Growth and neurodevelopmental outcome of very low birthweight infants with necrotizing enterocolitis.

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) on neurodevelopmental outcome and growth. Neurodevelopmental outcome of 20 out of 22 suriviving very low birthweight infants (VLBW) diagnosed with NEC between 1992 and 1996 was compared with 40 control infants matched for gestational age and year of admission. Follow-up studies were performed at 12 and 20 mo of corrected age.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy with cystic brain stem necroses and thalamic calcifications in a preterm twin.

A severe and rare ischemic brain lesion in a preterm twin boy is reported. The boy was born after two weeks of anhydramnios and amnionic infection at 24 weeks of gestation. Following a difficult Caesarean section and prolonged umbilical cord compression he developed prenatal acidosis with an umbilical cord pH of 6.

The CRIB (Clinical Risk Index for Babies) score and neurodevelopmental impairment at one year corrected age in very low birth weight infants.

Objective: To assess the ability of the Clinical Risk Index for Babies (CRIB) to predict long-term neurodevelopmental impairment in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants.

Design: Single-center cohort study.

Setting: Tertiary neonatal care hospital and follow-up clinic.

Electron-beam computed tomography in the assessment of coronary artery disease after heart transplantation.

Background: Our aim was to compare the electron-beam CT (EBCT) features of coronary arteries in heart transplant recipients with those of biplane coronary angiography and intracoronary ultrasound (ICUS).

Methods And Results: We examined 112 heart transplant recipients (25 female; age, 17 to 69 years; median, 52 years) 1 to 153 months (median, 46 months) after surgery by EBCT to detect coronary artery calcifications. Calcifications were quantified by the Agatston scoring system.

Vertebral arteriovenous fistula associated with neurofibromatosis type I misdiagnosed as a giant aneurysm.

A 59-year-old man with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) presented with bruits and neck pain due to a space occupying lesion in the right neck tissue. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) showed an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) of the right extracranial vertebral artery (VA) with a giant venous pouch and an intracranial berry aneurysm of the right middle cerebral artery (MCA). First, the MCA aneurysm was surgically clipped, then the patient was treated by embolisation with coils.

Tear of the peroneus longus tendon: MR imaging features in nine patients.

Purpose: To determine the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features that characterize tear of the peroneus longus tendon at the midfoot.

Materials And Methods: Medical records and MR images in nine patients with a tear of the middle segment of the peroneus longus tendon were retrospectively reviewed. All nine patients had undergone routine ankle MR imaging; three had undergone additional oblique coronal MR imaging.

Circulating L-selectin concentrations in children with recent-onset IDDM.

To clarify conflicting claims of altered serum concentrations of soluble L-selectin (sCD62L) in recent-onset IDDM, sCD62L was measured in 89 children and adolescents with IDDM (35 recent-onset, 12 during the first year of insulin treatment, and 42 with long-standing (> 1 yr) treatment) alongside 124 controls. Children < 14 yr of age both with and without IDDM (n = 160) had grossly elevated sCD62L concentrations (20.2 +/- 4.

Parental and professional agreement in developmental assessment of very-low-birthweight and term infants.

The aim of this prospective follow-up study was to evaluate the accuracy of a parent-completed questionnaire compared with professionally detected developmental delay. Parents of 108 very-low-birthweight (VLBW) infants and parents of 279 term control infants completed the German version of the Revised Prescreening Developmental Questionnaire (R-PDQ) at the corrected age of 12 months. Simultaneously, infants underwent developmental examination using the Griffiths Developmental Scale.

Changing practices of red blood cell transfusions in infants with birth weights less than 1000 g.

Objective: Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants frequently undergo transfusion because they are critically ill, often need artificial ventilation, and have the highest blood sampling loss in relation to their weight. During the last decade our transfusion guidelines were changed 3 times to become more restrictive. We hypothesized that these modifications substantially decreased the number of transfusions in our ELBW infants.

Spontaneous thrombosis of an intracranial giant aneurysm.

Spontaneous thrombosis in giant aneurysms is known, whereas complete occlusion of such aneurysms in a short period of time is rarely reported. We present the case of a 50-year-old man with a giant anuersym arising from the anterior communicating artery (ACA) producing significant mass effect with clinical consequences. The digital subtraction arteriogram (DSA) showed a patent lumen of about 20 mm and a very small neck leading to extremely slow blood flow inside the sac and stagnation of contrast.

