Sinking Skin Flap Syndrome, a Rare Complication of Craniectomy.

Teaching point: Sinking skin flap syndrome is a medical emergency that rarely complicates large craniectomy. It results from an intracerebral hypotension and requires the replacement of the cranial flap.

Performance of chest ultrasound in pediatric pneumonia.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of ultrasound in detecting lung consolidation in children suspected of pneumonia, in comparison to the current gold standard, chest X-rays. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From September 2013 to June 2014, a monocentric prospective study was performed on all children between 0 and 16 years-old, referred for chest X-ray for suspected pneumonia. Each child was examined by chest ultrasound by an examiner blinded to the chest X-ray. The presence or absence of areas of consolidation, their number and location were noted for each technique. The size of the consolidations identified only on ultrasound was compared with that of consolidations visible on both techniques. RESULTS: 143 children (mean age 3 years; limits between 8days and 14 years) were included. Ultrasound detected at least one area of consolidation in 44 out of 45 patients with positive X-rays. Of the 59 areas of consolidation on X-ray, ultrasound identified 54. In the 8 patients with negative X-ray, ultrasound revealed 17 areas of consolidation. The mean size of consolidations visible only on ultrasound was 9.4mm; for consolidations visible on both techniques the mean size was 26mm (p<0.0001). The sensitivity and specificity of ultrasound were calculated at 98% and 92%. PPV and NPV were 85% and 99%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Chest ultrasound is a fast, non-ionizing and feasible technique. With its high negative predictive value, it can replace X-rays in order to exclude lung consolidation in children, thus reducing radiation exposure in this population.

A Swelling in the Mouth in a Chronic Hemodialysis Patient.

Oral manifestations of severe secondary hyperparathyroidism include maxillary and mandibular deformities, brown tumors, dental abnormalities, and metastatic calcification of soft tissues. We report on a chronic hemodialysis (HD) woman with severe, uncontrolled secondary hyperparathyroidism and a painful, nontender mass in the floor of her mouth. The most likely clinical diagnosis was a bone tumoral lesion of the oral cavity, secondary to renal osteodystrophy. Unexpectedly, pathological examination showed characteristic features of ossifying fibroma (OF) of the jaw, a rare, benign fibroosseous lesion characterized by the replacement of normal bone by collagen and fibroblasts containing varying amounts of mineralized substance. The occurrence of an OF in chronic HD patients is exceptional. Differential diagnosis must be made with bone tumoral lesions secondary to renal osteodystrophy. Surgical removal is the treatment of choice. The pathogenesis of OF in the setting of secondary hyperparathyroidism remains unknown. Parathyroidectomy may not be necessary to avoid OF recurrence after surgical removal.