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Query: UMLS:C0023890 (cirrhosis)
 42,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sixteen cases of chronic Q fever are described. In eight there was a history of exposure to infection from farms or farm products. All had valvular heart disease, involving the mitral valve in nine and the aortic valve in seven. Infection occurred on a prosthetic valve in two patients. Arterial embolism was common. Venous thrombosis occured in three patients, and pulmonary embolism occurred in three other patients. Complement fixing antibodies to phase 1 antigen were found in a titre of 1:200 or greater in all except two patients. In one of these post-mortem examination revealed rickettsial bodies in mitral valve vegetations, and in the other Coxiella burneti was isolated from heart valve tissue. The majority presented with infective endocarditis but two presented primarily with liver disease. All patients had evidence of liver involvement and in one this led to death from cirrhosis. Abnormal tests of liver function, particularly hyperglobulinaemia, raised alkaline phsophatase and abnormal bromsulphthalein retention were found in all patients. Hepatic histology was abnormal in all eight patients in whom it was studied. The commonest features were mononuclear cell infiltration of the portal tracts and prominence of the sinusoidal Kupffer cells. Patchy focal necrosis of parenchymal cells, granulomata, fatty change, and eosinophilia of the sinusoidal walls were also noted in several patients and cirrhosis developed in one. Six patients had a purpuric rash, and in 12 there was thrombocytopenia. It is suggested that the presence of hepatomegaly and liver involvement and thrombocytopenia may help to differentiate Q fever endocarditis from bacterial endocarditis. Raised serum IgM and IgA levels occured frequently, but with only a moderate dominance of IgM. Sheep cell agglutination and latex fixation tests for rheumatoid factor were occasionally positive. Several features of the disease suggest the possibility that immune-complex mechanisms may play a role in chronic Q fever. Treatment was with prolonged courses of tetracycline usually combined with lincomycin. Seven patients underwent valve replacement surgery for haemodynamic reasons. Five patients died; two from heart failure, one from cirrhosis, one seven days after valve replacement and one from intraperitoneal haemorrhage following percutaneous liver biopsy. Three patients have survived for more than five years, and another six for more than three and a half years after diagnosis. Of these nine patients, three received medical therapy alone and six required valve replacement as well. Antibiotics have been discontinued in four patients who have had valve surgery and three others. Six patients had received antibiotics for continuous periods varying from 29-62 months. In the period after stopping therapy varying from 15-21 months, no relapse has occured. A seventh patient, who had received antibiotics for four months prior to valve replacement, has survived 43 months after the withdrawal of antibiotics...
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PMID:Chronic Q fever. 94 Sep 18

We report two cases of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAHT) in HIV infected patients who never were, or had ceased to be, drug addicts. A study of these cases and a review of the literature show that this association is not fortuitous and persists after the classical causes of PAHT (pulmonary embolism, toxic factors, cirrhosis) have been excluded. The clinical features and the results of complementary cardiovascular examinations are identical with those of the so-called "primary" PAHT. The prognosis is severe: 50 percent of the patients died of the consequences of PAHT 1 year after the first clinical signs. Histology displays signs of plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy, as in primary PAHT. In HIV patients pulmonary arterial hypertension occurs independently of the degree of immunodeficiency. Its relation with other HIV-related vasculites and their physiopathology are discussed.
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PMID:["Primary" pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with HIV infection. Two cases]. 153 6

We report on the treatment of invasive aspergillosis with the new triazole antimycotic agent itraconazole. All 11 patients suffered from pulmonary invasive aspergillosis. Two patients also had cerebral aspergillosis; in one of these patients the paranasal sinuses were also invaded. Underlying diseases were acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (n = 3), acute myeloid leukaemia (n = 4); one patient underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation before he developed aspergillosis; another was transplanted after successful aspergillosis treatment, liver cirrhosis (n = 1), lung infarction after pulmonary embolism (n = 1), chronic bronchitis after pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 1) and AIDS (n = 1). In five cases initial diagnosis was established by means of mycological methods and clinical signs. In six patients invasive pulmonary aspergillosis was initially diagnosed due to the clinical criteria presented in this paper. Secondary mycological confirmation after onset of therapy was achieved in five out of these six patients. All of the patients initially responded to therapy. One female patient experienced a relapse of aspergillosis and died of cerebral involvement and relapsing leukaemia. Two further patients died due to underlying diseases (pulmonary embolism, relapsing leukaemia). Nine patients (82%) were cured of the mycosis, including the patient with cerebral involvement; two underwent surgical resection of residual pulmonary lesions. Itraconazole is a very effective drug for treatment of invasive aspergillosis. Therapeutic efficacy can be optimized by early diagnosis using clinical criteria and prompt start of treatment.
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PMID:Therapy of invasive aspergillosis with itraconazole: improvement of therapeutic efficacy by early diagnosis. 166 78

