Medizinische Klinik最新文献

A 56-year-old man was bitten by a dog. 8 days later he was admitted to a hospital because of severe deterioration of his clinical situation. He developed the clinical picture of fulminant sepsis. In spite of aggressive intensive care therapy the patient died 24 hours later. Capnocytophaga canimorsus was identified from initial blood cultures. This gram-negative rod is part of the normal oral flora of dogs and cats. It can be spread to humans by bites, licking or scratches and causes severe infections, especially in persons with special risk factors (splenectomy, alcoholism). The mortality rate in the published cases is 25-30%.

Background and purpose: In the light of increasing resistance to antibiotics used for the treatment of acute urinary tract infections, nitrofurantoin currently experiences a renaissance. Nitrofurantoin shows good efficacy against most bacteria expected in urinary tract infection, and the development of resistance is low. A study on the antimicrobial and clinical efficacy of nitrofurantoin in the treatment of acute lower urinary tract infections was conducted in Mexico City, an area where resistance rates of uropathogens to trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (cotrimoxazole) are high.

Patients and methods: In this open-label, single-arm study 20 adult patients (18 females, 2 males) with positive urine culture were treated orally with nitrofurantoin sustained release 100 mg twice daily for 7 days. Urinary nitrofurantoin concentrations were determined at baseline and day 4 of the study. Primary endpoint was the antimicrobial efficacy of nitrofurantoin at 12 to 16 days after baseline, assessed by changes in urine culture results.

Results: In the patient population treated per protocol, primary endpoint analysis revealed a microbial eradication rate of 92.3%. At 35 to 42 days, the eradication rate was 83.3%. At these times, all patients in the per protocol population were free of symptoms. In patients with complicating factors, e.g. diabetic polyneuropathy, both antimicrobial and clinical efficacy appeared to be reduced. Urinary nitrofurantoin concentrations were mostly above minimum inhibitory concentrations of the isolated uropathogens. The study drug was generally well tolerated. Most frequent drug-related adverse event was mild headache, occurring in 10.8% of patients. Two patients discontinued the study due to rash.

Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate good antimicrobial and clinical efficacy of nitrofurantoin in the treatment of acute uncomplicated urinary tract infections as well as acceptable tolerability in adults.

Acute and subacute ischemia of the limbs is still one of the most frequent reasons for amputation. There are different therapy options for reperfusion therapy including balloon thrombectomy, local lysis and rotational thrombectomy. Balloon thrombectomy, the standard surgical treatment, has proven an effective tool for the treatment of acute vascular obstructions. Nevertheless technical problems and complications can occur. Localized lysis on the other hand could be time - consuming and cost intensive, requiring intensive care monitoring and reangiograms. To achieve a successful result, at least one lower limb artery or major collateral has to be reopened to establish a sufficient situation. During the last years considerable advances have been made in endovascular interventions for the treatment of acute and subacute limb ischemia. The Straub Rotarex is one of the modern peripheral mechanical thrombectomy device, which combines mechanical thrombus fragmentation and removal of the material using negative pressure. There are different clinical and experimental studies, which have shown promising results in restoring blood flow to the occluded vessels. Studies mainly exist for the lower extremities. Some case reports showed effective treatment of the subclavian and axillary arteries. The advantages of the Rotarex system is simple handling, a short intervention time and the avoidance of lytic substances with consequent reduced risk of hemorrhage complications. In this article an overview about the main Rotarex studies is given which analyzed the results of percutaneous rotational thrombectomy in patients with subacute an acute thrombotic occlusions in peripheral arteries.

The evaluation of preventive and health activities is due to ethical and financial aspects increasingly gaining importance. But how can this be assured on a scientifically high level? A tool that suits this purpose is Health Technology Assessment (HTA). Provided that the appropriate methodology is selected and scientific literature is evaluated, HTA can help to appraise the outcomes of preventive activities. The German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information publishes HTA reports on behalf of the Federal Health Ministry. These deal with topics related to prevention amongst others. Examples of the year 2009 are reports on the vaccination against human papilloma virus or on the nonmedicinal secondary prevention of coronary heart disease.

Background and purpose: Nocturnal worsening of respiration in patients with chronic sinusitis is most likely induced by creeping of mucus from the parasinuses down to the pharynx. The aim of this study was to document respiratory symptoms such as deglutition, wheezing and cough in patients with chronic sinusitis using long-term recording of respiratory sounds.

