[Treatment of GERD in asthma]. / Traitement du reflux gastro-œsophagien dans l'asthme.

Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) is one of the most frequent conditions associated with asthma. GORD has an impact on asthma control and quality of life of asthmatic patients. Its treatment relies on lifestyle modifications, anti-acidic treatment with proton pump inhibitors (PPI) and/or surgical management by fundoplication in some situations. The impact of lifestyle modifications has not been analysed on asthma outcomes alone. Several randomised controlled trials assessed the efficacy of PPI on asthma control, peak expiratory flow and/or quality of life. The impact of fundoplication in asthma has mainly been analysed in retrospective or prospective observational studies. This review highlights the limited impact of GORD treatment on asthma control. Current guidelines are to restrict GORD treatment in asthma to asthmatic patients with actual symptomatic GORD. Given the lack of controlled studies, the place of surgical management of GORD in asthma is currently not defined.

Low frequency hearing threshold determination in newborns, infants and mentally retarded children by middle latency responses.

Middle latency (10-50 ms) responses (MLR) evoked by tone-pips (1,000 Hz 500 Hz) and early (0-10 ms) auditory evoked potentials (EAEP) evoked by chicks were recorded on 68 newborn babies (premature or at term), infants and children, some with central nervous system or psychiatric disorders, who had normal or impaired hearing. MLR were obtained either during sleep, chloral-hydrate sedation or ketamine anesthesia. Thresholds estimated from MLR and EAEP were compared to those from subsequent psychoacoustic pure tone testing. We confirm that MLR provide good threshold estimates for hearing in the low frequency range, whereas click evoked EAEP are good threshold indicators only for high frequencies.