Calcified thoracic disc herniation with paraparesis. A case report.

We present a case with partially calcified thoracic discs, one of which extruded into the spinal canal with paraparesis. The paste-like consistency complicated excision.

Changes in serum catecholamine levels in patients who are brain dead.

Prospective blood samplings from 15 patients admitted with a Glasgow Coma Score of less than 7 were obtained to observe and compare epinephrine, norepinephrine, and dopamine serum levels in patients with brain injury before, after, and in the absence of brain death. Nine of the patients developed or were admitted after brain death. Wide variations in catecholamine blood levels over time were documented, and subgroup analysis precluded useful statistical comparison or inference of the data. The data are presented therefore as descriptive observations only. No apparent differences were noted between similarly injured patients in whom brain death did not develop and patients before brain death or between patients with penetrating versus nonpenetrating brain injury. Brain death was preceded by hypertension and corresponding elevations in serum catecholamine levels in one patient with complete data. Catecholamine levels appeared to fall after brain death in most patients. Only minimal changes in myocardial histology were present in three donor hearts, and the two transplanted hearts functioned satisfactorily. Serum catecholamine measurement or monitoring does not provide a precise method of determining potential injury to the donor heart before or after brain death. Other experimental data and clinical observation indicate that some hearts may be injured in the donor during the evolution of brain death. Pharmacologic intervention may prevent such injury in experimental animals but must be used before brain death is induced. Such interventions should be studied in selected human donors before brain death to determine whether cardiac function is improved in the donor or recipient.

Individualizing amikacin regimens: accurate method to achieve therapeutic concentrations.

Amikacin's pharmacokinetics and dosage requirements were studied in 98 patients receiving treatment for gram-negative infections. A wide interpatient variation in the kinetic parameters of the drug occurred in all patients and in patients who had normal serum creatinine levels or normal creatinine clearance. The half-life ranged from 0.7 to 14.4 h in 74 patients who had normal serum creatinine levels and from 0.7 to 7.2 h in 37 patients who had normal creatinine clearance. The necessary daily dose to obtain therapeutic serum concentrations ranged from 1.25 to 57 mg/kg in patients with normal serum creatinine levels and from 10 to 57 mg/kg in patients with normal creatinine clearance. In four patients (4%), a significant change in baseline serum creatinine level (greater than 0.5 mg/dl) occurred during or after treatment, which may have been amikacin-associated toxicity. Overt ototoxicity occurred in one patient. The method of individualizing dosage regimens provided a clinically useful means of rapidly attaining therapeutic peak and trough serum concentrations.

Death occurring within one week of cardiac transplantation: findings in eight patients.

Between October 1982 and July 1988, 85 patients underwent orthotopic heart transplantation at Methodist Hospital of Indiana. Excluding perioperative deaths, survival rates at six months, one year, two years and three years were 94%, 80%, 74% and 61%, respectively. However, eight patients (9.4%) died within one week of the transplantation. Causes of death included acute failure of the right side of the heart in four patients; compression of the proximal portions of the coronary arteries in one patient; hyperacute rejection in one patient; acute pneumonia and the adult respiratory distress syndrome in one patient; and sudden death of unknown etiology in one patient. The varied causes of death in this group of patients made it inaccurate to assume a particular cause of death for an individual patient, based on the length of the postoperative period alone. We reviewed these eight deaths in detail to better understand and, therefore, reduce the risk of early postoperative death in future patients.

Amikacin pharmacokinetics: wide interpatient variation in 98 patients.

The disposition of amikacin was studied in 98 patients receiving treatment for severe gram-negative sepsis. Several factors were identified which were significantly related to the drug's elimination rate. These included renal function (r = .67), age (r = -.55), distribution volume (r = .34), and weight (r = -.31). These variables explain 62% of the variance (R2) in elimination rate constant when combined in a multiple regression model. The drug's half-life demonstrated considerable interpatient variation in patients with a normal serum creatinine (.68-14.4 hrs) or with a normal creatinine clearance (.68-7.2 hrs). The drug's distribution volume ranged from .08 to .48 L/Kg. The drug's clearance varied from 6.5 to 200 mL/hr/kg for patients with a normal serum creatinine and 17.8 to 200 mL/hr/kg for patients with a normal creatinine clearance. The interpatient variation in the drug's kinetic parameters is a concerning clinical problem. Measuring serum amikacin concentrations and adjusting dosage regimens are necessary to achieve desired peak and trough serum concentrations.

