Treatment of Ramsay-Hunt's syndrome with multiple cranial nerve involvement and severe dysphagia: A case report.

RATIONALE: Ramsay-Hunt's syndrome (RHS) is a disorder characterized by facial paralysis, herpetic eruptions on the auricle, and otic pain due to the reactivation of latent varicella zoster virus in the geniculate ganglion. A few cases of multiple cranial nerve invasion including the vestibulocochlear nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve and vagus nerve have been reported. However, there has been no report about RHS with delayed onset multiple cranial nerve involvement causing severe aspiration, and a clinical course that improved after more than one year of dysphagia rehabilitation and percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). Here, we report on a 67-year old male with delayed onset swallowing difficulty after 16 days of RHS development. PATIENT CONCERN: Severe aspiration during swallowing. DIAGNOSIS: Severe dysphagia caused by RHS with multiple cranial nerve involvement. INTERVENTION: Application of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) and rehabilitation therapy of dysphagia. OUTCOMES: After 13 months from symptom onset, his PAS improved from 7 to 2 in follow-up video-fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS). Then, he was re-admitted, and the PEG tube was removed and oral feeding was started. LESSONS: This case gives us the lesson that optimal doses of acyclovir and corticosteroids are important to prevent progression of multiple cranial involvement in RHS, and swallowing difficulty in RHS patients with multiple cranial nerve involvement can be improved through long-term rehabilitation even if there is no improvement for more than one year.

PCR improves diagnostic yield from lung aspiration in Malawian children with radiologically confirmed pneumonia.

BACKGROUND: Accurate data on childhood pneumonia aetiology are essential especially from regions where mortality is high, in order to inform case-management guidelines and the potential of prevention strategies such as bacterial conjugate vaccines. Yield from blood culture is low, but lung aspirate culture provides a higher diagnostic yield. We aimed to determine if diagnostic yield could be increased further by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of bacteria (Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae b) and viruses in lung aspirate fluid. METHODS: A total of 95 children with radiological focal, lobar or segmental consolidation had lung aspirate performed and sent for bacterial culture and for PCR for detection of bacteria, viruses and Pneumocystis jirovecii. In children with a pneumococcal aetiology, pneumococcal bacterial loads were calculated in blood and lung aspirate fluid. RESULTS: Blood culture identified a bacterial pathogen in only 8 patients (8%). With the addition of PCR on lung aspirate samples, causative pathogens (bacterial, viral, pneumocystis) were identified singly or as co-infections in 59 children (62%). The commonest bacterial organism was S.pneumoniae (41%), followed by H. influenzae b (6%), and the commonest virus identified was adenovirus (16%), followed by human bocavirus (HBoV) (4%), either as single or co-infection. CONCLUSIONS: In a select group of African children, lung aspirate PCR significantly improves diagnostic yield. Our study confirms a major role of S.pneumoniae and viruses in the aetiology of childhood pneumonia in Africa.

Increased laryngeal lavage lipid-laden macrophage index during acute bronchiolitis.

AIM: To investigate aspiration risks associated with bronchiolitis in infants using the lipid-laden macrophage index (LLMI) from laryngeal lavages. METHODS: Laryngeal lavages from 29 infants with acute bronchiolitis caused by respiratory syncytial virus were evaluated (acute stage). Repeated studies were then performed at 3-4 weeks after the initial study (remission stage). Lavage cell counts and differentials were determined. The amount of lipid per single macrophage was evaluated and the LLMI was determined by evaluating 100 cells. In addition, 24-h pH monitoring (pHm) was performed in 16 patients. RESULTS: The LLMIs in the acute stage were significantly higher than those in the remission stage (p < 0.05). The neutrophil percentage of the laryngeal lavage correlated significantly with the LLMI (r = 0.707, p < 0.0001) during the acute stage of bronchiolitis. When patients were divided into pHm-positive (n = 5) and pHm-negative (n = 11) subgroups, a significant decrease in LLMI between acute and remission stages was noted among the pHm-positive (p < 0.01) subgroup, but not in the pHm-negative subgroup. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that there is a transient increased LLMI in patients with bronchiolitis, which could be caused by gastroesophageal reflux.