A meta-analysis was performed of observational clinical studies evaluating the relationship between serum albumin level and the occurrence of AKI by multivariate methods. Additionally, the impact was assessed of lower serum albumin on mortality in patients who developed AKI.

Fluorescence in situ hybridisation in the diagnosis of upper urinary tract tumours.

Background: Upper urinary tract (UUT) tumours are often a diagnostic challenge. Because of delayed diagnosis at an advanced stage, prognosis is less qualitative when compared to bladder tumours. There is, therefore, a need for reliable markers to improve diagnosis.

Enhancement of fibrinogen-triggered pro-coagulant activation of monocytes in vitro by matrix metalloproteinase-9.

Background: Interaction of fibrinogen with specific leukocyte integrins of monocytes may link coagulation and inflammation, however, the precise mechanism of fibrinogen leading to the pro-inflammatory and pro-coagulatory response on monocytes is yet unknown.

Results: Fibrinogen and its digestion fragment D induced pro-coagulant activation of monocytes as assessed in a cellular coagulation assay by reductions in clotting times. Pro-coagulant activation was reversed by blocking antibodies against Mac-1 or LFA-1.

Nosocomial diarrhoea in adult medical patients: the role of Clostridium difficile in a North Italian acute care teaching hospital.

Background: The number of patients with severe Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhoea (CDAD) increases. Health care facilities are requested to establish rates of nosocomially acquired CDAD (N-CDAD) to understand the impact of control or prevention measures, and the burden of N-CDAD on health care resources.

Objective: Aim of the single-center surveillance project was to establish local prevalence rates of N-CDAD in adult acute care medical patients.

Patient risk factors and adverse drug interactions in the treatment of acute gouty arthritis in the elderly: a case report.

Introduction: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids are both used in the treatment acute gouty arthritis and may adversely interact with colchicine. Gastrointestinal toxicity of colchicine is dose-dependent and can be aggravated by drug-drug and drug-patient interactions.

Case Presentation: Colonic perforation associated with second-line administration of colchicine for acute gouty arthrtitis was identified in an elderly man with several comorbidities who was also treated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticostroids.

Fatal cardiac arrest in an adult patient with euthyroid anti-SSA/Ro-positive connective tissue disease: a case report.

Background: Until recently, anti-SSA/Ro antibodies were not considered pathogenic for severe heart disease in adults. Prolongation of the mean QTc interval in electrocardiograms of adult patients with anti-SSA/Ro-positive connective tissue disease has been reported and could contribute to complex arrhythmias in such patients. Furthermore, complete heart block may also be related to these autoantibodies.

Thromboembolism in pulmonary artery sarcoma.

Pulmonary artery sarcoma, although rare, must be considered in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary thromboembolism. Clinically and radiologically, it may imitate pulmonary embolism, making diagnosis difficult and delaying treatment. Patients often have no symptom resolution despite therapeutic anticoagulation.

Reduced watery diarrhea during pregnancy in a psoriasis patient with lymphocytic colitis.

Lymphocytic colitis which is more common in women than in men has been associated with autoimmune conditions, and hormones are thought to play a role. The effect of pregnancy on the clinical course of women with lymphocytic colitis has not yet been reported. We describe a case of chronic watery diarrhea in a woman with psoriasis and lymphocytic colitis that has relapsed after successful treatment with budesonide had been stopped before undergoing modern assisted reproductive care.

[Scoring of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) in intensive care medicine].

A close association between disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and increased morbidity and mortality of the critically ill has been uncovered in the ongoing validation of newly developed scoring systems of DIC. DIC scoring aims at quantifying and standardizing pathological activation of coagulation in these patients. Because of the high predictive power of DIC scoring for morbidity and mortality, early identification of DIC may play an important role in the management of critical illness by widening of the therapeutic window before development of irreversible organ failure.

Warfarin-induced bleeding complications - clinical presentation and therapeutic options.

