[Bilateral facial nerve palsy associated with Epstein-Barr virus infection in a 3-year-old boy]. / Paralysie faciale bilatérale au cours d'une infection à virus d'Epstein­Barr.

Bilateral facial nerve palsy is a rare and sometimes difficult diagnosis. We describe a case of bilateral simultaneous facial nerve palsy associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in a 3-year-old boy. Several symptoms led to the diagnosis of EBV infection: the clinical situation (fever, stomachache, and throat infection), white blood cell count (5300/mm3 with 70% lymphocyte count), seroconversion with EBV-specific antibodies, lymphocytic meningitis, and a positive blood EBV polymerase chain reaction (9.3×103 copies of EBV-DNA). An MRI brain scan showed bilateral gadolinium enhancement of the facial nerve. A treatment plan with IV antibiotics (ceftriaxone) and corticosteroids was implemented. Antibiotics were stopped after the diagnosis of Lyme disease was ruled out. The patient's facial weakness improved within a few weeks. Bilateral facial nerve palsy is rare and, unlike unilateral facial palsy, it is idiopathic in only 20% of cases. Therefore, it requires further investigation and examination to search for the underlying etiology. Lyme disease is the first infectious disease that should be considered in children, especially in endemic areas. An antibiotic treatment effective against Borrelia burgdorferi should be set up until the diagnosis is negated or confirmed. Further examination should include a blood test (such as immunologic testing, and serologic testing for viruses and bacterium with neurological tropism), a cerebrospinal fluid test, and an MRI brain scan to exclude any serious or curable underlying etiology. Facial bilateral nerve palsy associated with EBV is rarely described in children. Neurological complications have been reported in 7% of all EBV infections. The facial nerve is the most frequently affected of all cranial nerves. Facial palsy described in EBV infections is bilateral in 35% of all cases. The physiopathology is currently unknown. Prognosis is good most of the time.

In vivo damage of CNS myelin and axons induced by peroxynitrite.

In multiple sclerosis (MS) the mechanisms of injury caused by peroxynitrite remain uncertain. To study histological, ultra structural and molecular alterations caused by peroxynitrite in brain, the peroxynitrite donor 3-morpholinosydnonimine was injected in rat corpus callosum. Peroxynitrite induces strong primary axonal damage with characteristics of primary acute axonopathy, together with severe myelin alteration, myelin vacuolation and demyelination, and nitrotyrosine formation as confirmed by detection of nitrosated target proteins. Administration of the peroxynitrite scavenger uric acid inhibited these effects. In vivo, peroxynitrite leads to a disorganisation of myelin and to axonal damage presenting some similarities to the formation of MS lesions. Understanding the action of peroxynitrite in this process will open new therapeutic strategies by specific inhibition of peroxynitrite formation and action.

In vivo evaluation of remyelination in rat brain by magnetization transfer imaging.

The aim of this work was to assess quantitatively and qualitatively the ability of magnetization transfer imaging to follow in vivo remyelination. Demyelination lesions were induced in rats by the injection of L-alpha-lysophosphatidylcholine stearoyl into the corpus callosum and imaging was performed in vivo on a 4.7-Tesla system at different time points. The percentage of magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) decrease was calculated for each animal. To evaluate the MTR findings for remyelination, myelin was quantitated by histological analysis of the lesion size and counting the number of remyelinating axons. An MTR decrease was observed when demyelination was present at 7 days after injection. During the remyelinating phase between day 30 and 40 after injection, contralateral values almost complete returned to normal, thus indicating remyelination. Histologically, at days 30 and 40 after injection, the lesion area was reduced in size and the axons were surrounded by a thin myelin sheath, indicating the remyelination process. Statistical analysis showed that the profile of MTR values was significantly correlated with the course of remyelination. All the MTR changes show a correlation with both myelin damage and repair. In conclusion, the study of the MTR profile in this myelin lesion model demonstrates in vivo the loss of myelin and the presence of spontaneous remyelination. This methodological approach which can also be applied to multiple sclerosis patients to show demyelination, should prove helpful to determine the degree of spontaneous and therapeutically induced remyelination in multiple sclerosis lesions, and thus to validate therapeutic treatments for myelin repair.

[Ethical dilemmas in the perinatal period: guidelines for end-of-life decisions]. / Dilemmes éthiques de la période périnatale: recommandations pour les décisions de fin de vie.

According to several recent surveys, around 50% of the deaths occurring nowadays in French neonatal intensive care units result from a medical decision. This has led French neonatologists to set up guidelines for end-of-life decisions and practice in the perinatal period, which are presented in this paper. It covers definitions, clinical situations, ethical principles, obligations of the medical and nursing staff, and specific conditions where dilemmas occur.

[Withholding and withdrawing treatment in the perinatal period: importance of a coherent attitude between gyneco-obstetricians and pediatricians]. / Décisions de fin de vie dans la période périnatale: la cohérence obstétrico-pédiatrique est primordiale.

According to several recent surveys, 50% of deaths occurring in neonatal intensive care units in France occur subsequent to a medical decision. The French Neonatal Group therefore decided to publish guidelines for practice. These guidelines present: definitions, clinical situations, ethical principles, obligations of the medical and nursing staff, and specific conditions where dilemmas occur. These guidelines focus on the obstetrico-pediatrics relationship.

Controlled therapeutic trials of pentoxifylline in relapsing-experimental auto-immune encephalomyelitis.

