[Assessment of various anthropologic methods for estimation of the height of persons over 65 years of age]. / Valoración de distintos métodos antropométricos en la estimación de la talla en personas mayores de 65 años.

The height measurement of people older than 65 years of age is limited in may cases by alterations of the vertebral column, which is why the determination of the body mass index for the evaluation of the nutritional status may be very imprecise. Formulae have been developed based on the height of the knee or the distance between the knee and the external malleolus, for estimating the height. With this study we wish to contrast the estimated height using these formulae with the height obtained in standing people older than 65 years of age. We studied a total of 202 patients, assessing the height based on the different methods of estimation, as well as using the body mass index. When analyzing the results, we found that there were no significant differences between the average height estimated from the height of the knee or the distance from the knee to the malleolus, and the average height obtained by diet measurement, and that the height estimated from the height of the knee has a greater average relative error (0.43) than the height estimated using the knee to malleolus distance (0.08). The obtained results show us that the height assessment of people older than 65 years of age should always take place by measuring them while standing, and in those subjects in whom this is not possible, the height will be estimated using one of the two formulae, as both are useful in our environment, although we recommended using the estimate based on the knee malleolus distance as this is simpler.

[Coexistence of two hemodynamically significant mechanisms for syncope associated with glossopharyngeal neuralgia]. / Coexistencia de dos mecanismos hemodinámicamente significativos en el síncope asociado a neuralgia del glosofaríngeo.

Syncope is a rare presentation of glossopharyngeal neuralgia (GN). A patient with squamous cell cancer of the pharynx had GN and syncope due to asystolic pauses and extreme hypotension. The bradyarrhythmias were atropine-sensible, but both this treatment and pacing failed to prevent recurrence of syncopal hypotensive crises, blood pressure continuing to fall during GN attacks. These data suggest that during a neuralgic attack the stimulation excites vagi, causing asystole, and simultaneously abolishes sympathetic tone. Carbamazepine was effective in controlling the symptoms of the patient.

[Hypereosinophilic syndrome and acute ventricular failure]. / Síndrome hipereosinofílico y fracaso ventricular agudo.

Hypereosinophilic syndromes are characterized by very high levels of eosinophils in peripheral blood and a dysfunction of several organs as a consequence of their massive infiltration by eosinophilic cells. Cardiac alterations are traditionally known as fibroplastic endomyocarditis (Loeffler's Syndrome). We present the case of a female patient admitted in another center for the study of an accidentally discovered eosinophilia and referred to us because of her progressive hemodynamic deterioration followed by a poor clinical evolution. The anatomopathologic findings showed the classical injuries of this Syndrome; specially at cardiac level, where it is important to highlight the occupation of all the right ventricule's cavity by a clog. These injuries justified the origin of the stormy clinical presentation.