Schweizerische Rundschau fur Medizin Praxis = Revue suisse de medecine Praxis最新文献

Comprehensive treatment of patients with parkinson's disease demands that not only motoric dysfunctions but also psychosocial aspects have to be considered. The scope of this review is to cover not only the frequent dementia and depressive states associated with this disease, but also the drug-induced behavioral abnormalities, insomnia, conflicts with those providing care and implications for professional activities. The fundamental pathophysiological and psychopathological mechanisms are explained and illustrated by examples.

The hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS) is a functional process which is characterized by the triad of liver cirrhosis, intrapulmonary vascular dilatations, and arterial hypoxemia in absence of detectable intrinsic disease of the lung and the heart. The pathophysiological foundation is the presence of a ventilation-perfusion (VA/Q) inequality based on marked vasodilatation of the pulmonary vessels at the precapillary level. Only in critically ill patients limitations of the diffusion of oxygen from the alveolar gas to the capillary blood and intrapulmonary arterio-venous communications will contribute increasingly to the hypoxemia. For diagnosis of HPS arterial blood gases (under condition of room air and 100% oxygen), contrast echocardiography, pulmonary angiography, and multiple inert gas elimination techniques will provide important informations. Regarding recent studies, liver transplantation is the treatment of choice in patients with severe HPS.

Liver cirrhosis may be accompanied by osteoporosis and, rarely, osteomalacia. Normal liver function is required for normal digestion and absorption of calcium-containing nutrients. The liver plays an important role for the metabolisation of vitamin D: the 25-hydroxylation takes place in the liver. However, the respective enzymatic capacity is not limited by liver diseases except for almost complete liver insufficiency. Therefore, true hypovitaminosis D only rarely plays a role in hepatic osteopenia, but direct toxic effects on bone forming cells (osteoblasts) are discussed: e.g. by bile salts. Coexisting hypogonadism leads to further bone loss. Patients with primary biliary cirrhosis in part present with osteoporosis and fractures. Bone histology reveals normal resorption, but decreased formation. Calcitropic hormones are generally normal. Chronic alcoholism induces the same histologic picture in bone, i.e. normal resorption and diminished formation. These changes are reversible after abstinence and as long as of cirrhosis has not yet developed. Patients undergoing liver transplantation due to end stage liver insufficiency including cirrhosis present with diminished bone mass before receiving a new liver, and they show further bone loss after the transplantation due to immunosuppressive treatment including glucocorticoids. There is no specific treatment of bone loss or osteoporosis due to liver cirrhosis. Preventive efforts should be devoted to the avoidance of suboptimal calcium and vitamin D supply, immobilization, and hypogonadism. Fluorides may increase bone mass after liver transplantation--perhaps they are also useful in liver cirrhosis. Antiresorption agents like calcitonins or bisphosphonates may be cautiously tried.

Ascites is most frequently a symptom of advanced chronic liver disease. The pathogenesis of ascites with portal hypertension is complex, and the interaction between liver and kidney is incompletely known. Due to the differing pathogenetic mechanisms and the consecutively different therapeutic approaches, the differential diagnosis of ascites has to be clearly evaluated by measurement of certain laboratory parameters in the ascitic fluid. The prior to therapy basic principles in the therapy of the portal ascites include bed rest, dietary restriction of sodium and water intake, therapeutic paracentesis and diuretics in increasing doses. With this basic therapeutic approach 85 to 90% of the patients can be treated successfully. In patients with complicated forms of ascites or hepatorenal syndrome, other therapeutic strategies have to be used.

With respect to the grade of disturbance of consciousness on one hand and concomitant cognitive, psychic and neuromuscular symptoms on the other hand several stages of portosystemic encephalopathy (PSE) are differentiated; moreover, it could recently be demonstrated that a remarkable proportion of cirrhotics without any clinical sign of cerebral dysfunction shows pathological results in psychometric and neurophysiological examinations. Therefore, the stage of subclinical, latent PSE was defined additionally. The assessment of subclinical PSE is usually done using paper-pencil tests or neurophysiological examinations like the EEG. The diagnosis of manifest PSE is made with respect to clinical criteria. Other possible causes of cerebral dysfunction have to be excluded by laboratory, neurological and eventually radiological examination. Therapy of PSE aims at the reduction production and resorption of ammonia. New therapeutic approaches, which have been proposed with regard to pathophysiological aspects of PSE other than ammonia, have not yet been established.

Transplantation of the liver has progressed in recent years and has become universally accepted for numerous indications in end-stage liver diseases, predominantly primary biliary cirrhosis, sclerosing cholangitis, biliary atresia and liver-related metabolic disorders. In fulminant and subfulminant hepatitis, prognosis has been improved considerably by liver transplantation. The debate still persists whether liver transplantation might be indicated in diseases recurring after transplantation, such as HBV cirrhosis. Alcoholic cirrhosis as an indication for transplantation remains still controversial. The risk of tumor recurrence after transplantation for small hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhosis can be calculated; adjuvant chemotherapy might increase prognosis. Transplantation for other malignant liver tumors seems to be obsolete.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an uncommon finding among patients seen in Central Europe. We report on three patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis who were initially misdiagnosed. Case 1, a woman who had returned from South America, was first thought to have an ulcer due to immunosuppression. Spread of the lesions to the nasal mucosa and a cosmetically disturbing scar were partly caused by delayed diagnosis and treatment. Case 2 shows a patient who has developed red papules on both legs after a trip to Spain. The lesions were misinterpreted as a residual reaction to insect bites. In case 3, a patient who had travelled in Nicaragua, the diagnosis of leishmaniasis was delayed because of coexisting acne vulgaris. In all three patients the final diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis was confirmed by culture of the parasite. The only case with positive serology was the patient with mucocutaneous involvement. Two patients were radically cured, and one patient showed a substantial improvement of the lesions. The importance of a broad history including previous travel is emphasized to avoid the fallacies of missing a rare, but important disease among people travelling to countries with endemic leishmaniasis.

The QBC Autoread System is based on fully automatic, electro-optical linear measurements of the discrete layers of packed blood cells in a microhematocrite tube. The layering results from differing cell densities during high-speed centrifugation. The determination of hemoglobin, hematocrit, leucocytes, platelets and of the percentual share of granulocytes and lymphocytes/monocytes with the QBC Autoread System was evaluated concerning reliability and precision in comparison with the conventional analytical methods. We used a Coulter Counter System and the manual differentiation of the stained blood smears as reference methods. The evaluation of the first 400 blood samples showed a close correlation for all hematological parameters examined, but no significant deviation relative to the reference methods. Only 83 of totally 1000 (8.3%) examined venous blood samples could not be evaluated completely by the QBC Autoread System. For the analysis of very pathological cell populations, especially of hematological oncological diseases, the QBC System is not qualified. The extreme portability, the quick practicability and the good accordance with the conventional analytical methods make the QBC Autoread System a qualified screening method for practice and emergency laboratories.