We investigated 110 cases, selected at random out of the total of 1876 autopsies performed in the Institute of Pathological Anatomy and Histology at the University of Ferrara-Arcispedale Santa Anna on patients who had died at the hospital during 1983-87. Clinical data were taken from 'necropsy request forms' filled in by clinicians and from medical records. We then evaluated the extent of agreement and disagreement, expressed as underdiagnosis (false-negative) and overdiagnosis (false-positive), between the clinical and pathological records with regard to primary disease and to cause of death. Agreement between the diagnoses was 81% for primary disease and 58% for cause of death. The diagnoses of neoplastic, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases showed the closest agreement. Among the neoplasms, those of the liver, gall-bladder, pancreas, retroperitoneal space and prostate were most often overlooked in clinical diagnoses. We had conflicting results for cancer of the lung and of the colon-rectum, for which there was a high level of agreement, but also a large number of false-positive cases and cases in which they were found by chance at autopsy. For cerebrovascular diseases, false-negative and false-positive diagnoses were seen most often for cause of death. With regard to cardiovascular diseases, a relatively uniform distribution was found for myocardial infarction among the three categories, and a high rate of agreement was found for pulmonary embolism. Of all diseases, bronchopneumonia was associated with the highest percentage of false-negative diagnoses for cause of death. Our data on digestive diseases show the strongest agreement on diagnosis of primary disease in relation to cirrhosis of the liver; a high rate of agreement on cause of death was confirmed for alimentary bleeding. Active tuberculosis was detected only at autopsy. We conclude that autopsy is a valid tool for investigation, despite the availability of sophisticated diagnostic techniques.
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PMID:Correlation of clinical diagnosis with autopsy findings. 185 55

Forty-three patients were operated on for iatrogenic lesions of the bile duct. Only one patient had a biliary lesion which occurred in the course of distal gastric resection. All other lesions were observed during cholecystectomy. Injury of the bile duct was detected intraoperatively in sixteen cases. In 10 patients, lesions were observed in the postoperative period and in 17 patients, the post-operative diagnosis was made on the basis of symptoms of stenosis of the bile duct. Satisfactory results can be obtained by suturing the common bile duct and splinting with a T-tube where the lesion is partial and detected in the course of surgery. In the case of patients with strictures, an anastomosis (choledochojejunostomy Roux-en-Y loop) should be performed. Strictures involving hepatic bifurcation and the right hepatic duct have a higher incidence of restenosis, and transhepatic splinting of the anastomosis can therefore produce better results. Long-term transhepatic drainage has the advantage that replacement of the drain is relatively straightforward and complete dislocation impossible. Four of our patients died postoperatively, three of multiple septic organ failure due to preoperative biliary peritonitis or cholangitis, and one of a pulmonary embolism. Satisfactory long-term results after correction of an iatrogenic lesion of the bile duct can be obtained if the corrective procedure is undertaken immediately, prior to the onset of biliary cirrhosis.
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PMID:The therapy of iatrogenic lesions of the bile duct. 208 27

Published studies encompassing more than 50,000 autopsies were assessed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of clinical diagnostics (the diagnostic process) in persons dying of 1 of 11 specific diseases during the period 1930 through 1977. The accuracy of clinical diagnostics, as reflected in these two determinations, appeared to improve over this period with respect to some of the diseases studied (rheumatic heart disease and leukemia), while for others it worsened (pulmonary tuberculosis, peritonitis, carcinoma of the lung, gastric carcinoma, and carcinoma of the liver and extrahepatic biliary tract) and for a significant number diagnostic accuracy seemed refractory to sustained change (pulmonary embolism, primary cirrhosis of the liver, gastric/peptic ulcer, and acute coronary thrombosis/myocardial infarction). The findings suggest a new way in which the autopsy can be used to monitor clinical diagnostics to identify possible sources of systematic weaknesses and provide data that can be used to approach the difficult subject of necessary fallibility.
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PMID:The sensitivity and specificity of clinical diagnostics during five decades. Toward an understanding of necessary fallibility. 273 31

