Human metapneumovirus infections are associated with severe morbidity in hospitalized children of all ages.

The impact of human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in children aged >5 years and the risk factors associated with disease severity for all ages have not been well characterized. A retrospective cohort study of 238 children aged 0­15 years hospitalized over a 3-year period was performed. Medical records were reviewed for demographic information, clinical parameters and outcomes. Multivariable analyses were performed to identify independent factors associated with worse disease severity assessed by length of hospital stay (LOS), need for ICU care, respiratory support, and a disease severity score. Pulmonary diseases were associated with all outcomes of care, while congenital heart disease (CHD) and neuromuscular disorders were associated with longer LOS, and CHD and trisomy 21 were associated with worse severity scores independent of other covariables. Fever, retractions, use of steroids and albuterol were also associated with enhanced disease severity. Understanding the determinants of HMPV disease in children may help design targeted preventive strategies.

Unusual cause of coma

This article presents an unusual cause of coma; which after diagnosis and treatment resulted in complete recovery of the patient

[Following curative resection of colorectal cancer, portal chemotherapy especially benefits non-transfused patients]. / Nach kurativer Resektion colorectaler Carcinome wirkt die portale Chemotherapie vor allem beim nicht-bluttransfundierten Patienten.

After curative resection of colorectal cancer, immediate short-term postoperative intraportal adjuvant chemotherapy reduces the relative risk of recurrence and death in the non-transfused patient significantly, when compared to transfused patients without chemotherapy. This is demonstrated in a multivariate analysis using the Cox model on a group of 469 patients who have been intraoperatively randomized to receive either intraportal chemotherapy for 7 days or no further treatment. The transfused patients with chemotherapy and those receiving neither transfusions nor chemotherapy had a relative risk of recurrence and death situated in between the two groups mentioned above, not statistically different from either of them. In the setting of this study, 7 days postoperative intraportal chemotherapy seems particularly effective in the non-transfused patients.

[Blood transfusions and prognosis following curative resection of colorectal cancer: is there an association?]. / Bluttransfusionen und die Prognose nach kurativer Resektion kolorektaler Karzinome: Besteht eine Assoziation?

More recently a number of retrospective analyses in rather ill defined patient populations demonstrated an association between perioperative blood transfusion and recurrence after curative resection of colorectal cancer. In the randomized trial (SAKK 40/81) (adjuvant cytotoxic intraportal infusion versus no further treatment) we evaluated the transfusion status in a well defined, prospectively documented and controlled patient population. Of 457 patients, 353 (77.2%) received either pre-, intra- or postoperatively blood transfusions. After a median follow-up of 4 years, the transfused patients developed significantly more recurrences (38.2%) than patients without blood transfusions (23.1%), the death-rate being 33.7% versus 23.0%, respectively. Patients without transfusion but treated with adjuvant intraportal chemotherapy are strikingly doing better (10.5% recurrences) than patients with perioperative blood transfusion not having an adjuvant treatment (44.5% recurrences).

[Blood transfusion, short perioperative intraportal chemotherapy and recurrence of colorectal cancer]. / Transfusion sanguine, chimiothérapie intraportale périopératoire de courte durée et récidive du cancer colorectal.

Carcinomatous tumors usually have a rather slow proliferation rate. However, this process is sensibly accelerated as soon as immunodepressive phenomena occur. Blood transfusions may result in the appearance of a considerable mass of alloantigens and in simultaneous immunomodulation. On the basis of a series of 469 patients, we are able to realize that the intra-and postoperative administration of blood during the curative resection of colorectal cancers produced a poor prognosis. We also followed up subjects who had had chemotherapy via the portal system for one week but no blood transfusion. The prognosis was definitely better in these patients, and proved to be 2 to 3 times as favorable as for patients receiving blood transfusions without chemotherapy. The various results are thoroughly analyzed, the primary aim being the study of the effects of intraoperative portal chemotherapy. This leads to advocating the restriction of blood transfusions, and the use of autotransfusion or hemodilution if required.