Initial dosage regimens of gentamicin in patients with burns.

For 95 patients with burns the gentamicin dosage regimen necessary to achieve optimal serum concentrations was determined. Individual elimination rates and distribution volumes for gentamicin were determined and correlated with renal function parameters and age. In patients with burns who had normal serum creatinine levels (less than 1.5 mg/dl), gentamicin clearance and thus dosage regimens can be stratified by age. Gentamicin's clearance decreased inversely with age. Initial dosage guidelines were calculated for different age groups of patients with normal levels of serum creatinine. The guidelines were developed to assist the clinician in attaining therapeutic concentrations with initial doses of gentamicin. Therapeutic serum concentrations were reached in most patients with burns dosed by these guidelines. Serum gentamicin concentrations should always be monitored during therapy, and dosages should be adjusted to ensure optimal concentrations during the course of therapy.

Blunt trauma in adults and children: a comparative analysis.

Trauma remains the major cause of death in children and young adults. Adult and pediatric patients differ significantly in both mechanism of and physiologic response to injury. We reviewed the records of all consecutive adult and pediatric blunt trauma patients admitted to a major metropolitan trauma center for a 10-year period. An extensive computerized database has been maintained for all patients since 1977. A comparative statistical analysis of mechanism of injury, specific organ injury, and clinical outcome was performed. Altogether, 1,722 adults and 289 children were treated during the study period. Blunt trauma accounted for 82.8% of adult and 94.3% of pediatric injury (p = 0.00005), and only these patients were considered for analysis. Diagnostic peritoneal lavage was performed in 249 children and 1,464 adults, with a respective accuracy of 99.6% and 97.2%. Mechanism of injury was comparable for both groups, although children were far more likely to be injured by falls, bicycle accidents, or struck by an automobile. Comparative analysis of specific injuries demonstrated significantly fewer pediatric chest (p = 0.001), spine (p = 0.03), and pelvic (p = 0.003) injuries. Central nervous system (CNS) injury in children was a strong determinant of outcome: serious pediatric CNS trauma was associated with a tenfold increase in mortality. Mortality for children in the absence of CNS injury was less than 3%. Spinal injury also appeared to be a predictor of poor outcome in the pediatric population, with an associated mortality of greater than 50%. Overall, survival was age independent (82.5% of adults and 85.8% of children were survivors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Thermal injury effects on drug disposition: a prospective study with piperacillin.

The disposition of piperacillin was prospectively evaluated in nine severely burned patients who had normal renal and hepatic function. Wide interpatient variations were demonstrated in the drug's distribution volume, half-life, and clearance, with mean (+/- SD) values of 55.0 (+/- 44.2) liters, 3.6 (+/- 5.2) hours, and 14.9 (+/- 6.3) liters/hour, respectively. Piperacillin clearance was best explained by patient factors other than age, renal function, and the percentage of body surface area burns. Piperacillin disposition was related to the patients' serum albumin, total bilirubin, blood urea nitrogen, and the amount of urea nitrogen excreted daily in urine. Altered piperacillin disposition thus appeared to occur secondary to changes in the patients' physiologic and metabolic state caused by injury-related stress and fluid therapy. The patient's physiologic and metabolic response to injury, along with age and renal function, should be considered when instituting treatment with piperacillin or other agents cleared from the body in a similar manner.

Effects of treatment and the metabolic response to injury on drug clearance: a prospective study with piperacillin.

The disposition of piperacillin was prospectively evaluated in 11 critically ill surgical patients who had no evidence of pre-existing renal and hepatic disease. Interpatient variations were demonstrated in the drug's half-life, distribution volume, and clearance, with values of 1.50 +/- 2.05 (SD) h, 25.0 +/- 17.2 L, and 23.8 +/- 17.2 L/h, respectively. Variations in piperacillin disposition were best explained by serum concentrations of albumin, total protein, and bilirubin, and the amount of urea nitrogen excreted daily in urine. Age and renal function were moderately associated with piperacillin elimination rate and clearance. Altered piperacillin disposition thus appeared to occur as secondary to changes in the patients' physiologic and metabolic state caused by injury-related stress and fluid/colloid therapy. These alterations may necessitate dosage modifications to achieve optimal patient response when treating patients with piperacillin as well as with other similar drugs eliminated via renal and nonrenal routes.

An unusual cause of massive non-surgical pneumoperitoneum: case report.

