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Query: UMLS:C0018801 (heart failure)
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Some elderly patients with chronic illness such as stroke, or Parkinsonism cannot take food orally because of dysphagia. In such cases, tube feeding can be used as a supplement to oral intake when malnutrition is present. This route allows for easier nursing care and decreases the frequency of aspiration pneumonia. Complications of tube feeding include nutrient deficiency states, pulmonary aspiration, gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders. We report two cases with complications of acute gastric ulcer which was thought to be induced with long-term tube feeding. Case 1 was a 61-year-old male patient with Parkinson's disease for ten years. L-DOPA had been administered with good control of his condition. However, his ability to swallow has deteriorated gradually. As he often suffered from aspiration pneumonia, nasogastric tube feeding was performed. After three years of tube feeding, he suddenly vomited much bloody material. He died from massive bleeding with acute gastric dilatation. Autopsy showed giant acute gastric ulcer covered with coagulated blood. UL3, 50 mm in maximum diameter, was observed in the middle portion of the greater curvature, where the top of tube probably came in contact with the gastric wall. Case 2 was an 83-year-old female patient with stroke and chronic heart failure. She had been hospitalized for about one year because of the intermittent deterioration of her cardiac condition. Furthermore, her inability to swallow increased during her hospitalization. She also suffered from aspiration pneumonia. Nasogastric tube feeding was performed to prevent aspiration pneumonia and malnutrition. She died of acute heart failure after twelve months. Autopsy revealed heart dilatation, old myocardial infarction and stroke. In addition, two acute gastric ulcers (UL3.10 and 30 mm in diameter) were recognized; one was in the upper portion of the greater curvature, the other in the lower portion of the greater curvature. The location of these gastric ulcers was unusual. Moreover, they coincided with location of top of the nasogastric tube. From these two cases, we conclude that in long-term tube feeding the tip of the tube often comes in contact with the gastric wall, and gastric ulcer could be produced by repeated mechanical stimulus of the wall. Reports of acute gastric ulcer induced by tube feeding have not been published previously. Therefore, we should pay much attention to this complication in the care of the elderly people with long-term tube feeding.
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PMID:[Long-term nasogastric feeding and complications of acute gastric ulcer in two elderly patients]. 143 62

An hydropic infant was delivered at 32 weeks gestation by emergency Caesarean section for acute polyhydramnios. A diagnosis of cardiac rhabdomyomata was made on echocardiography. The baby survived 10 days, during which time repeated episodes of supraventricular tachycardia occurred. She eventually died of cardiac failure following an episode of septicaemia, convulsions and aspiration pneumonia. Necropsy showed multiple cardiac rhabdomyomata and numerous cerebral germinal layer and periventricular white matter nodules. This case stresses the importance of clinical investigations and perinatal necropsy in non-immune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) in determining the causes of clinical presentation and the underlying pathology.
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PMID:Tachyarrhythmia, cardiac rhabdomyomata and fetal hydrops in a premature infant with tuberous sclerosis. 160 81

