Risk Analysis Based on the Timing of Tracheostomy Procedures in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury Requiring Cervical Spine Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the optimal moment to perform tracheostomy in a patient requiring anterior cervical fixation. METHODS: A retrospective observational study conducted over an 18-year period included 56 patients who had been admitted to the intensive care unit with acute spinal cord injury and underwent tracheostomy and surgical fixation. The sample was divided into 2 groups: at-risk group (31 patients who had undergone tracheostomy before cervical surgery or <4 days after surgery) and not-at-risk group (25 patients who had undergone tracheostomy >4 days after fixation surgery). Descriptive and comparative studies were carried out. Overall trend of the collected data was analyzed using cubic splines (graphic methods). RESULTS: The only infectious complications diagnosed as related to the surgical procedure were infection of the surgical wound in 2 patients in the not-at-risk group (12%) and deep tissue infection in 1 patient in the at-risk group (3.2%). During the study period, we identified a tendency toward performance of early tracheostomies. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the presence of a tracheostomy stoma before or immediately after surgery is associated with a low risk of infection of the cervical surgical wound in instrumented spinal fusion.

Enfermedades raras: Síndrome de Berardinelli - Seip. Presentación de un caso / Rare diseases: Syndrome Berardinelli - Seip Case report

El síndrome de Berardinelli - Seip es una lipodistrofia generalizada congénita con niveles elevados de hormona delcrecimiento y de lípidos séricos. Se trata de un trastorno autosómico recesivo extremadamente raro, con unaprevalencia estimada de menos de un caso por cada 1.000.000 personas. Fue descrita inicialmente por Berardinellien 1954. En 1963 Seip y Trygstad descubren la seipina, cuya mutación produce el síndrome. No se conoce laetiología, pero se sabe que es ocasionada en parte por la incapacidad de ciertos adipocitos para mantener laacumulación de grasa. Los factores asociados con el síndrome incluyen: tendencia a desarrollar resistencia a lainsulina, diabetes e hipertrigliceridemia. El diagnóstico de la enfermedad es principalmente clínico. El tratamientose basa en el control de las enfermedades asociadas.

Berardinelli - Seip syndrome is a generalized congenital lipodystrophy with elevated levels of serum lipids andgrowth hormone. It is an extremely rare autosomal recessive disorder with a prevalence of less than one case per1.000.000. It was initially described by Berardinelli in 1954. Seip and Trygstad discovered seipine, a proteine whichmutation produces syndrome. Unknown etiology, it is caused in part by the inability of fat cells for fataccumulation. Factors associated with the syndrome include: insuline resistence, diabetes, and hypertriglyceridemia. The diagnosis of this disease is mainly clinical. Treatment consists in controlling comorbidities.