[Therapeutic hypothermia and management of sudden death]. / Hypothermie thérapeutique et prise en charge de la mort subite.

Due to its protective effects on the brain and potentially the myocardium, cooling therapy is clearly part of the standard of care of any sudden death especially in the setting of myocardial infarction. Recent guidelines recommend cooling therapy (32 to 34 °C) for 12 to 24 hours in unconscious patients with spontaneous circulation after resuscitated sudden death. We provide here a review of clinical evidence, cooling techniques and potential adverse effects of cooling therapy.

[Decreasing incidence of stent thrombosis]. / La thrombose de stent, de plus en plus rare !

Stent thrombosis (ST) remains a major pitfall of stent implantation in contemporary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) leading to high rates of death and non-fatal myocardial infarction. Many predictors of ST have been reported worldwide but the strongest have to be highlighted regarding the catastrophic prognosis of such an event. Because platelet aggregation has a pivotal role in ST pathogenesis, the new antiplatelet regimens combining aspirin and P2Y12 receptor inhibitors have led to a remarkable decrease in the ST incidence, especially in the setting of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In this article, our purpose is to review the evolution of ST incidence since first stent use in PCI. We will also overview the main predictors of ST focusing on ACS and clopidogrel low response.

Prevalence of high risk genital papillomaviruses in the Belgian female population determined by fast multiplex polymerase chain reaction.

Because in situ/filter hybridisation is not sensitive enough and because classical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocols are generally not sufficiently reproducible and specific, there is little accurate information on the prevalence of human papillomaviruses (HPV) 16, 18, and 33 infections in women without dyskaryotic changes of the cervix. In our hands, our Fast Multiplex PCR protocol has always been the most sensitive, specific, and reproducible DNA detection assay in all the microbiological and haematological applications we attempted (Vandenvelde C, Verstraete M, Van Beers D [1990]: Journal of Virological Methods 30:215-228; Vandenvelde C, Scheen R, Corazza F, Van Beers D [1991a]: Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hematology 33:293-297; Vandenvelde C, Scheen R, Van Beers D, Fondu P [1991b]: Journal of Experimental and Clinical Hematology 30:25-29). Using this new technique, cervical scrapes from 336 Belgian women attending the cervical cancer screening clinic were examined for the presence of these three high-risk genital papillomaviruses. Positive results were confirmed using another set of HPV-specific primers. Exactly one sixth of our population was found positive for one or more of these HPVs. Types 33 and 16 were significantly more prevalent than type 18. The nonparametric statistical analysis of the data suggests that some risk factors such as particular sexual habits, that are inversely related to age, must exist.