A case of pneumoperitoneum due to cocaine abuse is presented. Although most commonly associated with surgical disease, pneumoperitoneum may actually be a manifestation of non-surgical intrathoracic pathology. In this patient percutaneous diagnostic peritoneal lavage resulted in return of a large quantity of air and was negative for bleeding or contamination.

Renal failure and mortality after nephrectomy for severe trauma in multiply-injured patient: no inordinate risk.

It was recently reported that renal loss by partial or total nephrectomy for renal trauma increases the rates of acute renal failure and death in the multiply-injured patient. Because our preference has been for immediate surgical intervention in such patients, a retrospective review was performed to ascertain the effect of partial or total nephrectomy. Eighty-eight patients met the criteria of multiple injuries including severe renal injuries (laceration, rupture, or pedicle injury) and availability of renal function data. Partial or total nephrectomy had been performed in 50 patients, renorrhaphy in 23, and 15 were managed without renal operation. In patients with renal lacerations, the numbers of associated injuries (including intra-abdominal injuries) were similar to those managed conservatively or by operation, and the rates of acute renal failure and mortality were the same with conservative management, renorrhaphy, or nephrectomy. Patients with renal pedicle injuries who had a nephrectomy did have a higher rate of acute renal failure than those managed conservatively (75% vs 0%; p less than 0.05), but they also had more associated injuries (2.8 vs. 1.6/patient; p less than 0.04) and they were older. These two factors, rather than the nephrectomy, probably accounted for the greater rates of acute renal failure and death.

Laser Doppler flowmetry and cardiac output in critically ill surgical patients.

Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) accurately measures cutaneous microcirculatory blood flow. We compared change in LDF flow to change in thermodilution cardiac output in ten critically ill surgical patients. A subset analysis of three patients with low cardiac output (cardiac index less than 2 L/min X m2) showed no correlation. We conclude that, under these study conditions, LDF microcirculatory flow did not reflect macrocirculatory flow. We conjecture that overcoming cutaneous vasoregulation with thermal vasodilation may obviate these results.

Squamous carcinoma of the lung in a nonirradiated, nonsmoking patient with juvenile laryngotracheal papillomatosis.

Juvenile laryngotracheal papillomatosis (JLTP)--a disease characterized by the growth of multiple, recurrent, koilocytolic papillomas of the upper respiratory tree--occurs in 1,500 to 2,000 infants and children in the United States every year. In rare instances, the papillomas, which are thought to be caused by a human papillomavirus (HPV), may extend into the distal bronchi and lungs. They are often excised surgically or by laser resection, but may regress spontaneously. Patients who receive radiation or cytotoxic drugs for this condition, or subsequently become smokers, may be predisposed to the development of bronchopulmonary carcinoma. Only six cases of bronchopulmonary carcinoma arising in persons with a history of JLTP but no history of these predisposing factors have been reported. Herein, we report the occurrence of squamous carcinoma of the left lung in a 28-year-old woman with JLTP since the age of 2 1/2 years. The carcinoma as well as randomly chosen papillomas excised over a period of years demonstrated positive nuclear staining for papillomavirus structural antigen. This is consistent with the current belief that human papillomavirus may be an important factor in the development of squamous carcinomas in various anatomic locations.

Pharmacy practice in the United States Air Force.

The current status of pharmaceutical services in the United States Air Force Medical Service is described. The mission of the USAF Medical Service is to provide medical support to combat forces and to deliver health care to active duty and retired military members and their dependents. The USAF operates 121 medical treatment facilities (MTFs) worldwide. Pharmaceutical services in these MTFs are governed by federal law, recognized standards of professional practice, Department of Defense directives, and Air Force regulations. Ambulatory-care services are emphasized, and clinical services are provided in many MTFs. Pharmaceutical services are supported by the TRIPHARM computer system. In addition to other professional opportunities, USAF pharmacists have the opportunity to pursue graduate-level academic training or residency training under Air Force Institute of Technology sponsorship. The USAF Medical Service will continue to ensure that contemporary pharmaceutical services are available in all MTFs by providing graduate-level training to pharmacists, encouraging the adoption of new technologies, and facilitating the exchange of information among MTFs.

Eosinophilic enteritis associated with chronic eosinophilic pneumonia.

