[Osteochondroma of the atlantooccipital joint. Extreme lateral transcondylar approach. A case description]. / Osteocondroma de la articulación atlantoccipital. Abordaje extremo lateral transcondilar. A propósito de un caso.

INTRODUCTION: We describe a patient diagnosed as suffering from a skull base osteochondroma which affected the atlantooccipital joint and originated in the occipital condyle. It also displayed a growth toward the foramen magnum, which was resected using an extreme lateral transcondylar approach. CASE REPORT: Patient aged 35, with a one year history of vertiginous seizures and unsteady gait, associated with cervical pain that irradiated to the right upper extremity, dysphagia, changes in the tone of the voice and distal numbness of the four extremities. The patient was made to lie in the three quarter prone position and an incision was made in the skin from the C3 spinous apophysis to a point 2 cm below the end of the mastoid process, in relation with the transversal apophysis of C1. The intervention continued with early identification and rotation of the vertebral artery; total resection of the tumour (osteochondroma) with its base in the right occipital condyle and growth toward the foramen magnum, in which the greater resection of the posteromedial third of the condyle is included. CONCLUSIONS: The location of osteochondromas can vary widely, and the condyle is one of the least frequent places inside the occipital bone. The approach employed provides excellent access to the region, in particular to the atlantooccipital joint. The width and angle of exposition are increased as compared with the traditional suboccipital approach, which facilitates the radical resection of the lesion with no neural retraction and without any surgical complications.

Three treatment schemes with colloidal bismuth subcitrate (Q-ULCER) in peptic ulcer with Helicobacter pylori.

BACKGROUND: Since the discovery, several decades ago, of the infection of the gastric mucosa with Helicobacter pylori and its association with chronic antral gastritis and peptic ulcer, the treatment of ulcer illness has recently been revolutionized. METHODS: In this study, the clinical effectiveness of three schemes of treatment with colloidal bismuth subcitrate (CBS) were compared. Fifty-three patients suffering from gastroduodenal peptic ulcer with Helicobacter pylori were distributed randomly into three groups. Group I (n = 17) received 240 mg CBS every 12 h for 6 weeks. Group II (n = 17) received 240 mg CBS every 12 h for 6 weeks, pus metronidazole 500 mg every 8 h plus tetracycline 500 mg every 8 h for 10 days. Group III (n = 19) received 240 mg CBS every 12 h for 6 weeks, plus metronidazole 500 mg every 8 h plus amoxicillin 750 mg every 12 h for 10 days. A duodenoscopy investigation with antrum biopsy for a morphologic study and detection of the germ was carried out by means of urease test and histological study (Warthin-Sarry and hematoxylin-eosin). RESULTS: The three schemes of treatment were effective for ulcerous healing with 70.5%, 82.3%, and 78.2%, respectively, without significant differences. The highest clearing index (52.6%) was obtained in group III. CONCLUSIONS: With these treatments, the Helicobacter pylori eradication was only observed in 47.3% of the patients studied.

Correlación de los diagnósticos clínicos, laparoscópicos e histopatológicos en la hepatitis crónicas / Correlation of clinical. laparoscopic and histopathologic diagnoses in chronic hepatitis

Se realiza una revisión de 60 casos de biopsias hepaticas con diagnóstico hístico clínico o laparoscópico de hepatitis crónica; se correlacionan estos diagnósticos. Se plantea que el diagnóstico clínico en gran número de casos es de carácter genérico, es decir, sólo plantea hepatitis crónica, sin clasificarla; el diagnóstico laparoscópico es el más detallado. Se estudia la distribución por sexos y razas(AU)