ABSTRACT
Since the widespread availability and use of antibiotics the prevalence of Lemierre syndrome (L.S.) has decreased. It is a well-described entity, consisting of postanginal septicaemia with thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein with metastatic infection, most commonly in the lungs. The most common causative agent is a gram-negative, non-spore-forming obligate anaerobic bacterium, Fusobacterium necrophorum (F.n.). We describe the unusual clinical features of a 12-year-old boy with Lemierre syndrome with isolated hypoglossal nerve palsy - the latter symptom is an extremely rare manifestation of this disease.
Subject(s)
Fusobacterium Infections/diagnosis , Hypoglossal Nerve Diseases/etiology , Lemierre Syndrome/diagnosis , Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use , Child , Critical Illness/therapy , Follow-Up Studies , Fusobacterium Infections/drug therapy , Fusobacterium necrophorum/drug effects , Fusobacterium necrophorum/isolation & purification , Humans , Hypoglossal Nerve Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Hypoglossal Nerve Diseases/therapy , Intensive Care Units , Lemierre Syndrome/drug therapy , Male , Rare Diseases , Risk Assessment , Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods , Treatment OutcomeABSTRACT
UNLABELLED: In this paper we describe the assessment and medical treatment of pain in children according to the concept of the Centre of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the university of Freiburg, Germany. Opiate therapy in children as well as novel data about the association of paracetamol (acetaminophen) and wheezing/asthma bronchiale in children are discussed. Special aspects of analgesia for painful procedures and a nitrous oxide/oxygen mixture which has been recently introduced in Germany are described. The second part of the paper presents results of our prospective study about continuous infusion of fentanyl and midazolam in a fixed combination in 19 critically ill patients with a median age of 46 months, 40% of these patients had an ARDS. The mortality rate was 21%. A median dose of fentanyl of 3.9 microg/kg/h (midazolam 0.26 mg/kg/h) was infused. The fentanyl serum level (median 4.2 ng/ml, range 1.7-17.8 ng/ml) correlated significantly with the administered dose while the midazolam serum levels (median 911 ng/ml, range 234-4 651 ng/ml) correlated neither with the administered dose nor with any of the analysed parameters. CONCLUSION: A standard protocol for the assessment and treatment of pain should be established in every pediatric hospital. The data about the association of asthma bronchiale and paracetamol cannot be interpreted conclusively, but show that even for well known substances clinical trials may lead to new awareness. The study data about continuous infusion of fentanyl and midazolam show a good correlation of the fentanyl application to serum levels, while midazolam appears to be not the optimal substance for continuous sedation in this setting.