Also after bagatelle trauma, some patients can develop a complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The limb concerned usually shows a marked temperature difference to the contralateral side. Apart from ...a doughy swelling, the patient is impaired in particular by burning pain and a restricted range of motion. The objective of the present study was to examine the influence of early thoracic sympathetic nerve blockade on the basis of clinical and quantified blood flow parameters.
In 7 young patients (average age 17.7 15 - 21 years) with a clinically developing type 1 CRPS after sport injuries (mountain bike, bike, skateboard, hockey and go-kart accidents), occult injury and ligament lesions were ruled out using conventional imaging and MRI. In addition to pain-adapted physiotherapy and pharmacotherapy with analgesics and calcitonin, sympathetic nerve blockade was performed three times at two-day intervals. The CT-assisted puncture was performed in the prone position at the level of the intervertebral space of the 2nd/3 rd thoracic vertebral bodies. In the correct paravertebral position, a 10-cm long, 22 G Seibel-Grönemeier needle was used for the successive injection of 6 - 10 ml Carbostesin 0.5 %. By adding a small amount of contrast medium, it was possible to visualise clearly the distribution of the sympathicolytic agent in the control scan in each case. Before and after the intervention, colour-coded duplex sonography (CCDS) of the affected limb arteries was performed on all patients.
The injection needle was correctly placed in all patients, without complications. The medication mixture was observed to have distributed properly. After the intervention, all patients reported the immediate onset of marked pain relief, whereby they recovered fully over the further course. The increase in peripheral blood flow was shown by a significant improvement in flow in the CCDS.
Outpatient CT-assisted temporary sympathetic nerve blockade is an effective and low-complication therapeutic option for the supportive treatment of patients with CRPS.
Also after bagatelle trauma, some patients can develop a complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). The limb concerned usually shows a marked temperature difference to the contralateral side. Apart from ...a doughy swelling, the patient is impaired in particular by burning pain and a restricted range of motion. The objective of the present study was to examine the influence of early thoracic sympathetic nerve blockade on the basis of clinical and quantified blood flow parameters.
In 7 young patients (average age 17.7 15-21 years) with a clinically developing type 1 CRPS after sport injuries (mountain bike, bike, skateboard, hockey and go-kart accidents), occult injury and ligament lesions were ruled out using conventional imaging and MRI. In addition to pain-adapted physiotherapy and pharmacotherapy with analgesics and calcitonin, sympathetic nerve blockade was performed three times at two-day intervals. The CT-assisted puncture was performed in the prone position at the level of the intervertebral space of the 2nd/3rd thoracic vertebral bodies. In the correct paravertebral position, a 10-cm long, 22 G Seibel-Grönemeier needle was used for the successive injection of 6-10 ml Carbostesin 0.5 %. By adding a small amount of contrast medium, it was possible to visualise clearly the distribution of the sympathicolytic agent in the control scan in each case. Before and after the intervention, colour-coded duplex sonography (CCDS) of the affected limb arteries was performed on all patients.
The injection needle was correctly placed in all patients, without complications. The medication mixture was observed to have distributed properly. After the intervention, all patients reported the immediate onset of marked pain relief, whereby they recovered fully over the further course. The increase in peripheral blood flow was shown by a significant improvement in flow in the CCDS.
Outpatient CT-assisted temporary sympathetic nerve blockade is an effective and low-complication therapeutic option for the supportive treatment of patients with CRPS.
Cerebral lesions are held to induce plastic changes of the brain. Less well established, however, is how much space-occupying brain lesions may only displace functional representations. In a ...66-year-old man we show, by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation, a profound displacement of the motor cortex due to a large asymptomatic arachnoid cyst. Thus, the chronically compressed brain is capable of sustaining normal brain function without utilizing the potential of cortical plasticity.
The antitumor effect of intravesical mycobacterium cell wall (MCW) therapy on orthotopic and heterotopic bladder tumors in the mouse was assessed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The live ...bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) organism was replaced with a cell wall extract derived from the outer capsule of Mycobacterium phlei. This alternative form of intravesical therapy was used with the aim of reducing the toxicity associated with the live mycobacterium organism without compromising efficacy. Response to multiple doses of intravesical MCW and BCG was assessed in mice with established MBT-2 tumors after transurethral tumor implantation.
Serial MRI of BCG-treated mice revealed significant tumor regression. The MR images correlated well with the corresponding histology of the whole mount bladder sections. Treatment with MCW also resulted in significant inhibition of tumor growth compared with control untreated animals (p less than 0.05) although the antitumor effect was less pronounced than that of live BCG. Treatment was well tolerated in the MCW group with no apparent ill effects. Flow cytometric (FCM) analysis of bladder washings with phenotype-specific monoclonal antibodies revealed predominantly a CD3+ T cell infiltrate in the control and BCG-treated as well as the MCW-treated mice. The CD4+ (helper/inducer) subset of T cells predominated over the CD8+ (suppressor/cytotoxic) subset in both the BCG- and MCW-treated animals, and the CD4+/CD8+ ratio in both of the treated groups differed significantly from that of the control untreated groups.
Intravesical MCW appears to invoke a similar inflammatory response in the mouse bladder mucosa as the live BCG organism and retains an antitumor action. It deserves further evaluation as a potential antitumor agent against bladder cancer. A Phase II clinical trial is now underway.
Objective: This prospective high‐risk study examined the influence of father's alcoholism and other archival‐generated measures on premature death.
Method: Sons of alcoholic fathers (n = 223) and ...sons of non‐alcoholic fathers (n = 106) have been studied from birth to age 40. Archival predictors of premature death included father's alcoholism, childhood developmental data, and diagnostic information obtained from the Psychiatric Register and alcoholism clinics.
Results: By age 40, 21 of the 329 subjects had died (6.4%), a rate that is more than two times greater than expected. Sons of alcoholic fathers were not more likely to die by age 40. Premature death was associated with physical immaturity at 1‐year of age and psychiatric/alcoholism treatment. No significant interactions were found between risk and archival measures.
Conclusion: Genetic vulnerability did not independently predict death at age 40. Death was associated with developmental immaturities and treatment for a psychiatric and/or substance abuse problem.
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