Common intracranial complications following head injury are meningitis, usually associated with a basilar skull fracture or open-depressed skull fracture; delayed hematoma; hydrocephalus; and vascular injuries. Prophylactic antibiotics are not recommended for the management of basilar skull fractures. The best means of preventing infection from open-depressed skull fractures is operative debridement and thorough irrigation, though recent evidence suggests that select cases can be safely managed without operation. Serial CT scans should be obtained in severely head-injured patients to identify delayed hematomas. CT and MRI scans obtained several weeks or months after severe head injury frequently reveal enlarged ventricles, though only a small percentage of these patients have clinical hydrocephalus. Those that do, often benefit from a shunt. Vascular injuries frequently are not detected until ischemic symptoms develop hours or days after the injury. Recommended treatment for intimal tears or dissection is full anticoagulation, but in those with cerebral contusions or other intracranial lesions, this may present an unacceptable risk for intracranial hemorrhage. Pulmonary infections frequently occur following head injury, and can be associated with admission to the ICU and intubation. A large percentage of these infections are caused by enteric gram-negative organisms, and aggressive treatment with appropriate antibiotics is necessary. Aspiration of gastric contents is common in head-injured patients and is frequently complicated by bacterial superinfection. The routine use of antacids and H2 blocking agents leads to bacterial colonization of the stomach with anaerobes and gram-negative aerobes. Thus, empiric therapy for aspiration pneumonia should include clindamycin. Sinusitis is a frequent cause of fever and leukocytosis in patients with nasotracheal or nasogastric tubes in place for several days and often subsides spontaneously with removal of the tubes. Pulmonary edema is often caused by excessive fluid administration during resuscitation of these patients, and can be avoided by monitoring central venous pressures. Pulmonary edema may also be caused by ARDS, excessive catecholamine release, or primary cardiac failure. Most of these patients will benefit from early intubation and PEEP. Pulmonary emboli most often originate from deep venous thrombi, and there is increasing evidence that prophylaxis with low-dose heparin and pulsating boots can significantly reduce the incidence of both complications. Erosive gastritis is found in the majority of severely head-injured patients and may be due to ischemia of the gastric mucosa as well as gastric hyperacidity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
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PMID:Complications of head injury and their therapy. 182 50

A patient was a 67-year-old female, 153 cm tall and weighing 47 kg. In 1988, she noticed sudden hypotonicity of her extremities, which led her to visit our hospital. Diagnosis of polymyositis (PM) was made. Treatment started with prednisolone 60 mg.day-1, followed by 2.5-5mg.day-1 as a maintenance dose. Her clinical symptoms were alleviated. However, in October, 1994, colon cancer was found and she underwent sigmoidectomy. For anesthesia, thoracic epidural block (Th 11/12) was performed. No problems occurred during and after the surgery. The following points must be considered for anesthesia of a patient with PM: (1) enhanced or delayed effect of muscle relaxant, (2) pulmonary complications--aspiration pneumonia and lung fibrosis, (3) cardiomyopathy--arrhythmia and cardiac failure, (4) steroid supplementation. In our case, because cardio-pulmonary functions were almost normal, epidural anesthesia without using muscle relaxant was a successful method.
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PMID:[Anesthetic management for colon resection in a patient with polymyositis]. 872 Nov 34

The 4q-Syndrome: Here we report four cases of interstitial and terminal deletions of the long arm of chromosome 4. Case 1 is a 16 month old boy with del(4)(q12q21) who has soft dysmorphic features, tetralogy of Fallot, and severe developmental delay. Case 2 is a male infant with the same deletion and congenital cardiomyopathy. He suffered severe birth asphyxia and died at the age of 6 months. His father was found to have a complex chromosome 4 rearrangement. Case 3 is a female infant with del(4)(q33) who died of aspiration pneumonia. She was mildly dysmorphic and presented with heart failure and hypercalcaemia. Case 4 is a 8 month old girl who has del(4)(q33) and Pierre-Robin sequence. So far about 70 patients with microscopically visible deletions of chromosome 4q have been described. Although they vary in their phenotypes, they have several features in common. We suggest to use the term 4q-syndrome for all macrodeletions of the long arm of chromosome 4.
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PMID:The 4q-Syndrome. 1183 1

