Low clinical conversion rate in clinically isolated syndrome patients - diagnostic benefit of McDonald 2010 criteria?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: New diagnostic criteria of multiple sclerosis (MS) increase the number of patients being diagnosed with MS whilst a substantial part might not convert to clinically definite MS (CDMS). The diagnostic accuracy of the McDonald 2005 and 2010 criteria for conversion to CDMS was evaluated in an unselected cohort of patients in whom an MS diagnostic work-up was decided. METHODS: Clinical, magnetic resonance imaging and cerebrospinal fluid data were analysed for all patients who presented with symptoms suspicious for MS at the university based MS outpatient clinic between 2006 and 2010 (n = 165). RESULTS: Follow-up was available for 131 patients. During the mean follow-up period of 2 years, 19% of patients developed CDMS whereas 64% of the patients fulfilling McDonald 2010 criteria did not convert to CDMS. CONCLUSION: The low clinical conversion rate indicates that the new diagnostic criteria may increase the incidence of MS cases with a less active disease course.

[The combination of retrobulbar block with general anaesthesia may lead to pre-emptive analgesia in patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy]. / Die Kombination von retrobulbärer Leitungsanästhesie und Allgemeinanästhesie führt zu präemptiver Analgesie bei Pars-plana-Vitrektomien.

SUBJECT: To determine whether additional regional blocking provides pre-emptive analgesia in patients undergoing elective pars plana vitrectomy. METHODS: In a prospectively randomised, double-blinded trial we investigated the potential benefit of combining regional anaesthesia (RA) with general anaesthesia (GA). In each group 25 patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy were either done under GA (group A), GA combined with retrobulbar block (group B) or GA combined with peribulbar block (group C). Patients were examined by assessing NAS (numeric analogue scale). RESULTS: At all times, patients of group B experienced significantly less pain than patients in either group A or C (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in pain scores between patients in groups A and C. Only 4 patients in group B required analgesics, whereas 17 patients in group A and 12 patients in group C. CONCLUSION: Certain ophthalmic operations are likely to cause postoperative pain when performed under GA alone, whereas the combination of retrobulbar block with GA reduces the development of pain as pre-emptive analgesia.