Acute bleeding during oral anticoagulant therapy is a major challenge in medicine -with millions of patients receiving oral anticoagulant therapy worldwide, the frequency of severe bleeding episodes ranges from 2% to 13%, according to clinical trial data. The major risk associated with the use of oral anticoagulants is haemorrhage, which might be severe or even life-threatening. Treatment decisions for the reversal of oral anti-coagulation (OAC) depend on factors such as urgency of the situation, as determined by the international normalised ratios (INR), location and seventy of bleeding, and indication for anticoagulation.

Non-episodic angioedema associated with eosinophilia following Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection.

Episodic angioedema with eosinophilia is characterized by recurrent angioedema, peripheral eosinophilia, fever, weight gain, elevated serum immunoglobulin M (IgM), and a benign course lacking any internal organ involvement. A non-episodic variant has also been reported which is limited to a single attack and normally is less severe than the episodic type. We report a case of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection with dermatological manifestation that was followed by non-episodic angioedema with eosinophilia including fever, weight gain, and elevated serum IgM.

Ezetimibe-associated immune thrombocytopenia.

Objective: To describe a case of immune thrombocytopenia associated with treatment with ezetimibe, a cholesterol absorption inhibitor.

Case Summary: A 72-year-old man presented with severe thrombocytopenia (platelets 3 x 10(3)/muL) and "wet purpura" 4 weeks after being started on daily therapy using a combination of ezetimibe 10 mg/simvastatin 20 mg. Platelet counts normalized after administration of ezetimibe/simvastatin was stopped.

Systematic review of randomized clinical trials on the use of hydroxyethyl starch for fluid management in sepsis.

Background: Patients with sepsis typically require large resuscitation volumes, but the optimal type of fluid remains unclear. The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate current evidence on the effectiveness and safety of hydroxyethyl starch for fluid management in sepsis.

Methods: Computer searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Library were performed using search terms that included hydroxyethyl starch; hetastarch; shock, septic; sepsis; randomized controlled trials; and random allocation.

How to teach the teacher to teach the TUR-B.

Objectives: We report on our training program in teaching TUR of bladder tumours to seven trainees in two distinct periods. We analysed their problems and those from teachers and we present our solutions.

Material And Methods: Between April 2000 and April 2004 seven trainees performed 842 TUR of bladder tumours.

Fatal interstitial pneumonitis associated with docetaxel administration in a patient with hormone-refractory prostate cancer.

Taxanes are widely used chemotherapeutic agents with the potential to induce pulmonary injury through a variety of mechanisms. Patients receiving these agents are at risk of acute or subacute pulmonary damage. The case is presented of a 72-year-old man with hormone-refractory prostate cancer and weekly administration of 30 mg/m2 docetaxel who developed subacute interstitial pneumonitis-related pulmonary fibrosis after seven doses and died despite mechanical ventilation and high-dose corticosteroid treatment.

Emergency correction of coagulation before major surgery in two elderly patients on oral anticoagulation.

Recommendations for urgent reversal of oral anticoagulation with vitamin K1 antagonists are largely derived from case series employing empirical dosing regimens with vitamin K1 and prothrombin complex concentrates. Data on the use of prothrombin complex concentrates in this indication are scarce in the elderly who are at high risk of both hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications. The two cases presented here describe patients older than 75 years who underwent rapid International Normalized Ratio (INR) reversal with prothrombin complex concentrates for surgical treatment of a bleeding ruptured spleen and for emergency surgery of a dissecting aorta.

Paraneoplastic stiff-person syndrome, heterotopic soft tissue ossification and gonarthritis in a HLA B27-positive woman preceding the diagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Paraneoplastic neurologic syndromes associated with Hodgkin's lymphoma include the stiff-person syndrome. A case of stiff-person syndrome is reported who first presented with muscular hyperactivity and acute respiratory failure followed by heterotopic soft tissue ossification and acute seronegative gonarthitis. Initial improvement of a tetanus-like clinical picture was achieved with benzodiazepam given by continuous infusion for analgo-sedation to mechanically ventilate the patient followed by baclofen after successful weaning.