[Testicular torsion can also be present in adult men]. / Torsio testis ook mogelijk bij volwassen mannen.

Five adult men, aged 34, 33, 31, 56 and 52 years respectively, were admitted with acute scrotal pain. Testicular torsion was eventually diagnosed in all the patients. Two of the patients were initially treated with antibiotics due to a suspected epididymitis. One of them required orchidectomy due to necrosis. The remaining patients underwent orchidofixation and their testicles could be preserved. The most important different diagnosis for acute pain and swelling of the testicle is either acute epididymitis or testicular torsion. The latter is uncommon in adult men. Using a physical examination to distinguish epididymitis from testicular torsion can be difficult. Doppler ultrasound is a reliable diagnostic tool for confirming testicular ischaemia. If the intratesticular flow is diminished or absent, then testicular torsion should be considered and this should be followed by immediate surgical exploration.

[Persistent renal bleeding treated with selective vascular embolisation with preservation of renal function]. / Persisterend renaal bloedverlies behandeld door selectieve vasculaire embolisatie, met behoud van nierfunctie.

In three patients with persistent blood loss from bleeding or abnormal renal vessels, kidney function was preserved by treatment with selective embolisation. The first patient, a 42-year-old woman, suffered from persistent haematuria after undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotripsy on the left side. Because conservative methods had failed and renal artery bleeding as a result of the lithotripsy was suspected, angiography with selective coil embolisation of a segmental branch of the lower pole artery of the kidney was performed. The second patient, a 40-year-old man with severe haemophilia A had been suffering from recurring macroscopic haematuria for a few months. CT showed an arteriovenous malformation in the right kidney. Angiography in combination with embolisation with two detachable balloons resulted in occlusion of the malformation. The third patient, a 23-year-old woman with tuberous sclerosis, presented with left abdominal pain, haematuria and decreasing haemoglobin concentrations. CT revealed a left renal angiomyolipoma, 10 cm in size, with a large internal haematoma. Three pathological branches of the upper pole renal artery were successfully occluded with Gianturco coils. At follow-up after 2, 2.5 and 2.5 years respectively, no recurrence of bleeding had occurred. Selective embolisation should be attempted as means of treatment for persistent renal bleeding if conservative treatment fails. Selective embolisation is minimally invasive and has the important advantage of preserving renal function.

[Preeclampsia not (yet) predictable from the blood platelet count]. / Preëclampsie (nog) niet te voorspellen door metingen aan de bloedplaatjes.

Platelet activation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of pre-eclampsia as demonstrated by reduced platelet count, increased mean platelet volume and elevated plasma concentrations of beta-thromboglobulin and platelet factor 4 in pre-eclamptic patients. Thrombocytopenia precedes the onset of clinical symptoms of pre-eclampsia. Possibly an enhanced activation state of the platelets in the circulation is present some time before the onset of pre-eclampsia: platelet activation might then be used to predict pre-eclampsia. Flow cytometry is considered the most sensitive technique at this moment to measure the activation of platelets. Fluorescent-labelled antibodies are used to detect antigens that appear on the platelet surface or change their conformation upon activation. During the first and second trimester of pregnancy pre-eclamptic patients have an increased expression of some antigens on the surface of their platelets, such as CD63. There is no reliable platelet test yet to predict the onset of pre-eclampsia.

Can flow cytometric detection of platelet activation early in pregnancy predict the occurrence of preeclampsia? A prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: An increased platelet activation status is present in patients with preeclampsia. Our purpose was (1) to establish by means of flow cytometry whether platelets circulate in an activated state during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy and (2) to establish whether early platelet activation predicts the onset of preeclampsia. STUDY DESIGN: Consecutively, 244 pregnant women were included in a prospective study design. Platelets in whole blood samples from the pregnant women in the first trimester, the second trimester, and after delivery were labeled with the following antibodies associated with platelet activation: anti-CD62P (P-selectin, alpha-granule secretion), anti-CD63 (GP53, lysosomal secretion), anti-CD31 (GPIIa', platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1). The surface antigen exposure was determined by double-label flow cytometry with anti-CD42b (GPIb, a platelet-specific monoclonal glycoprotein) to select platelets and platelet-derived materials. Preeclampsia was defined as a diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mm Hg and proteinuria > or = 0.3 gm in a 24-hour urine sample (International Society for Study of Hypertension in Pregnancy criteria). RESULTS: Seventeen of 244 patients had preeclampsia (6.9%). Only first-trimester CD63 expression had an area under the curve > 0.5 by receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis and was selected as a possible predictor of preeclampsia. We found a sensitivity of 47% and a specificity of 76% with use of a percentage of activated platelets above 2% as a positive test. Likelihood ratios were 1.94 for positive likelihood and 0.69 for negative likelihood. Univariate logistic regression analysis results were odds ratio 2.8 (95% confidence interval 1.0 to 7.6). Multivariate logistic regression analysis results were odds ratio 2.9 (95% confidence interval 0.92 to 8.9). However, the odds ratio of first antenatal diastolic blood pressure was two to four times higher than the odds ratio of first-trimester CD63 expression. The combination of first-trimester CD63 and first antenatal diastolic blood pressure increases the positive likelihood ratio from 1.94 to 9.4, with a sensitivity of 41%, a specificity of 96%, and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.62. CONCLUSIONS: Increased first-trimester CD63 expression is an independent risk factor for development of preeclampsia. CD63 expression might be useful to identify a subgroup of patients with a high risk for development of preeclampsia, especially in combination with first-trimester antenatal diastolic blood pressure. This method of patient selection may enable more efficient intervention studies in patients at risk than do the selection methods used so far.