A case of eosinophilic pneumonia and eosinophilic infiltration of the small bowel and colon is reported. The patient presented with nonspecific chest and abdominal symptoms, and lack of response to therapy for presumed pneumonia. Further investigation including lung, muscle, and gastrointestinal tract biopsies revealed eosinophilic infiltration of the lung and gastrointestinal tract, an association that does not appear to have been previously documented.

Comparison of radioimmunoassay and fluorescent polarization immunoassay for quantitative determination of vancomycin concentrations in serum.

A new fluorescent polarization immunoassay (Abbott Laboratories, Diagnostics Division, North Chicago, Ill.) was compared with a standard radioimmunoassay (American Diagnostics Corp., Newport Beach, Calif.) in 34 patients being treated with vancomycin. A total of 123 serum samples were divided and quantitatively analyzed for vancomycin by both assay methods. The results obtained indicated that the two assay methods are comparable (y = 1.01x - 0.81; r = 0.99).

The effect of barium enemas and barium sulfate on healing of colorectal biopsy sites.

Twelve mongrel dogs had superficial and deep colon biopsies above and below the peritoneal reflection. Six of the animals were given a barium enema; two had a barium enema immediately, two in three days, and two in six days. The animals were sacrificed 48 hours after the barium enema; the sigmoid was removed and tissue was examined macroscopically and microscopically. When healing rates of the biopsy sites were compared with those of control animals, there was no difference. The results suggest that barium has no deleterious effect on the healing of superficial or deep colorectal biopsies.

Blunt injury to the colon and rectum.

One hundred nine patients suffering blunt injury to the colon or rectum were treated between 1 January 1970 and 31 December 1980. Vehicular accidents accounted for 90% of the injuries and 91% of the fatalities. Multiple system injury predominated, with survivors averaging 1.9 and nonsurvivors 3.8 injuries/patient. Six cases were complicated by abdominal sepsis directly related to their colon injury. There were no deaths and no episodes of colon-related abdominal sepsis among patients with isolated colon trauma. Of the 32 patients not surviving, four (3.7%), died as a direct result of their colon injury. Three of the four deaths appear to have been preventable.

Clinical use of a one-compartment model for determining netilmicin pharmacokinetic parameters and dosage recommendations.

To determine netilmicin pharmacokinetic parameters and to evaluate the use of a one-compartment pharmacokinetic model, 32 patients receiving netilmicin for suspected gram-negative sepsis were enrolled in our study protocol. Dose and dosage interval for each patient were determined by one-compartment pharmacokinetic analysis of six postinfusion netilmicin serum samples (0.16, 0.33, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 h) measured by radioimmunoassay. In patients with a normal serum creatinine, mean (+/- SD) half-life and distribution volume were 1.9 +/- 1.1 h and 0.2 +/- 0.8 L/kg, respectively. The average daily dose and mean days of therapy were 5.1 +/- 1.9 mg/kg/day for 7.3 +/- 2.8 days. Serum creatinine changes of greater than 0.5 mg% occurred in 2 of 28 (7%) patients. Substantial variability in half-life and distribution volume occurred in patients. Initial dosages of 5-7 mg/kg/day in divided dosages seem appropriate for adult patients with normal renal function. Monitoring of serum levels and adjustment of dose and dosage interval are necessary to maintain therapeutic antibiotic concentrations. As with other aminoglycosides, the one-compartment pharmacokinetic model proved to be an acceptable method for measuring netilmicin pharmacokinetic parameters and individualizing therapy.

Wide interpatient variations in gentamicin dose requirements for geriatric patients.

Substantial interpatient variations were demonstrated in the daily doses required to obtain therapeutic gentamicin sulfate serum concentrations in 417 elderly patients. Dosages ranged from 0.3 to 22.0 mg/kg/day in patients with a normal serum creatinine level. Twenty-five percent of these patients required daily doses higher than the standard regimen of 5 mg/kg/day, and 33% required less than 3 mg/kg/day. The drug half-lives in these patients ranged from 0.3 to 32.7 hours, compared with previous reports of 2.5 to four hours. The distribution volumes of these patients ranged from 0.07 to 0.53 L/kg, compared with reported values of 0.20 to 0.25 L/kg. These wide variations in kinetic variables in elderly patients and the need to obtain narrow ranges in serum concentrations required measuring serum concentrations and individually calculating each patient's dosage requirement early in the treatment course. Doing this consistently produced optimal peak and trough serum levels. Ototoxicity did not occur in any of the patients, and nephrotoxicity may have been drug related in 2% of the elderly patients.