scholarly journals Segmental Signs and Spontaneous Pain in Acute Visceral Disease: An observational study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Shaballout ◽  
Anas Aloumar ◽  
Jorge Manuel ◽  
Marcus May ◽  
Florian Beissner

BACKGROUND The differential diagnosis of acute visceral diseases is a challenging clinical problem. The older literature suggests that patients with acute visceral problems show segmental signs, such as hyperalgesia, skin resistance, or muscular defence, whose lateralization and segmental distribution may be used for differential diagnosis. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate the lateralization and segmental distribution of spontaneous pain and segmental signs in acute visceral diseases using digital pain drawing technology. METHODS We recruited 208 emergency room patients that were presenting for acute medical problems. All patients underwent a structured 10-minute bodily examination to test for various segmental signs and were asked for spontaneous pain and segmental symptoms, such as nausea, meteorism, and urinary retention. We collected all findings as digital drawings on a tablet-PC. After the final diagnosis, patients were divided into groups according to the organ affected. Using statistical image analysis, we calculated average distributions of pain and segmental signs for the heart, lungs, stomach, liver/gallbladder, and kidneys/ureters analyzing their segmental distribution and lateralization. RESULTS 85 of 110 patients with a single-organ problem reported pain, while 81 had at least one segmental sign, the most frequent being hyperalgesia (n=46), and muscle resistance (n=39). While the pain was distributed along the body midline, segmental signs for the heart, stomach and liver/gallbladder appeared mostly ipsilateral to the affected organ. An unexpectedly high number of patients (n=37) further showed ipsilateral mydriasis. CONCLUSIONS The present study underlines the usefulness of including digitally-recorded segmental signs in the bodily examination of patients with acute medical problems.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Shaballout ◽  
Anas Aloumar ◽  
Jorge Manuel ◽  
Marcus May ◽  
Florian Beissner

The differential diagnosis of acute visceral diseases is a challenging clinical problem. The older literature suggests that patients with acute visceral problems show segmental signs, such as hyperalgesia, skin resistance, or muscular defence, whose lateralization and segmental distribution may be used for differential diagnosis. This study aimed to investigate the lateralization and segmental distribution of spontaneous pain and segmental signs in acute visceral diseases. We recruited 208 emergency room patients that were presenting for acute medical problems. All patients underwent a structured 10-minute bodily examination to test for various segmental signs and were asked for spontaneous pain and segmental symptoms, such as nausea, meteorism, and urinary retention. We collected all findings as digital drawings on a tablet-PC. After the final diagnosis, patients were divided into groups according to the organ affected. Using statistical image analysis, we calculated average distributions of pain and segmental signs for the heart, lungs, stomach, liver/gallbladder, and kidneys/ureters analyzing their segmental distribution and lateralization. 85 of 110 patients with a single-organ problem reported pain, while 81 had at least one segmental sign, the most frequent being hyperalgesia (n=46), and muscle resistance (n=39). While the pain was distributed along the body midline, segmental signs for the heart, stomach and liver/gallbladder appeared mostly ipsilateral to the affected organ. An unexpectedly high number of patients (n=37) further showed ipsilateral mydriasis. The present study underlines the usefulness of including segmental signs in the bodily examination of patients with acute medical problems.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 841
Author(s):  
Michał Nowicki ◽  
Monika Komar ◽  
Mariusz Kusztal ◽  
Katarzyna Mizia-Stec ◽  
Tomasz Liberek ◽  
...  

