Pneumococcal sacroiliitis.

We report an unusual case of Streptococcus pneumoniae sacroiliitis in a previously healthy 31-year-old woman. Six cases of pneumococcal sacroiliitis have been reported; the only two cases in adults occurred in young women in the preantibiotic era. Our patient had fever and a depressed level of consciousness, with subsequent right buttock and thigh pain. Blood cultures revealed S pneumoniae, and a bone scan showed increased tracer activity in the right sacroiliac joint. Although the cerebrospinal fluid white blood cell count was only 3/microL, culture of cerebrospinal fluid grew S pneumoniae. Our patient was successfully treated with a 6-week course of intravenous antibiotics (penicillin G after an initial week of ceftriaxone), followed by 2 weeks of oral penicillin therapy.

Fever in the clinical diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis.

Acute pyelonephritis is a clinical syndrome that can be confused with other conditions. To investigate this problem, a retrospective cohort study was conducted using two mutually exclusive sets of clinical criteria for acute pyelonephritis in women 15 years of age or older who presented to the emergency department of a university hospital. All patients had pyuria, and one group had documented fever (temperature of > or = 37.8 degrees C) while the other group had a temperature of < 37.8 degrees C but had other evidence of possible upper tract infection. The study cohort was comprised of 103 febrile and 201 afebrile patients. Afebrile hospitalized patients were ultimately found to have another diagnosis more often than were the febrile hospitalized patients (35% v 7%; P = .02), and the afebrile nonhospitalized patients were more likely to have another diagnosis than were the febrile nonhospitalized patients (13% v 0%; P = .004). Other diagnoses included cholecystitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and diverticulitis. The positive predictive value of the definition of pyelonephritis in the febrile group was 0.98, and it was 0.84 for the afebrile group. Physicians examining patients with clinical evidence of acute pyelonephritis but without objective fever should be alert for alternative diagnoses.

Bacteremia in young urban women admitted with pyelonephritis.

The objective of this study was to determine the rate of bacteremia in young women admitted to the hospital with presumed pyelonephritis and compare it with other published rates. The study design was a retrospective, structured chart review and a review of published reports of bacteremic pyelonephritis. An urban county teaching hospital provided the setting for the study. The patients were nonpregnant women (n = 98) 44 years of age or younger who were without bladder dysfunction and who had not been admitted to an intensive care unit. Further criteria for participation included discharge with the diagnosis of acute pyelonephritis. Blood cultures were ordered for 69 women; the results of 64 were noted in the chart. Twenty-three women (35.9% of those cultured; 23.4% of all patients) were diagnosed with bacteremia. In patients for whom blood culture results were obtained, trends developed between those patients with bacteremia and those with complicated pyelonephritis, defined as a known or newly discovered genitourinary abnormality or a risk factor (P = 0.044), those who were black (P = .044), those with higher pulses on admission (P = .050), those with more white blood cells per high-powered field after urinalysis (P = 0.007), and those whose fever lasted longer (P = 0.033). Blood culture results were positive in two patients whose urine cultures were negative. This comparatively high bacteremia rate supports routine ordering of blood cultures for urban women suspected of having pyelonephritis.

ED management of acute pyelonephritis in women: a cohort study.

Various treatment strategies are currently used in the management of acute pyelonephritis, with some patients being treated as inpatients and others as outpatients. To better describe the clinical course of patients with this condition and the management strategies of physicians treating these patients, a retrospective cohort study of febrile nonpregnant women presenting to the emergency department with clinical evidence of acute pyelonephritis was conducted. Acute pyelonephritis was defined as infected urine (> or = 7 white blood cells/high-power field and/or urine culture with > or = 10(4) colony-forming units [CFU]/mL) and fewer (> or = 37.8 degrees C) without other source. Between October 1990 and September 1991, 28 hospitalized and 83 nonhospitalized patients satisfied these criteria. Data were abstracted from hospital charts, and clinical outcomes were determined from chart reviews and telephone or mailed questionnaires. The hospitalized patients were significantly older (odds ratio [OR] = 1.07), had higher temperatures (OR = 6.12), and were more likely to have diabetes (OR = 10.57), genitourinary tract abnormalities (OR = 10.53), and vomiting (OR = 12.17) than the nonhospitalized patients. Sixty-six (80%) of the nonhospitalized patients were treated with a single dose of parenteral antibiotic (usually gentamicin or ceftriaxone) before discharge on oral antibiotics. Seventy-one (86%) were treated with oral trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Follow-up was obtained for 75 (90%) of the nonhospitalized patients. Nine (12%) of the 75 returned because of symptoms of acute pyelonephritis, with 8 returning within 1 day of the initial visit. Seven of those returning were admitted. All responded to additional antibiotic therapy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Technetium-99m-RBC venography in the diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis of the lower extremity: a systematic review of the literature.

We systematically reviewed the six articles from the English-language medical literature, since 1979, which compared 99mTc-RBC venography with contrast venography for the diagnosis of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremity. The studies were generally small in size and poorly compliant with methodologic standards for diagnostic test research. There was considerable variation in both how the 99mTc-RBC venograms were performed and how they were interpreted. Sufficient clinical information on the patients was not provided. Although the overall sensitivities and specificities were high with a mean sensitivity of 0.89 and a mean specificity of 0.84, the small numbers of patients resulted in wide 95% confidence intervals. For distal disease, with only a total of 14 patients studied, the 95% confidence intervals were particularly broad. Although 99mTc-RBC venography is a promising technique, future studies with larger numbers of patients and closer adherence to methodologic standards are required.