Patients and methods: According to the CORSA (computerized respiratory sound analysis) criteria, long-term recording of respiratory sounds was performed in 20 patients with chronic sinusitis.

Results: Wheezing was detected in 30%, (excessive) cough was found in 40%. Deglutition was measured with a frequency of ten per hour.

Conclusion: Long-term recording of respiratory sounds is a practical and noninvasive method for the documentation of clinical symptoms like wheezing, coughing and deglutition during sleep.

There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of self-help groups. One research barrier is their heterogeneity. For this reason, characteristics of self-help groups were extracted by means of a conceptual review from three relevant fields of knowledge (outcome studies, health care supply research, practical experiences in implementing self-help groups). As a structure for the characteristics, QIP ("Quality in Prevention", an evidence-based quality assurance system for the assessment of health promotion and education) was used. The resulting taxonomy of 91 characteristics includes all distinguishing marks of self-help groups which, according to the evidence, may contribute to the groups' effectiveness. The methodological quality of evidence, however, was low (mostly expert-based opinion). The taxonomy may assist in systematic analyses of structural, procedural and outcome-quality, for example in evaluations or in health care supply studies.

Fabry's disease is a rare genetic storage disorder leading to an accumulation of globotriaosylceramides in the lysosomes of various organs. Being X-chromosomal-linked, most studies in the past focused on involvement in male patients. However, it has been elucidated recently that female patients can present typical organ involvement and, thus, have to be treated respectively. This synopsis wants to systematically review the typical organ involvement in female Fabry patients. Moreover, therapy recommendations especially for female patients are discussed.

Background and purpose: The basis for an optimal therapy of cardiopulmonary diseases is the assessment of an early diagnosis. This implies an evaluation of possible differential diagnoses of acute dyspnea. In numerous studies, natriuretic peptides were characterized as additional, meaningful parameters for the assessment of left ventricular function. Current studies could demonstrate that surfactant proteins B (SP-B) and D (SP-D) are of importance for the differentiation of patients with acute dyspnea. The aim of this study was to compare the values of NT-proBNP (N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide) and surfactant proteins for the assessment of a final diagnosis in patients with acute dyspnea.

Patients and methods: NT-proBNP, SP-B and SP-D were measured in 81 patients with acute dyspnea in the emergency room and were correlated with clinical and echocardiographic parameters with respect to the final diagnosis. For this, patients were classified with respect to clinical and echocardiographic parameters in different subgroups concerning the final diagnosis of acute dyspnea.

Results: In patients with a cardiac origin of acute dyspnea, plasma levels of NT-proBNP were significantly higher as compared to patients with a noncardiac diagnosis (p = 0.04). SP-D was highest in patients with a cardiac origin of acute dyspnea, but after performing regression analysis it seems to be of less importance for the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea as compared to NT-proBNP. SP-B plasma levels were not different between the four subgroups.

Conclusion: NT-proBNP is of importance for the differential diagnosis of acute dyspnea. Although SP-D shows similar changes of plasma levels between the four subgroups, it seems to be of less importance for the differential diagnosis of acute dysnea. SP-B occurs to be of no relevance for the differentiation between cardiac and noncardiac origin of acute dyspnea.

For more than 10 years, based on the results with the bisphosphonate clodronic acid, it has been discussed, whether the occurrence of breast cancer metastases can be avoided or at least delayed by administration of bisphosphonates. The published results of recent studies applying, e.g., the bisphosphonates zoledronic and ibandronic acid, respectively, seem promising at first glance, especially, if the therapeutic acceptance of bisphosphonates in the indications osteoporosis and bone-related complications of malignancies, respectively, as well as their spectrum of side effects are taken into account and their putative mechanism of action is considered. There is a broad consensus that the existing data basis suffices to demonstrate importance of bisphosphonates in an adjuvant therapeutic setting of breast cancer. Significant relative risk reductions of, e.g., 36% in disease-free survival are very impressing and the corresponding absolute values of 3.2% are second-line communications. However, evaluation of all studies published so far according to the criteria of evidence-based medicine demonstrates many open questions and several methodical insufficiencies. Therefore, effectiveness and benefit of an adjuvant therapeutic application of bisphosphonates in breast cancer patients cannot be drawn out of evidence-based data. A recommendation of this therapy is given only by the German Working Pool of Gynecologic Oncology (AGO), but limited to study participation.