Fabry disease (FD) is an ultra-rare genetic lysosomal storage disease caused by pathologic gene variants resulting in insufficient expression of α-galactosidase A. This enzyme deficiency leads to accumulation of globotriaosylceramide and globotriaosylsphingosine in plasma and in different cells throughout the body, causing major cardiovascular, renal, and nervous system complications. Until 2018, reimbursed enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for FD was available in all European Union countries except Poland.             We present the preliminary results of the first two years of reimbursed ERT in Poland. We obtained data from the seven largest academic centers in Katowice, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Warszawa, and Łódź. The questionnaire included the following data: number of patients treated, number of patients qualified for ERT, and patient characteristics.             All centers returned completed questionnaires that included data for a total of 71 patients (28 men and 43 women) as of June 2021. Thirty-five patients with the diagnosis of FD confirmed by genetic testing (22 men and 13 women) had already qualified for reimbursed ERT. Mean (SD) age at the commencement of the ERT program was 39.6 (15.5) years (range 18-79 years). Mean time from the first clinical symptoms reported by the patients to the FD diagnosis was 21.1 (8.9) years, and the mean time from the final diagnosis of FD to the beginning of ERT was 4.7 (4.6) years.             FD is still underdiagnosed in Poland. To identify undiagnosed FD patients and to ensure that patients in Poland benefit fully from ERT, implementation of an effective nationwide screening strategy and close cooperation with a network of rare disease centers is advised.


F1000Research ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 841
Author(s):  
Michał Nowicki ◽  
Monika Komar ◽  
Mariusz Kusztal ◽  
Katarzyna Mizia-Stec ◽  
Tomasz Liberek ◽  
...  

Fabry disease (FD) is an ultra-rare genetic lysosomal storage disease caused by pathologic gene variants resulting in insufficient expression of α-galactosidase A. This enzyme deficiency leads to accumulation of globotriaosylceramide and globotriaosylsphingosine in plasma and in different cells throughout the body, causing major cardiovascular, renal, and nervous system complications. Until 2018, reimbursed enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for FD was available in all European Union countries except Poland.             We present the preliminary results of the first two years of reimbursed ERT in Poland. We obtained data from the seven largest academic centers in Katowice, Cracow, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Warsaw, and Łódź. The questionnaire included the following data: number of patients treated, number of patients qualified for ERT, and patient characteristics.             All centers returned completed questionnaires that included data for a total of 71 patients (28 men and 43 women) as of June 2021. Thirty-five patients with the diagnosis of FD confirmed by genetic testing (22 men and 13 women) had already qualified for reimbursed ERT. Mean (SD) age at the commencement of the ERT program was 39.6 (15.5) years (range 18-79 years). Mean time from the first clinical symptoms reported by the patients to the FD diagnosis was 21.1 (8.9) years, and the mean time from the final diagnosis of FD to the beginning of ERT was 4.7 (4.6) years.             FD is still underdiagnosed in Poland. To identify undiagnosed FD patients and to ensure that patients in Poland benefit fully from ERT, implementation of an effective nationwide screening strategy and close cooperation with a network of rare disease centers is advised.


1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 15-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Luostarinen ◽  
M Vorne ◽  
T. Lantto

Summary 99mTc tin colloid accumulated in the lungs in 102 patients during liver imaging both in malignant and benign diseases. The percentage of neoplastic diseases increased when the lung uptake became greater and only patients with malignant final diagnosis had marked lung uptake. Abnormal liver image was seen only in 23%, which disagrees highly with some earlier findings on a rather small number of patients. The cause of increased lung uptake was suggested to be the activation of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) by disease. The activation of the RES was stronger in malignant than in benign diseases. Some type of regional stimulation of the RES was suggested as being due to the location of the disease and both malignant and benign diseases of the chest region stimulated the pulmonary part of the RES more than other parts of the RES.


1980 ◽  
Vol 19 (01) ◽  
pp. 42-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. W. Brown ◽  
C. Engelhard ◽  
J. Haipern ◽  
J. F. Fries ◽  
L. S. Coles

In solving a clinical problem of diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment choice, a physician must select from among a large group of possible tests. In general, an ordering exists specifying which tests are most valuable in providing relevant information concerning the problem on hand. The computer program package to be described (MW) extracts appropriate data from the ARAMIS data banks and then analyzes the data by stepwise logistic regression. A binary outcome (diagnosis, prognostic event, or treatment response) is sequentially associated with possible tests, and the most powerful combination of tests is identified. For example, the most valuable predictor variable of early mortality in SLE is proteinuria, followed sequentially by anemia and absence of arthritis. Experience with these techniques suggests : 1. optimal certainty is usually reached after only three or four tests; 2. several different test sequences may lead to the same level of certainty; 3. diagnosis may usually be ascertained with greater certainty than prognosis; 4. many medical problems contain considerable non-reducible uncertainty; 5. a relatively small group of tests are typically found among the most powerful; 6. results are consistent across several patient populations; 7. results are largely independent of the particular statistic employed. These observations suggest strategies for maximizing information while minimizing risk and expense.