From 1969 to 1973, 68 patients were admitted to the 4th Division of Medicine of the Brescia Civil Hospital with the diagnosis of viral myocarditis. The patients were divided into two groups according to the results of the Coxsackie virus complement fixing antibodies test: Group 1 (42 patients) with a fourfold or greater rising antibody titre; Group 2 (26 patients) with a negative serum test. Both groups were examined after a follow-up period of 15 years. Ten patients from Group 1 died. The diagnoses were chronic myocarditis (three cases); chronic cardiomyopathy-pulmonary embolism (one case); chronic cardiomyopathy-liver cirrhosis (one case); dilated cardiomyopathy-sudden death (two cases); congestive cardiomyopathy (three cases). No Group 2 patients died. The 15-year mortality rate of Group 1 was significantly higher than that of Group 2 (Fisher Test: p less than 0.005). In conclusion, the natural history of Coxsackie virus heart disease is characterized by two possibilities: a complete recovery from a clinical point of view, in some cases with only minor T wave abnormalities, or evolution into a chronic disease (dilated cardiomyopathy) having a high mortality rate within 10 years of the onset of the acute disease.
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PMID:Coxsackie virus heart disease: 15 years after. 322 24

High alcohol consumption is one of the major risk indicators for premature death in middle-aged men. An indicator of alcohol abuse--registration with the social authorities for alcoholic problems--was used to evaluate the role of alcohol in relation to general and cause-specific mortality in a general population sample. Altogether 1,116 men (11%) out of a total population of 10,004 men were registered for alcoholic problems. Total mortality during 11.8 years' follow-up was 10.4% among the non-registered men, compared to 20.5% among men with occasional convictions for drunkenness and 29.6% among heavy abusers. Fatal cancer as a whole was not independently associated with alcohol abuse, but oropharyngeal and oesophageal cancers together were seven times more common in the alcohol-registered groups. Total coronary heart disease (CHD) was significantly and independently associated with alcohol abuse, but nearly all the excess CHD mortality among the alcohol-registered men could be attributed to sudden coronary death. Cases with definite recent myocardial infarction were not more common in the alcoholic population. A combined effect of coronary arteriosclerosis and heart muscle damage secondary to alcohol abuse is suggested. Other causes of death strongly associated with registration for alcohol abuse include pulmonary embolism, pneumonia and peptic ulcer, as well as death from liver cirrhosis and alcoholism. Of the excess mortality among alcohol-registered subjects, 20.1% could be attributed to CHD, 18.1% to violent death, 13.6% to alcoholism without another diagnosis and 11.1% to liver cirrhosis.
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PMID:Alcoholic intemperance, coronary heart disease and mortality in middle-aged Swedish men. 342 75

A transudative pleural effusion develops when the systemic factors influencing the formation or absorption of the pleural fluid are altered. The pleural surfaces are not involved by the primary pathologic process. The diagnosis of transudative effusion is simple to establish by examining the characteristics of the pleural fluid. Transudates have all of the following three characteristics: The ratio of the pleural fluid to the serum protein is less than 0.5. The ratio of the pleural fluid to the serum LDH is less than 0.6. The pleural fluid LDH is less than two thirds the upper limit of normal for the serum LDH. Among the conditions that produce transudative pleural effusion, congestive heart failure is by far the most common. Pulmonary embolism, cirrhosis of the liver with ascites, and the nephrotic syndrome are the other common causes. Management of transudative pleural effusions involves managing the primary disease. Refractory, massive effusions can be controlled by tetracycline pleurodesis.
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PMID:Transudative pleural effusions. 384 1

Abnormal lung perfusion scans using radioactive particles were found in five out of six cases of hepatic cirrhosis with arterial hypoxaemia. None had clinical evidence of cardiopulmonary disease or signs of pulmonary embolism on arteriography. The scan defects are probably caused by a disorder of the pulmonary microvasculature, which may show regional variation in severity.
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PMID:Lung perfusion scanning in hepatic cirrhosis. 464 96


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