ABSTRACT
AIM: The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the role of image-guided drainage in emphysematous pyelonephritis (EPN). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed 11 patients with EPN treated either by ultrasonography (three patients) or computed tomography (CT)-guided drainage (eight patients). There were eight male and three female patients in our study with ages ranging from 24 to 75 years, mean 56.3 years. All the patients underwent plain radiography, ultrasonography and plain CT of the abdomen. Contrast-enhanced CT was performed in seven patients. RESULTS: Seven of 11 patients, were successfully treated with per cutaneous drainage. One patient died within 24 h (case 2), due to septicaemia. Three patients subsequently required nephrectomy. Replacement of the drainage catheter was required in one patient. The catheter was kept in situ, for an average of 17 days. The catheter drained pus and gas in all patients. The quantity of pus ranged from 300 to 2000 cm(3). All 10 patients improved symptomatically within 24 h of drainage, with improved urine output and serum creatinine levels within 48 h. CONCLUSION: CT-guided drainage of EPN has established itself as a safe, quick and life-saving palliative treatment of choice as opposed to conventional emergency nephrectomy. Excluding the patient who died, the success rate of our study was 70%.
Subject(s)
Drainage/methods , Emphysema/surgery , Pyelonephritis/surgery , Adult , Aged , Emphysema/diagnostic imaging , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Pyelonephritis/diagnostic imaging , Radiography, Interventional , Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods , Treatment Outcome , Ultrasonography, Interventional , Urinary CatheterizationABSTRACT
Russels's viper bite victims with systemic poisoning may present with hemorrhagic manifestations, including spontaneous bleeding and incoagulable blood associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation and primary fibrinolysis, two of the most prominent manifestations of the systemic envenoming by this species. Various vascular complications of viperine snake bite have been reported in the literature. We report the computed tomographic findings in a case of snake bite resulting in hemoperitoneum, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been reported in the literature.
Subject(s)
Daboia , Hemoperitoneum/diagnostic imaging , Hemoperitoneum/etiology , Snake Bites/complications , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Viper Venoms/adverse effects , Adult , Animals , Humans , MaleABSTRACT
BM180 is a novel basement membrane component with a role in regulated tear secretion by lacrimal acinar cells. BM180 bears some sequence similarity to alpha-gliadin, a plant protein against which antibodies have been reported in patients with Sjögren's syndrome. A precedent for plantlike sequence in the mammalian genome is provided by selectins, which possess a plant lectinlike domain involved in inflammatory cell homing. Cloning the mouse and human BM180 gene will aid molecular investigation of lacrimal acinar cell-BM180 interactions and may lead to a new molecular understanding of mechanisms contributing to dry eye.