1978 ◽  
Vol 17 (01) ◽  
pp. 36-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-P. Durbec ◽  
Jaqueline Cornée ◽  
P. Berthezene

The practice of systematic examinations in hospitals and the increasing development of automatic data processing permits the storing of a great deal of information about a large number of patients belonging to different diagnosis groups.To predict or to characterize these diagnosis groups some descriptors are particularly useful, others carry no information. Data screening based on the properties of mutual information and on the log cross products ratios in contingency tables is developed. The most useful descriptors are selected. For each one the characterized groups are specified.This approach has been performed on a set of binary (presence—absence) radiological variables. Four diagnoses groups are concerned: cancer of pancreas, chronic calcifying pancreatitis, non-calcifying pancreatitis and probable pancreatitis. Only twenty of the three hundred and forty initial radiological variables are selected. The presence of each corresponding sign is associated with one or more diagnosis groups.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 63-75
Author(s):  
Yu. A. Stepanova ◽  
M. Z. Alimurzaeva ◽  
D. A. Ionkin

The incidence of focal lesions in the spleen is 3.2–4.2% per 100,000 population. Spleen cysts are rare (incidence 0.75 per 100,000). These are single or multiple, thin- and smooth-walled cavities filled with a transparent liquid. Distinguish between primary (or true) cysts, lined with epithelium, and secondary (or false), devoid of epithelial lining. Among the primary cysts, there are congenital cysts formed in the embryonic period due to the migration of peritoneal cells into the spleen tissue, dermoid and epidermoid cysts. A special group of primary cysts are parasitic cysts. Cystic tumors of the spleen include lymphangioma and lymphoma.The main difficulties in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of cysts and cystic tumors of the spleen are associated with the rarity of this pathology and, as a consequence, a small number of works, including a significant number of the cases. However, in those works where a large number of the cases are described, most often this is one morphological form and an analysis of its various characteristics.Purpose. Based on the analysis of our own examination data of a significant number of patients with cysts and cystic tumors of the spleen, to assess the possibility of differential diagnosis of individual morphological forms according to ultrasound data.Materials and methods. 323 patients with cysts and cystic tumors of the spleen from 15 to 77 years old (men – 105 (32.5%); women – 218 (67.5%) were treated at A.V. Vishnevsky National Medical Research Center of Surgery for the period from 1980 to 2020. All patients underwent ultrasound during examination. Surgical treatment was carried out in various ways – (85.1%), when making a preoperative diagnosis of an uncomplicated spleen cyst of small size, dynamic observation was carried out (verification by puncture biopsy data).Results. Morphological verification of cysts and cystic tumors of the spleen was presented as follows (taking into account possible difficulties in identifying the epithelial lining): true cyst – 182 (56.4%); dermoid cyst – 3 (0.9%) (malignant – in 1 case); pseudocyst – 16 (5.0%); pancreatogenic – 34 (10.5%); echinococcus – 52 (16.1%); lymphangioma – 24 (7.4%); lymphoma – 10 (3.1%); ovarian cancer metastasis – 2 (0.6%). The article describes the ultrasound signs of the above forms of the lesions with an emphasis on the complexity of diagnosis.Conclusions. Primary and parasitic spleen cysts are well differentiated according to ultrasound; false cysts of the spleen, depending on the cause of their occurrence, can create difficulties in their identification and differentiation (they require careful dynamic control); cystic tumors of the spleen should be differentiated from malignant tumors and metastases of a cystic structure, as a result of which such vigilance should always be present when they are detected.


Author(s):  
L. B. Zavaliy ◽  
A. Yu. Simonova ◽  
M. M. Potskhveriya ◽  
Yu. N. Ostapenko ◽  
M. G. Gadzhieva ◽  
...  

