Healing of maxillary sinusitis of odontogenic origin following conservative endodontic retreatment: case reports.

Because of the anatomical proximity, infection of posterior upper teeth can spread into the maxillary sinus. When confronted with a large persistent periapical lesion on a posterior maxillary root-treated tooth, the practitioner should question the quality of the previous endodontic treatment, evaluate the impact of the potential causes of failure and consider, in the majority of cases, the conservative non-surgical retreatment instead of extraction or periapical surgery of the dental element. This paper reports two cases of healing of extensive periapical bone destruction and of the co-existing sinus pathology of odontogenic origin after non-surgical endodontic retreatment of previously root-treated upper molars. Misconceptions concerning the role of epithelium in the periapical lesion are discussed. Also, emphasis is put on the need of precise radiological diagnosis, pre-operatively as well as post-operatively to ascertain healing and to avoid unnecessary delay in the appropriate management of these patients.

[Determination of plasma concentrations of antioxidants, antibodies against oxidized LDL, and homocysteine in a population sample from Liège]. / Evaluation des concentrations plasmatiques en anti-oxydants, anticorps contre les LDL oxydées et homocystéine dans un echantillon de la population liégeoise.

A large number of epidemiological and clinical studies suggest that oxidative stress plays an important role in the development of cardiovascular diseases. In this way, following reference values in plasmatic antioxidants have been determined in a group of 123 blood donors (94 males, 29 females; age: 21-64 years) living in the surroundings of Liege, Belgium: vitamin A (1.5-3.62 mmol/l), vitamin C (3.68-75.21 mmol/l), vitamin E (16.98-46.46 mmol/l), ratio vitamin E/cholesterol (3.92-8.32 mmol/mmol), selenium (0.66-1.26 mmol/l), sulphydryl proteins (216-556 mmol/l), uric acid (174-477 mmol/l), superoxide dismutase (542-852 IU/g hemoglobine), glutathion peroxidase (39.55-91.83 IU/g hemoglobine). Only a few number of subjects were found with values corresponding to high risk of deficiency in antioxidants although low values in vitamin C (< 11.35 mmol/l) and in selenium (< 0.75 mmol/l) were respectively observed in 5.69 and 10.5% of our subjects. Autoantibodies against oxidized LDL, as marker of oxidative stress, and homocysteine, as a risk factor of atherosclerosis involved in the development of oxidative stress, have also been investigated. Approximatively 40% of the population presented values higher than the superior limit mean value (20.3% > 650 IU/l in autoantibodies and 19.5% > 15.2 mmol/l in homocysteine) that are, however, not correlated with age or low levels in antioxidants. The effect of smoking (25% of the population) contributed to significantly decrease vitamin C, selenium and glutathion peroxidase concentrations by 31.9 and 13% when compared to nonsmokers. Intake of 1 to 4 fruits per day resulted in a significant increase of 56.9% in vitamin C when compared to nonconsumers (26.8% of the population). In contrast, homocysteine concentrations were significantly decreased by 21.4% in fruits consumers. Thank to the development of methods allowing the routine dosage of all these parameters, general practitioners can now easily establish the oxidative stress status of their patients and, as fonction of getting patterns, detect populations at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

Prestorage leukocyte reduction with in-line filtration of whole blood: evaluation of red cells and plasma storage.

OBJECTIVES: Prestorage filtration of blood components appears to be an effective method to reduce leukocyte-induced adverse reactions and other complications. To determine whether it is better to filter whole blood before component separation, we compared the efficiency of in-line filtration of whole blood with that of postseparation filtration. METHODS: Blood was collected from normal, healthy donors into either regular triple-bag containers or into whole-blood integral-filter container systems. We then compared the in vitro storage values of leukocyte-depleted red blood cell concentrates (RBCC) kept at 4 degrees C, and plasma frozen for 1 year with nonfiltered blood components as control. RESULTS: All counts of white blood cells after filtration were < 1 x 10(6) per unit. For almost all storage parameters no significant differences were found between leukocyte-reduced RBCC and control units. The plasma fibrinopeptide A values below 30 ng/ml prior to freezing indicate that filtration does not activate the coagulation factors. Furthermore, the filtration did not influence either the biological values or the coagulation factors of plasma units. CONCLUSIONS: Whole blood filtration prior to component preparation seems to offer a useful alternative technique for obtaining leukocyte-reduced RBCC and plasma.