Fever is often an indication of a serious illness in children. In areas endemic to malaria, hospital workers should check a febrile child for malaria parasites. Children with a fever associated with meningitis or malaria need immediate attention. To diagnose meningitis: microscopic examination of cerebrospinal fluid obtained by lumbar puncture is the only reliable method. If a febrile child also has a stiff neck, health workers should immediately administer antibiotic treatment without waiting for the results of the lumbar puncture. If available and in epidemic situations, oily chloramphenicol may be administered, since it is effective in a single dose. Treatment with other antibiotics should last for 10 days in children and 14-21 days for young infants. To diagnose malaria in endemic areas: laboratory technicians should examine thick and thin blood films of sick children with fever. Health workers must consider as medical emergencies children who have a slide positive for malaria parasites plus severe anemia, hypoglycemia, deep rapid breathing, any indication of kidney malfunction or failure, or altered consciousness. They should begin antimalarial treatment with quinine, the drug of choice for severe and complicated malaria. In cases of convulsions lasting longer than 5 minutes, health workers should administer anticonvulsants and take actions to prevent aspiration pneumonia. If the fever persists for 14 days or if the child does not emerge from unconsciousness and someone in the family has active tuberculosis, health workers should consider tuberculous meningitis. If a child with malaria has low hemoglobin levels (5 g/dl) and many malaria parasites in the blood and is in heart failure, a blood transfusion (15-20 ml/kg whole blood over 4 hours) and infusion of 1 mg/kg fursemide (to prevent cardiac failure) are needed. If the preceding case has pulmonary edema, a single dose of fursemide at the same dosage is needed to prevent overloading of the circulation. Health workers should closely monitor that intravenous fluids not exacerbate brain swelling.
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PMID:Managing meningitis and severe malaria. 1229 72

Long-term prognosis in dialysis is poor compared to that in healthy control persons. A worsening of the prognosis is noted especially for patients who at initiation of dialysis have congestive heart failure, ischemic heart disease, or left ventricular dysfunction or hypertrophy. This is the main reason that cardiovascular causes are the most common for morbidity in these patients. The weight obtained when normal urine output is present is the dry weight. With reduced ability to excrete the volume by the kidneys in end-stage renal disease (ESRD), the body will retain water and the patient will gain weight. This extra weight is due to volume overload. While volume overload may induce a rise in blood pressure, if the heart is in acceptable condition, a fast removal of fluid by ultrafiltration (UF) during dialysis may instead cause hypotension. Ultrafiltration failure in peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients may lead to successive water retention and overhydration with subsequent cardiac failure, while volume overload may occur over a few days in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Anemia or even too-high hematocrit may impair cardiac function further and worsen conditions caused by wrong dry weight. Thus, during long-term and sustained volume overload, left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy will occur in an eccentric manner. A sustained overload then may lead to cell death and LV dilatation and, eventually, systolic dysfunction. Once a severe left ventricular dilatation has developed, the blood pressure may decrease during volume overload. A worsened prognosis is seen if malnutrition and low albumin levels are present. Volume overload necessitates ultrafiltration to achieve dry weight. Thereby, volume contraction contributes to exaggerated stimulation of or response to activation of the RAS and alpha-adrenergic sympathetic systems. If ultrafiltration goes beyond these compensatory mechanisms, hypotension will occur and increase the risk for hypoperfusion of vital organs. Such episodes may cause cardiac morbidity, aspiration pneumonia, vascular access closure, or neurological complications (seizures, cerebral infarction), besides a more rapid lowering of residual renal function. Preventive measures are, first, finding the right dry weight; second, minimizing interdialytic weight gain; third, optimizing the target for hemoglobin (110-120 g/l); fourth, lowering dialysate calcium (1.25 mmol/l); and fifth, eventually using higher dialysate potassium if long dialyses are performed.
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PMID:Ultrafiltration and dry weight-what are the cardiovascular effects? 1266 7