This study was designed to assess the capacity of several doses of pentoxifylline to prevent or treat chronic-relapsing-EAE (CR-EAE) exacerbations induced in the Lewis rat. Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a methylxanthine derivative that inhibits the production of TNF-alpha, a cytokine involved in EAE and multiple sclerosis physiopathology. Three blind placebo-controlled randomized studies were performed in respectively 40, 30 and 18 rats: a trial of different (PTX) dosages (8, 30, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) versus placebo to prevent EAE onset; a trial of PTX (8, 30 or 50 mg/kg) versus placebo to prevent 2 attacks of EAE and a trial of PTX (100 mg/kg) versus placebo to abrogate ongoing clinical EAE. No statistically significant difference was observed between groups in any trial. PTX was ineffective to prevent or treat CR-EAE in these studies.

French intensivists do not apply American recommendations regarding decisions to forgo life-sustaining therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Recommendations for making and implementing decisions to forgo life-sustaining therapy in intensive care units have been developed in the United States, but the extent that they are realized in practice has yet to be measured. DESIGN: Prospective, multicenter, 4-wk study. For each patient with an implemented decision to forgo life-sustaining therapy, the deliberation and decision implementation procedures were recorded. SETTING: French intensive care units. PATIENTS: All consecutive patients admitted to 26 French intensive care units. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 1,009 patients admitted, 208 died in the intensive care unit. A decision to forgo life-sustaining therapy was implemented in 105 patients. The number of supportive treatments forgone was 2.3 +/- 1.7 per patient. Decisions to forgo sustaining therapy were preceded by 3.5 +/- 2.5 deliberation sessions. Proxies were informed of the deliberations in 62 (59.1%) cases but participated in only 18 (17.1%) decisions. The patient's perception of his or her quality of life was rarely evaluated (11.5%), and only rarely did the decision involve evaluating the patient's wishes (7.6%), the patient's religious values (7.6%), or the cost of treatment (7.6%). Factors most frequently evaluated were medical team advice (95.3%), predicted reversibility of acute disease (90.5%), underlying disease severity (83.9%), and the patient's quality of life as evaluated by caregivers (80.1%). CONCLUSIONS: A decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining therapy was implemented for half the patients who died in the French intensive care units studied. In many cases, the decision was taken without regard for one or more factors identified as relevant in U.S. guidelines.

Symptoms of anxiety and depression in family members of intensive care unit patients: ethical hypothesis regarding decision-making capacity.

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety and depression may have a major impact on a person's ability to make decisions. Characterization of symptoms that reflect anxiety and depression in family members visiting intensive care patients should be of major relevance to the ethics of involving family members in decision-making, particularly about end-of-life issues. DESIGN: Prospective multicenter study. SETTING: Forty-three French intensive care units (37 adult and six pediatric); each unit included 15 patients admitted for longer than 2 days. PATIENTS: Six hundred thirty-seven patients and 920 family members. INTERVENTIONS: Intensive care unit characteristics and data on the patient and family members were collected. Family members completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale to allow evaluation of the prevalence and potential factors associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 920 Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale questionnaires that were completed by family members, all items were completed in 836 questionnaires, which formed the basis for this study. The prevalence of symptoms of anxiety and depression in family members was 69.1% and 35.4%, respectively. Symptoms of anxiety or depression were present in 72.7% of family members and 84% of spouses. Factors associated with symptoms of anxiety in a multivariate model included patient-related factors (absence of chronic disease), family-related factors (spouse, female gender, desire for professional psychological help, help being received by general practitioner), and caregiver-related factors (absence of regular physician and nurse meetings, absence of a room used only for meetings with family members). The multivariate model also identified three groups of factors associated with symptoms of depression: patient-related (age), family-related (spouse, female gender, not of French descent), and caregiver-related (no waiting room, perceived contradictions in the information provided by caregivers). CONCLUSIONS: More than two-thirds of family members visiting patients in the intensive care unit suffer from symptoms of anxiety or depression. Involvement of anxious or depressed family members in end-of-life decisions should be carefully discussed.

Compliance with triage to intensive care recommendations.

DESIGN: Recommendations for triage to intensive care units (ICUs) have been issued but not evaluated. SETTING: In this prospective, multicenter study, all patients granted or refused admission to 26 ICUs affiliated with the French Society for Critical Care were included during a 1-month period. Characteristics of participating ICUs and patients, circumstances of triage, and description of the triage decision with particular attention to compliance with published recommendations were recorded. RESULTS: During the study period, 1,009 patients were and 283 were not admitted to the participating ICUs. Refused patients were more likely to be older than 65 yrs (odds ratio [OR], 3.53; confidence interval [CI], 1.98-5.32) and to have a poor chronic health status (OR, 3.09; CI, 2.05-4.67). An admission diagnosis of acute respiratory or renal failure, shock, or coma was associated with admission, whereas chronic severe respiratory and heart failure or metastatic disease without hope of remission were associated with refusal (OR, 2.24; CI, 1.38-3.64). Only four (range, 0-8) of the 20 recommendations for triage to ICU were observed; a full unit and triage over the phone were associated with significantly poorer compliance with recommendations (0 [0-2] vs. 6 [2-9], p =.0003; and 1 [0-6] vs. 6 [1-9], p <.0001; respectively). CONCLUSION: Recommendations for triage to intensive care are rarely observed, particularly when the unit is full or triage is done over the phone. These recommendations may need to be redesigned to improve their practicability under real-life conditions, with special attention to phone triage and triaging to a full unit.