[Tongue base schwannoma in a child]. / Schwannome de la base de la langue chez l'enfant.

INTRODUCTION: A schwannoma is a benign slow growing tumor originating from the peripheral nerve sheath. Its tongue base location is extremely rare, especially in very young patients. CASE REPORT: A 15-year-old female patient was admitted in emergency for moderate hematemesis. The clinical examination revealed swelling of the tongue base, causing the bleeding. This lesion had appeared when she was 3years of age and no treatment was done. A complete surgical excision was performed and the histopathological examination allowed diagnosing a tongue base schwannoma. The postoperative outcome was uneventful, and no recurrence was detected 6months after surgery. DISCUSSION: The particularities of this report are the patient's very young age and the tumor's tongue base location. The prognosis is usually good after complete excision, if there is only one tumor. Type 2 neurofibromatosis should be excluded, given the risk of malignant degeneration.

[Comparative study of C-reactive protein and procalcitonin in the severity diagnosis of pyelonephritis in children]. / Étude comparative de la protéine C-réactive et de la procalcitonine dans le diagnostic de sévérité des pyélonéphrites aiguës de l'enfant.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare two biologic parameters; C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) in the detection of acute renal lesions assessed by DMSA scintigraphy in the urinary tract infection in child. DESIGN: In a prospective study, serum PCT, CRP and leukocyte counts were measured for children admitted, between January and December 2010, with a first episode of febrile urinary tract infection. RESULTS: Seventy-five children were enrolled in the study. Thirty-three patients had renal lesions (group A) and 42 had a normal DMSA scintigraphy (group B). The mean PCT level was significantly higher in group A than in group B (8.81 ng/mL versus 1.7 ng/mL, P=0.01). In this study, using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, we identified that the optimal cut-off value with ideal sensitivity and specificity for PCT in detection of renal lesions was 0.76 ng/mL and for CRP, it was 70 mg/L. The sensitivity, the negative predictive value and the indice of Youden of the cut-off value of PCT were significantly higher than CRP (82% versus 70%; 84% versus 70% and 0.58 versus 0.25). CONCLUSIONS: This study confirmed that the serum PCT level was more sensitive and specific than the CRP in the detection of renal lesions in the first urinary tract infection in child.