Cases of thallium poisonings are regularly reported in media. In the present work, the world experience in diagnostics and treatment of victims with thallium poisoning has been compiled and summarized, search for clinical guidelines for the diagnostics, treatment and rehabilitation of patients has been carried out. The toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics, as well as pathophysiological mechanisms of thallium influence on the body are described in detail. Toxic and lethal concentrations of poison in biological media, as well as its tropicity to various tissues and body systems were determined. The clinical picture depending on the timing of poisoning and the dose of poison is described in detail. Difficulties of the differential diagnosis are defined. The most interesting cases of criminal and household poisonings with various terms of establishment of the diagnosis, doses of poisoning and outcomes are presented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Lev Bershteyn ◽  
Aleksandr Ivantsov ◽  
Aglaya Ievleva ◽  
A. Venina ◽  
I. Berlev

The aim of this study was to evaluate steroid receptors’ status of tumor tissue in different molecular biological types of endometrial cancer (EC), subdivided according to the current classification, and their colonization by lymphocytic and macrophage cells, taking into account body mass index of the patients. Materials and methods: Material from treatment-naive patients with EC (total n = 229) was included; the number of sick persons varied depending on the method used. The average age of patients was close to 60 years, and about 90% of them were postmenopausal. It was possible to divide the results of the work into two main subgroups: a) depending on the molecular biological type of the tumor (determined on the basis of genetic and immunohistochemical analysis), and b) depending on the value of the body mass index (BMI). The latter approach was used in patients with EC type demonstrating a defective mismatch repair of the incorrectly paired nucleotides (MMR-D) and with a type without characteristic molecular profile signs (WCMP), but was not applied (due to the smaller number of patients) in EC types with a POLE gene mutation or with expression of the oncoprotein p53. According to the data obtained, when comparing various types of EC, the lowest values of Allred ER and PR scores were revealed for POLE-mutant and p53 types, while the “triple-negative” variant of the tumor (ER-, PR-, HER2/neu-) was most common in POLE-mutant (45.5% of cases) and WCMP (19.4%) types of EC. The p53+ type of EC is characterized by inclination to the higher expression of the macrophage marker CD68 and lymphocytic Foxp3, as well as mRNA of PD-1 and SALL4. In addition to the said above, for WCMP type of EC is peculiar, on the contrary, a decrease in the expression of lymphocytic markers CD8 (protein) and PD-L1 (mRNA). When assessing the role of BMI, its value of >30.0 (characteristic for obesity) was combined with an inclination to the increase of HER-2/neu expression in the case of MMR-D EC type and to the decrease of HER-2 /neu, FOXp3 and ER expression in WCMP type. Conclusions: The accumulated information (mainly describing here hormonal sensitivity of the tumor tissue and its lymphocytic-macrophage infiltration) additionally confirms our earlier expressed opinion that the differences between women with EC are determined by both the affiliation of the neoplasm to one or another molecular biological type (subdivided according to the contemporary classification), as well as by body mass value and (very likely) the associated hormonal and metabolic attributes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. e242690
Author(s):  
Tamara Ursini ◽  
Paola Rodari ◽  
Geraldo Badona Monteiro ◽  
Valeria Barresi ◽  
Carmelo Cicciò ◽  
...  

We describe a rare case of large, fully cystic spinal schwannoma in a young adult from The Gambia. The initial clinical suspicion was spinal cystic echinococcosis. He came to our attention reporting progressive walking impairment and neurological symptoms in the lower limbs. An expansive lesion extending from L2 to S1 was shown by imaging (ie, CT scan and MRI). Differential diagnoses included aneurysmal bone cyst and spinal tuberculosis and abscess; the initial suggested diagnosis of spinal cystic echinococcosis was discarded based on contrast enhancement results. The final diagnosis of cystic schwannoma was obtained by histopathology of the excised mass. Cystic spinal lesions are rare and their differential diagnosis is challenging. Awareness of autochthonous and tropical infectious diseases is important, especially in countries experiencing consistent migration flow; however, it must be kept in mind that migrants may also present with ‘non-tropical’ pathologies.


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