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Revista Clínica Española 09/2010; 210(8):e33-5. · 2.01 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been identified as a predictor of death, new heart failure (HF) episodes and need for heart transplantation in patients with advanced HF. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between plasma IL-6 levels in patients with decompensated HF and either survival or new admissions due to HF.
We studied 111 patients admitted due to decompensated HF. Long-term survival was assessed from the day of admission to the hospital to the day of death or new admissions due to HF.
The mean IL-6 concentration was 90 +/- 115 pg/ml (range 1.5-743 pg/ml). There were no differences in IL-6 concentration with regard to age, gender and cause of HF. At the end of follow-up period, 22 patients (20 percent) had died due to causes related to HF and 54 patients (48 percent) had been readmitted to the hospital due to new HF episodes. Using regression analyses, serum IL-6 levels were not identified as a prognostic factor. Systolic dysfunction, previous diagnosis of HF and diabetes mellitus were independent predictors of death.
These findings suggest that a single measurement of serum IL-6 in patients with decompensated HF lacks clinical usefulness in long-term follow-up.
Singapore medical journal 07/2007; 48(6):532-6. · 0.73 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Heart failure (HF) is one of the most frequent diagnosis in Internal Medicine Units. High age of patients is an important characteristic in these admissions. Our objective was to evaluate how age interact with mortality, to medium-term, in HF after a decompensated episode.
Through the patient medical record we obtained data about patients hospitalised in a Internal Medicine Unit, with HF diagnosis, for a year (from September 2000 to August 2001) and their survival at 1st January 2003. 215 patients were reviewed.
During follow-up, 60 patients died (27.9% of overall). In elderly patients, we observed a higher number of women and less use of echocardiography and treatment with beta-blockers and warfarin (in patients with atrial fibrillation). In Cox proportional-hazards model, age (OR 1.043 IC 95% 1.002-1.085), days of hospitalization (OR 1.04 IC 95% 1.003-1.078), diabetes mellitus (OR 2.51 IC 95% 1.37-4.60) and do not prescribe warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation (OR 2.71 IC 95% 1.10-6.60) were independent prognostic factors.
Age was an important prognostic factor in patients with HF. Clinical trials should be done in patients with these characteristics. So, we can know better clinical evolution of HF in this population.
Anales de medicina interna (Madrid, Spain: 1984) 10/2005; 22(9):424-8.
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ABSTRACT: Metastatic cancer of unknown primary site represents approximately three percent of all new cancer diagnoses. Expensive and invasive diagnostic procedures are often performed although the primary tumour is detected in less than 25 percent of cases. We present a 63-year-old woman presenting with low back pain and was found on positron emission tomography (PET) to have lung cancer. The pros and cons of PET in the diagnostic process of patients with metastatic cancer of unknown primary site are reviewed. PET should be considered in the diagnostic process of patients with unknown primaries, and unnecessary invasive procedures may be avoided.
Singapore medical journal 07/2005; 46(6):302-3. · 0.73 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Syncope is a frequent disorder shows diagnostic difficulties, so that an important percentage of patients remain without diagnosis after the implementation of diagnostic tests that sometimes are unnecessary.
A retrospective analysis of the patients admitted during a period of two years because of syncope in an Internal Medicine Service was carried out.
Of a total of 2,878 patients hospitalized during the years 1999 and 2000, 79 were admitted because of syncope (2.74%). Forty-five (57%) were men and 34 (43%) were women, with a median age of 68.8 years. Twenty-seven patients (34%) had history of syncope. After a median hospitalization of 9.5 days, the etiological diagnosis was established in 53 (67%) patients: in 25 patients (31.6%) the syncope was mediated by neurological mechanisms, in 16 (20.25%) it was of cardiology origin, in 4 (5.06%) it was of neurological origin and in 8 (10.1%) the syncope was secondary to other causes. In 54 patient (68.8%) at least one cardiology test was carried out (41 Holter, 32 echocardiograms, 6 tilt board tests, 3 maneuvers of massage of the carotid sinus, 3 ergometry studies, 3 electrophysiological studies, 2 coronary angiographies and 3 ventilation perfusion lung gammagraphies). In 51 patient (64%) at least one neurological test was carried out (31 EEG, 42 CT, 2 MNR, 1 Doppler cranial ultrasound and 3 electroneuromyogram). Only 4 of the Holter carried out were diagnostic, as well as 3 of the echocardiograms and only 2 of the CT carried out. No EEG was useful for the etiological diagnosis of the syncope.
There is an excessive utilization of some diagnostic tests (EEG, Holter, cerebral CT), in spite of which in an important percentage of patients with syncope the etiological diagnosis is no done (33%). The use of diagnostic algorithms based on detailed clinical history, physical exploration and assessment of the ECG is proposed, that they would make it possible to issue a diagnostic hypothesis from which there could be begun the diagnostic study with a use as rational as possible of the complementary examinations.
Revista Clínica Española 02/2004; 204(1):9-13. · 2.01 Impact Factor
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ABSTRACT: Mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas are a group of non- Hodgkin"s lymphomas of low malignancy degree. The most frequent location is the gastrointestinal tract. Its primary pulmonary presentation is unusual and heterogeneous from point of view radiological. Woman 61 years old with antecedents of vitiligo, gastric ulcus, cirrhosis by VHC, that go into the hospital by sudden disnea, thoracic paint with pleural characterises and fever of 38.5 degrees C, Her thorax radiography and thoracic TAC showed nodes that affect to different pulmonary lobes. The cytology by PAAF confirms their malignant nature. In subsequent radiological controls it was notice the nodels took away completely and returns in different pulmonary place in each recurrence. The presentation like fluctuant pulmonary nodes is exceptional in a MALT lymphoma. It was described a higher incidence of VHC infection and tumour. The evidence of chronic hepatitis by virus C disease, and local chronic inflammatory process as well as autoimmune disorders may be considerate like a factor that contribute to MALT lymphoma.
Anales de medicina interna (Madrid, Spain: 1984) 12/2003; 20(11):582-4.
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ABSTRACT: Stroke is very seldom seen as the first manifestation of a neoplasia. The mechanisms that are most frequently involved in its pathogenesis are Trousseau's syndrome, haematological disorders such as disseminated intravascular coagulation or thrombocytosis, and the release of mucin by the tumour. Secondarily, non bacterial thrombotic endocarditis, septic or neoplastic cell embolism, venous sinus thrombosis and atherosclerosis secondary to radiotherapy have been reported.
Case 1: a 27-year-old male who presented a stroke in the right thalamus with a torpid progression and digestive complications; neuroimaging studies revealed unknown neoplasia of the head of the pancreas. Case 2: a 53-year-old male with repeated stroke (left sylvian and right occipitotemporal) and progressive neurological deterioration secondary to disseminated neoplastic disease, which had its origins in the body and tail of the pancreas. In both cases all the diagnostic explorations carried out in an attempt to determine the aetiopathogenesis of the stroke were negative. The post mortem study in the second patient revealed the existence of a non bacterial thrombotic endocarditis, which was taken as being one of the mechanisms involved.
The pathogenic mechanisms of cerebral ischemia associated to neoplasia are discussed and the primary and secondary forms are differentiated. We highlight the idea that when dealing with a stroke with an unknown aetiology and a torpid progression, the neurologist must consider the existence of a concealed neoplasia with stroke as its first manifestation.
Revista de neurologia 38(4):332-5. · 0.65 Impact Factor
