[Carbon monoxide poisoning: a pending subject for physicians and users]. / Intoxicación por monóxido de carbono: una asignatura pendiente para médicos y usuarios.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the incidence of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning diagnosed at a General Hospital's Casualty Department, to evaluate its clinical features and diagnostic difficulties, to find data on how much information the patients had on the risk of poisoning, what measures were adopted for a technician to check the apparatus which caused the poisoning, and on re-use. DESIGN: An observational descriptive study. SETTING: Casualty Department of a County Hospital with a catchment area of 80,000 people. PARTICIPANTS: Included in the survey were the 27 clinical histories for the cases of poisoning attended in Casualty at Igualada General Hospital in 1993. RESULTS: 27 poisoning cases were diagnosed (0.5/1,000 emergencies attended). Symptoms were non-specific in most cases, being mainly migraine, nausea/vomiting and feeling sick. CONCLUSIONS: Carbon monoxide poisoning is still an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Focus on the possible diagnosis during the winter months would enable new, potentially serious cases to be treated or avoided. Campaigns to warn the community and to check apparatuses causing poisoning are needed.

Lung cavitation associated with Pneumocystis carinii infection in the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: a report of six cases and review of the literature.

Lung cavitation in patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) has mainly been reported as single case studies. Among 160 episodes of PCP seen in a 1,000 bed teaching hospital and a 600 bed teaching hospital from 1985-1992, we found six cases presenting with lung cavitation and documented Pneumocystis carinii infection. In the cases we report, as well as in the cases reviewed, cavities appear either alone or within an area of pulmonary consolidation, a mass or a nodule. They may present with haemoptysis, show unusual locations, and, most importantly, may frequently be misdiagnosed by bronchoalveolar lavage.