Urinary sediment suggests lupus nephritis histology.

Objectives The objective of this paper was to evaluate correlations between kidney biopsy indexes (activity and chronicity) and urinary sediment findings; the secondary objective was to find which components of urinary sediment can discriminate proliferative from other classes of lupus nephritis. Methods Lupus nephritis patients scheduled for a kidney biopsy were included in our study. The morning before the kidney biopsy, we took urine samples from each patient. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to determine the area under the curve (AUC) of each test for detecting proliferative lupus nephritis; a classification tree was calculated to select a set of values that best-predicted lupus nephritis classes. Results We included 51 patients, 36 of whom were women (70.6%). Correlations of lupus nephritis activity index with the counts in the urinary sediment of erythrocytes (isomorphic and dysmorphic), acanthocytes, and leukocytes were 0.65 ( p < 0.0001) 0.62 ( p < 0.0001) and 0.22 ( p = 0.1228), respectively. Correlations of lupus nephritis chronicity index with the counts of erythrocytes, acanthocytes, and leukocytes were 0.60 ( p ≤ 0.0001), 0.52 ( p = 0.0001) and 0.17 ( p = 0.2300), respectively. Our classification tree had an accuracy of 84.3%. Conclusions Evaluation of urine sediment reflects lupus nephritis histology.

[Cardiac tamponade due to pericardial metastasis (author's transl)]. / Taponamiento cardíaco por metastsis pericárdica.

A case of pericardial tamponade secondary to pericardial metastases of bronchogenic carcinoma in a young male is presented. The diagnostic studies are reviewed, specially the cytologic study of pericardial fluid. The fact that malignant tumors of the lung are the more frequent invaders to the heart is emphasized, with different clinical presentations regarding the involved site. The lymphatic pathways of the heart are reviewed, explaining the formation of hemorrhagic fluid inside the pericardial sac. Although this type of pathology is relatively rare as a cause of pericardial tamponade, this possibility should be kept in mind in order to make an early diagnosis.

Taponamiento cardiaco por metastasis pericardica. / Cardiac tamponade due to pericardial metastasis

Se presenta el caso de un paciente masculino joven, con diagnostico de taponamiento cardiaco consecutivo a metastasis pericardicas de adenocarcinoma broncogeno. Se revisan los metodos diagnosticos mas utiles, entre los cuales destaca la citologia del derrame periocardico. Se enfatiza el hecho de que los tumores malignos originarios del pulmon, son los que mas frecuentemente invaden corazon, con diferente expresion clinica segun el sitio involucrado. Se hace una exposicion detallada de las vias de drenaje linfatico, mismas que explican adecuadamente el desarrollo de liquido hemorragico dentro del saco pericardico y se comprueba que este tipo de patologia, es una causa relativamente rara de taponamiento cardiaco, pero que debe tenerse en mente para un diagnostico precoz que puede ser valiosa ayuda