Musculoskeletal symptoms of the neck and shoulder among dental practitioners.

OBJECTIVES: Musculoskeletal symptoms of the neck and shoulder represent a condition whose basic characteristic is pain. These conditions are very often present in dental health professionals. The aim of the paper was to determine presence of discomforts in areas of head, neck, shoulders, upper back and upper limbs at health professionals in area of dentistry, as well as discomfort localisation and methods of treatment. METHODS: The research included 45 health professionals (dentists, dental assistants and dental technicians) employed at Dental Clinic of Vojvodina. The information was collected via questionnaire for analysis musculoskeletal disorders. RESULTS: Most of the dentists (75.9%) and the dental assistants (90.9%) as well as nearly half of the dental technicians (40%) experience discomforts in area of the neck, which are occasional, present in all three working positions and this discomforts are a little more frequent at women. The present musculoskeletal disorders are followed by headache, whose presence is statistically more significant compared to the other symptoms. The headache is usually located in the occipital part, it occurs individually or joined with other symptoms. Due to said discomforts the examinees in 59.4% of the cases don't contact the doctor. Medical therapy prevails in opposition to physical therapy. CONCLUSION: The discomforts deriving from the cervical part of the spine are present at great percentage of our examinees. Considering the fact that the said discomforts affect performing both professional and everyday activities, its prevention is necessary in order to avoid the consequences they carry.

Endovascular therapy of renovascular hypertension in children: single center analysis.

INTRODUCTION: We present our results after percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) and stent implantation in the treatment of eight children with renal artery stenosis (RAS) with consequential development of malignant renovascular hypertension (RVH) despite the administration of antihypertensive drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the period between January 2000 and November 2007, endovascular interventional procedures in the renal arteries were performed in 8 children (six boys and two girls) to treat malignant RVH caused by RAS. The mean patient age+/-standard deviation was 10.8 years+/-3.7 years (median age 9 years; range 8-17 years). Interdisciplinary discussion and evaluation of the indications for endovascular treatment was carried out for all of the eight patients. Our indications for the PTRA procedure were severe RVH with arterial blood pressure (BP) values above the 99th percentile, which did not respond to the administration of antihypertensive drugs. Renal artery stenting was performed due to re-stenosis after PTRA. RESULTS: Diagnostic digital subtraction angiography demonstrated unilateral RAS of the main renal artery in seven children and bilateral stenosis of the renal arteries in one child. We performed 11 endovascular interventions on 9 main renal arteries in 8 children (10 PTRA and one stent placement). In 7 of 8 children, complete correction of RAS was achieved. Follow-up assessment over a mean period of 39 months (range 6-84 months) showed normotension with no antihypertensive treatment in 6 children. One child had a technically successful PTRA and improved BP with reduced requirement for antihypertensive treatment. Technical failure of the endovascular intervention occurred in a boy with severe FMD who underwent successful surgical autotransplantation of the kidney. CONCLUSIONS: Endovascular therapy of RAS in children with consequential development of malignant RVH despite antihypertensive drugs represents the treatment of choice. PTRA and/or stent implantation are technically and clinically feasible and safe in this group of children. Optimal treatment results in children can be expected in a clinical environment with successful interdisciplinary cooperation between the pediatrician, interventional radiologist and pediatric surgeon.

Transcranial doppler ultrasonography as an early outcome forecaster following severe brain injury.

Knowledge of post-traumatic cerebral haemodynamic disturbances might be beneficial for predicting the management outcome when measuring the basal cerebral arteries blood flow velocity by ultrasonic transcranial Doppler device immediately after severe head injury. Thirty patients who sustained severe brain injury underwent an early blood velocity measuring by transcranial Doppler ultrasonography during a 1-year period of study. The standard technique of measuring the mean blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery was applied. The outcome was assessed at 6-month follow-up by the Glasgow Outcome Score. The middle cerebral artery low blood flow velocity, and the increased values of the pulsatility index significantly correlated to an unfavourable outcome. Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography for measuring the middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity has been proved worthy as a possible predictor of severe head injury management outcome. This non-invasive and simple procedure could be engaged in the daily management of severely brain-injured patients.

Giant uterine leiomyoma devascularized by embolization prior to surgical removal.

A 49-year-old woman presented a tumor of pelvic origin filling almost the whole abdominal cavity. Angiography confirmed that it arose from the uterus. Bilateral internal iliac artery embolization was performed prior to surgical removal. It was found to be a 25kg uterine leiomyoma.

[Effect of improved surgical anesthesiologic factors on the results of treatment of aneurysms of the abdominal aorta]. / Vrednovanje utjecaja poboljsanja operacijskih anestezioloskih cimbenika na rezultate lijecenja aneurizmi abdominalne aorte.

The purpose of this study was to compare the recent results of the abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery, with the results for the patients operated ten years ago, and to identify the factors influencing the operative results. Two groups of patients were selected using a retrospective case series study. First group of patients (A) consisted of 32 cases operated in the period between 1984 and 1986, and the second group (B) consisted of those operated ten years later (from 1994 to 1996). Mortality rate, presence of risk factors, demographic data, and operative factors were analyzed and compared between the groups. The mortality rate decreased from 10.7% in period A, to 5.3% in period B for elective operations, and from 75% to 44.4% for emergency operations. The prevalence of straight graft technique in period B showed statistically significant difference compared to period A (p < 0.005). Besides, the operating time and the amount of the transfused blood between the groups differed significantly (p < 0.05). On the basis of this data, we concluded that the modifications in the operative technique, as well as the increased number of operations within the second period led to the decreased mortality rate in patients operated for AAA.