A 99-year-old woman was admitted to Shizuoka Shimizu Municipal Hospital because of fever and anasarca. Imaging and laboratory tests showed pneumonia, urinary tract infection, and cardiac failure. The patient died 20 days after admission. An autopsy revealed marked diffuse dilations of the biliary tree ranging from the lower common bile duct to intrahepatic bile ducts. Intrahepatic calcium bilirubinate stones and biliary sludges were recognized within the dilated bile ducts. A unilocular cyst (2 cm in diameter) was present in the pancreatic head adjacent to the lower common bile duct, and it appeared to compress the common bile duct. Histologically, the walls of the dilated biliary tree showed proliferation of peribiliary glands, fibrosis, and infiltration of lymphocytes and neutrophils (cholangitis). The lumens of the dilated biliary ducts contained neutral and acidic mucins, fibrinous materials, bacteria, neutrophils, and Aspergillus fungi, in addition to the calculi and sludges. The background liver showed atrophy (400 g). The pancreatic unilocular cyst was composed of mucous columnar cells with a few infoldings, and the pancreas also showed foci of mucinous duct hyperplasia and ectasia; the pathological diagnosis of the cyst was cystic dilations of a pancreatic duct branch (mucinous ductal ectasia or mucinous cyst). Other lesions included aspiration pneumonia, emaciation, atrophy of systemic organs, gastric leiomyoma, serous cystadenoma of the right ovary, and arteriosclerotic nephrosclerosis. The present case suggests that a mucinous cyst of the pancreas may compress the biliary tree and lead to marked diffuse dilations of the biliary tree. Alternatively, the dilations of the bile ducts may be associated with aging or may be of congenital origin. The dilated bile ducts may, in turn, give rise to bacterial and fungal cholangitis and formation of biliary sludges and intrahepatic calcium bilirubinate stones.
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PMID:Marked diffuse dilations of the biliary tree associated with intrahepatic calculi, biliary sludges and a mucinous cyst of the pancreatic head in a 99-year-old woman. 1289 37

To clarify the indications and usefulness of Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) in patients with Silicosis and some co-morbidities, we analyzed eight cases of silicosis, who suffered from dysphagia and had received a PEG for tube feeding during the period from 1998 to 2002. The characteristics, and clinical course, of each case were statistically analyzed before and during PEG usage. All cases were bed-ridden males, with a mean age of 80 years. The profusion rate (PR) grade of silicosis was for five cases in category 2, and for three cases in category 4. Most of the co-morbidities were dementia (five cases), and chronic heart failure (four cases). There were no significant improvements in the measured nutrition criteria (albumin, lymphocytes) nor in respiratory function (arterial O2) between before and during PEG usage. Tube feeding through the PEG was not performed in three cases because of repeated aspiration pneumonia. The mean duration of PEG usage was 9 months, ranging from 5 to 20 months. Five cases died of the co-morbidities. Furthermore, there was significant deterioration in the bacteriological data (p = 0.001), suggesting a worsening of the swallowing disturbances during PEG usage, or the emergence of more resistant organisms as a result of empirical antibiotic therapy. The present results suggest that the indications of PEG in cases of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) such as silicosis, associated with other morbidities, and with dysphagia, are somewhat limited. The patient's general condition should be an important factor in deciding whether or not this technique should be used.
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PMID:Evaluation of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy in elderly patients with silicosis and co-morbidities. 1476 69

We report a case of a previously healthy 41-year-old man who was admitted for progressive dyspnea and cough, which culminated in respiratory failure, shock, and death. Lung and muscle biopsy results were consistent with interstitial lung disease secondary to polymyositis. Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are rare autoimmune diseases that primarily affect the muscles and skin, with frequent extramuscular and specifically pulmonary manifestations. Respiratory complications are in 2 categories: primary (the interstitial lung diseases, which can be acute or chronic) and secondary (aspiration pneumonia/pneumonitis, muscle weakness, infection, drug-induced disease, pulmonary congestion secondary to heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and pneumomediastinum). Diagnosis of a specific interstitial lung disease relies mainly on high-resolution computed tomography of the chest and on tissue diagnosis. Prognosis depends on the histopathology findings and the specific form of interstitial lung disease and its response to therapy, which consists of high-dose steroids and immunomodulating agents. Unfortunately, patients with polymyositis/dermatomyositis associated with pulmonary complications have a worse prognosis than patients with isolated forms.
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PMID:Fatal acute interstitial pneumonitis complicating polymyositis in a 41-year-old man. 1557 43


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