Diagnosis and Treatment of Postthrombotic Syndrome.

After acute treatment of deep vein thrombosis, not only the risk but also associated side effects of postthrombotic syndrome (PTS) are often underestimated.There are essentially two main types of PTS.1. Obstructive type-no sufficient recanalization of the deep vein.2. Refluctive type-sufficient recanalization of the deep vein, but insufficient venous valves in conjunction with venous reflux.A statement regarding deep vein recanalization and venous valve function can be made at the earliest after 6 months.PTS is often diagnosed without appropriate medical history. However, the assessment of the degree of recanalization and venous reflux is paramount to the medical prognosis. In our opinion, beside proximal thrombosis, sufficient recanalization combined with a strong venous reflux, especially in the popliteal vein, works as a powerful predictor for an unfavorable and fast progression of PTS and chronic venous insufficiency. Thus, the obstructive type is prognostically more favorable. For PTS in general, consistent compression therapy represents the first-line treatment option.With concomitant varicosis, one should assess whether the varicose veins represent primary varicosis with reflux or secondary varicosis without reflux. Especially in the presence of venous ulcers, the elimination of concomitant primary varicosis leads to an improved prognosis. Moist wound treatment is considered to be the standard treatment for all wounds undergoing secondary healing. A standardized set of topical therapeutic agents also facilitates the treatment. In individual cases "ulcershaving" and mesh graft transplantation proved to be successful.

Novel Diagnostics in Revision Arthroplasty: Implant Sonication and Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction.

In orthopedic patients, foreign body-associated infections, especially periprosthetic joint infections (PJIs), are a devastating complication of arthroplasty. Infection requires complex treatment, may result in long hospitalization and causes considerable costs. Multiple surgical revisions can be necessary in these patients, with a loss in function as well as in quality of life. The routine preoperative diagnostics include blood examination for C-reactive protein (CRP) and other biomarkers, as well as joint aspirate analysis for cell count, differentiation, and culture. Intraoperative specimens for histology and microbiology are also standard procedure. The microbiological examination of removed implants with sonication, in combination with the implementation of molecular biology techniques in microbiology, represent two novel techniques currently employed to enhance the differential diagnostics of PJI. We present here the step-wise procedure of analyzing joint aspirate and sonication fluid, using a cartridge-based multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system. Results were matched against conventional cultures and consensus criteria for PJI. Conventional microbiological cultures from tissue biopsies, joint aspirate and sonication fluid showed a sensitivity of 66.7%, 66.7%, and 88.9%, respectively, and a specificity of 82.3%, 54.6%, and 61.5%, respectively. The PCR diagnostic of the sonication fluid and the joint fluid showed a sensitivity of 50.0% and 55.6%, respectively, and both a specificity of 100.0%. Both PCR diagnostics combined had a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 100.0%. The multiplex PCR therefore presents a rapid diagnostic tool with moderate sensitivity but high specificity in diagnosing PJI.

Unyvero i60 implant and tissue infection (ITI) multiplex PCR system in diagnosing periprosthetic joint infection.

Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) is one of the most challenging complications in orthopedic surgery. In cases of suspected periprosthetic joint infection several diagnostic methods are available. In this study we investigated the performance of the newly available Unyvero i60 implant and tissue infection (ITI) multiplex PCR System. 62 specimens from 31 patients with suspected PJI or aseptic loosening of a painful joint arthoplasty were included in this study. Besides the established diagnostic procedures we included a commercial multiplex PCR detection system for diagnosis of PJI. The PCR results obtained from analysis of sonication and synovial fluids (62 specimens) showed a sensitivity of 66.7%, a specificity of 100%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 100% and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 68.4% when compared to cultural methods. Notably, cultures from sonication fluid displayed a sensitivity of 88.9%, a specificity of 61.5%, a PPV of 76.2% and a NPV of 80.0% when compared to tissue cultures. In conclusion, multiplex PCR is an additional - rapid - method for diagnosing PJI. Positive results with the PCR assay used in this study were always confirmed by subsequent matching culture positivity. However, apart from the time saved the nucleic acid amplification technique did not yield additional information than that obtained from microbiological cultures.

Event related potentials in patients with transient global amnesia--a prospective controlled study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate changes in the latencies and amplitudes of event-related potential (ERP) components as well as cognitive habituation in patients with transient global amnesia (TGA) in order to further characterize the pathology of this syndrome. METHODS: Clinical data of 43 consecutive patients with TGA was collected at a university neurology department. Follow-up examination was performed at an average of 17months after TGA. Results were compared to 43 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects. RESULTS: All ERP latencies of patients examined within 10days after the TGA period were significantly increased, and the P3 amplitude was significantly decreased as compared to healthy control subjects. The rate of pathological P3 latencies was significantly higher in TGA patients. A normal P3 latency habituation was detected in 84% of all healthy controls (mean habituation 10ms) and in 33% of all TGA patients (mean habituation -6ms). There was no significant improvement of all latencies and the other ERP parameters, including the loss of habituation, after a mean observation period of 17months. The data of three patients who were measured during the TGA period suggest a severe impairment of ERP during this period. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings give new insight into the pathology of TGA and put into question if TGA is an event of a simple transient character. In this first investigation of cognitive habituation in patients with TGA, we found a characteristic loss of cognitive habituation similar to observations in migraine.