Arteriovenous fistula of the internal mammary artery (combat injury): transcatheter intravascular coil occlusion.

A case of arteriovenous fistula of the left internal mammary artery occluded by Gianturco coil is reported. A 26-year-old male suffered multiple explosive injuries. Right heart failure developed postoperatively. Digital subtraction angiography demonstrated arteriovenous fistulas between the left internal mammary artery and left subclavian and innominate veins. Considering previous multiple surgical interventions and severe general condition of the patient, both arteriovenous fistulas were successfully occluded by transcatheter placement of a Gianturco coil.

Our 10-year experience with embolized Wilms' tumor.

In the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Clinical Hospital Center Rebro in Zagreb, during the last 10 years a new method of invasive diagnostic and at the same time therapeutic procedure for the treatment of Wilms' tumor has been introduced. The treatment is preoperative Percutaneous Transcatheter Intraarterial Embolization (PTIE) of the renal artery. The aim of this procedure is to reduce vascularization, to decrease the mass of kidney affected by the tumor, to separate it from the surrounding tissue, to decrease intraoperative spillage of malignant cells into the blood stream and their metastasizing. As a result nephrectomy is easier to perform. It has been confirmed that it is best to perform nephrectomy 48 hours after embolization. The authors present their own experience with 33 patients, ranging from 1 to 16 years of age.

[Modern diagnosis and treatment of pheochromocytoma in children]. / Suvremena dijagnoza i lijecenje feokromocitoma djece.

Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor of chromaffin tissue of the adrenal gland that synthesizes, stores and releases cathecolamines. In 10% of the patients it arises outside the adrenal gland, and has been called paraganglioma. The following study describes our experience in the diagnostic process and treatment of pheochromocytoma in two children, a 8-year-old boy with the right ureteral paraganglioma, and a 8-year-old girl with pheo-chromocytoma of the leftsuprarenal gland. Characteristic clinical features with predominant signs of hypertension, as well as the diagnostic flow diagram, have been presented. We have analysed recent diagnostic possibilities, sensitivity of diagnostic methods (ultrasonography, CT, selective angiography and J131 MIBG scintigraphy), indications for their use, and the importance of appropriate preoperative management. The major role of the J131-metaiodobenzilguanidine scintigraphy in diagnostic assessment, especially in precise preoperative localization and postoperative verification of tumour removal, has been stressed.

Percutaneous transhepatic dissolution of gallbladder stones.

The method of percutaneous transhepatic dissolution with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has been used at the Zagreb Clinical Hospital Department of Medicine since 1989. From December 1989 until December 1991, 69 patients, 51 (74%) females and 18 (26%) males, with symptomatic and cholesterol gallbladder stones were hospitalised at the Department. All patients preferred percutaneous transhepatic dissolution to surgical treatment of gallbladder stones. The gallbladder was successfully punctured and the catheter placed into the gallbladder lumen in 63 (91%) patients, whereas complete dissolution was achieved in 59 (85.5%) patients. In 21 (33.9%) of these 59 patients, after completed dissolution computer-processed roentgenograms and ultrasonic scan of the gallbladder revealed residual particles of debris sized up to 2 mm. Six patients in whom puncture, i.e. the placement of the catheter into the lumen was unsuccessful, were electively operated on the following day without any complications. The mean duration of hospitalisation for 63 patients was 4.5 days.

[Embolization therapy of a femoral hemangiolipoma with intra-osseous invasion]. / Embolisationstherapie eines Oberschenkelhämangiolipoms mit intraossaler Ausdehnung.

The paper presents the case of a gigantic inoperable hemangiolipoma of the right upper leg with infiltration into femur. Performed embolization therapy resulted in satisfactory subjective and objective improvement.

Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) as a method of therapy for renovascular hypertension in children.

The results of PTRA in treatment of renovascular hypertension in four children aged 5, 7, 13 and 15 are presented. All patients suffered from severe hypertension. Tests showed all of them to have fibromuscular dysplasia stenosis of the main renal artery and significant lateralization of renin levels. One suffered from associated polycystosis of kidneys and in another the renal artery stenosis was bilateral. In all patients successful patency was achieved. In one patient, the arterial pressure after PTRA was normalized, while in the others it was considerably improved. Two patients, tested 8 and 12 months after PTRA, were lost to further follow-up. In one of the remaining two, stenosis and hypertension reappeared 5 years after PTRA. After autotransplantation the patient was normotensive. In the other, also 5 years later, recurrent hypertension appeared related to the associated polycystosis.

Therapeutic embolization of aneurysmal bone cyst.

Results of therapeutic embolization of aneurysmal bone cysts in five patients are described. Transcatheter arterial embolization was performed with Ivalon and Gelfoam particles and Gianturco coils. The postembolization period was characterized by complete relief of pain and decrease in size of the aneurysmal bone cyst in all patients. In patients whose follow-up was longer than 12 months, sclerosis and recalcification of bone were present. There were no complications.