L-selectin in trauma patients: a marker for organ dysfunction and outcome?

Background: Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) are important factors affecting morbidity and mortality after trauma. Adhesion molecules, e.g.

Whole body hyperthermia: a secure procedure for patients with various malignancies?

Objective: To establish the safety of systemic Cancer Multistep Therapy (sCMT) including whole body hyperthermia, by means of hemodynamic, laboratory and clinical investigations.

Design: Prospective study.

Setting: University clinic.

Effect of C1-inhibitor in a rat model of necrotizing enterocolitis.

Our aim was to investigate the effect of C1-inhibitor (C1-INH) in a rat model of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). Twenty-four anesthetized and artificially ventilated rats received 0.1 mg/kg endotoxin.

3-D ultrasound quantification of neonatal cerebral ventricles in different head positions.

We determined the influence of head position on lateral ventricular cerebral volume in low-birth-weight infants by three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound (US). Thirty-nine neonates were examined prospectively in a controlled and blinded study. We used a freehand 3-D US system to acquire data sets after head positioning for 3 h on left and right side in random order.

HFE gene mutation and transferrin saturation in very low birthweight infants.

Aim: To determine if there is an association between high transferrin saturation and the C282Y HFE gene mutation in very low birthweight (VLBW) infants.

Methods: One hundred and forty three VLBW infants receiving recombinant erythropoietin and 3 to 9 mg/kg/day of enteral iron were studied. Genomic DNA was extracted from filter paper cards.

Late neurological sequelae of non-hemolytic hyperbilirubinemia of healthy term neonates.

Records of the only children's hospital equipped to perform exchange transfusions in West Berlin were used to identify all 29 non-hemolytic healthy term newborns with total serum bilirubin between 20 and 30 mg/dL, 16 of whom were available for follow-up neurological examination according to Touwen. Compared to 18 case controls with bilirubin <12 mg/dL, jaundiced children scored significantly worse only on the choreiform dyskinesia scale.

Thoracic computed tomography of patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus: relevance for the course of disease.

To determine the diagnostic accuracy and prognostic implications of thoracic computed tomography (CT) in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV), CT scans of 154 HIV-infected patients (mean age, 41 years; range 23-65 years; 18 female) with suspicion of pulmonary disease were retrospectively reviewed for signs of disease by two investigators blinded to clinical data other than positive HIV serology. Abnormal CT features were correlated with CD4-T lymphocyte count, histologic or microbiologic diagnosis, and survival. Computed tomography detected features of pulmonary disease in 133 patients.

A signal peptide cleavage site mutation in the cationic trypsinogen gene is strongly associated with chronic pancreatitis.

Background & Aims: In pancreatitis, a key role has been attributed to the inappropriate conversion of trypsinogen to trypsin. Recently, two mutations of the cationic trypsinogen gene were found in families with hereditary pancreatitis. This study was conducted to determine the spectrum and frequency of cationic trypsinogen mutations in unrelated patients with idiopathic or hereditary chronic pancreatitis (CP).

Neurofibromatosis 1 associated with embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the urinary bladder.

A 10-month-old boy presented with a 6-week history of abdominal pain. The pain was due to a large, stage IV embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the urinary bladder. The rhabdomyosarcoma was found in association with neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) manifesting multiple café au lait spots and bowing of the right calf.

Operative results after primary and secondary debulking-operations in advanced ovarian cancer (AOC).

Objective: To assess the role of primary and secondary radical surgery in advanced ovarian cancer (AOC).

Design: Retrospective study.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-one patients with AOC (FIGO III/IV) underwent altogether 191 extended multivisceral operations between 1/1992 and 2/1998.

Complete blood counts from umbilical cords of healthy term newborns by two automated cytometers.

Complete blood counts (CBC) of umbilical cord blood from 123 healthy term newborns were simultaneously performed with two different cytometers using laser as a light source. Medians (95% range) were: WBC 14.2 (7.

Acidosis activates complement system in vitro.

We investigated the in vitro effect of different forms of acidosis (pH 7.0) on the formation of anaphylatoxins C3a and C5a. Metabolic acidosis due to addition of hydrochloric acid (10 micromol/ml blood) or lactic acid (5.