Do Not Use Water Jets on Skin Hematoma.

Morel-Lavallée lesions are posttraumatic hemolymphatic collections related to shearing injury of variable mechanism (severe trauma or low-velocity crush injury), resulting in disruption of interfacial planes between subcutaneous soft tissue and muscle and perforating lymphatics and blood vessels. A 69-y-old woman, without medical history, was admitted to the emergency ward for important pain located from her behind to the anterior face of the thighs. Physical examination revealed large semirecent hematoma with a large soft fluctuant area with hypermobility of the skin and cutaneous hyperesthesia, spreading from her behind to the anterior face of her thigs. Her symptoms were typical of a Morel-Lavallée lesion. The ultrasound examination revealed hypoechoic heterogeneous compressible fluid containing fat debris with irregular margins and lobular shape, localized between subcutaneous fat and deep fascia, without flow on color Doppler, confirming the acute Morel-Lavallée lesion. After evacuation by needle puncture, the collection reappearance was probably due to hemolymphatic fluid corresponding to type 1 of the Mellado and Bencardino classification of Morel-Lavallée lesions. Patients and Physicians should be aware of the worsening effects of balneotherapy on skin hematoma to prevent dramatic extension of Morel-Lavallée lesions.

Reassessment of Iron Biomarkers for Prediction of Dialysis Iron Overload: An MRI Study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Iron overload among hemodialysis patients was previously considered rare but is now an increasingly recognized clinical situation. We analyzed correlations between iron biomarkers and the liver iron concentration (LIC) measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and examined their diagnostic accuracy for iron overload. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: We performed a prospective cross-sectional study from 31 January 2005 to 31 August 2013 in the dialysis centre of a French community-based private hospital. A cohort of 212 hemodialysis patients free of overt inflammation or malnutrition, were treated for anemia with parenteral iron-sucrose and an erythropoesis-stimulating agent, in keeping with current clinical guidelines. Blinded measurements of hepatic iron stores were performed by T1 and T2* contrast MRI, and relationships were analysed using Spearman's coefficient, logistic regression and receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS: Among the biological markers, only serum ferritin showed a strong correlation with LIC (rho= 0.52, 95% CI: 0.41-0.61, p< 0.0001, Spearman test). In logistic analysis, only serum ferritin correctly classified the overall cohort into patients with normal liver iron stores (LIC ≤ 50 µmol/g) and those with elevated liver iron stores (LIC > 50 µmol/g) (odds ratio 1.007; 95% CI: 1.004-1.010). Serum ferritin was the iron biomarker with the best discriminatory capacity in ROC curves analysis (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.767; 95% CI: 0.698-0.835). The optimal serum ferritin cutoffs were 160 µg/L for LIC > 50 µmol/g (mild iron overload) and 290 µg/L for LIC > 200 µmol/g (severe iron overload). CONCLUSIONS: For clinical purposes, serum ferritin correctly reflects liver iron stores, as assessed by MRI, in hemodialysis patients without overt inflammation or malnutrition. These results strongly suggest that current ferritin target values should be lowered to avoid iron overload. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN Registry 80100088.

Maximal standard dose of parenteral iron for hemodialysis patients: an MRI-based decision tree learning analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Iron overload used to be considered rare among hemodialysis patients after the advent of erythropoesis-stimulating agents, but recent MRI studies have challenged this view. The aim of this study, based on decision-tree learning and on MRI determination of hepatic iron content, was to identify a noxious pattern of parenteral iron administration in hemodialysis patients. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: We performed a prospective cross-sectional study from 31 January 2005 to 31 August 2013 in the dialysis centre of a French community-based private hospital. A cohort of 199 fit hemodialysis patients free of overt inflammation and malnutrition were treated for anemia with parenteral iron-sucrose and an erythropoesis-stimulating agent (darbepoetin), in keeping with current clinical guidelines. Patients had blinded measurements of hepatic iron stores by means of T1 and T2* contrast MRI, without gadolinium, together with CHi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) analysis. RESULTS: The CHAID algorithm first split the patients according to their monthly infused iron dose, with a single cutoff of 250 mg/month. In the node comprising the 88 hemodialysis patients who received more than 250 mg/month of IV iron, 78 patients had iron overload on MRI (88.6%, 95% CI: 80% to 93%). The odds ratio for hepatic iron overload on MRI was 3.9 (95% CI: 1.81 to 8.4) with >250 mg/month of IV iron as compared to <250 mg/month. Age, gender (female sex) and the hepcidin level also influenced liver iron content on MRI. CONCLUSIONS: The standard maximal amount of iron infused per month should be lowered to 250 mg in order to lessen the risk of dialysis iron overload and to allow safer use of parenteral iron products.

Cinacalcet to prevent parathyrotoxic crises in hypercalcaemic patients awaiting parathyroidectomy.

Primary hyperparathyroidism is the third most common endocrine disorder. Hypercalcaemia exceeding 3 mmol/l is a major risk factor for parathyrotoxic crises, and management of patients at risk remains a medical challenge. The authors recently managed three such patients referred for severe nephrolithiasis. All had severe hypercalcaemia (at least 3 mmol/l). Instead of the usual management, which involves hospitalisation in an intensive care environment (for about 5-7 days) for rehydration and infusion of intravenous bisphosphonates, followed by emergency parathyroidectomy, the three patients received ambulatory cinacalcet (not an approved indication), 30 mg twice a day. The serum calcium normalised in two cases and declined to a safe level in the third case, allowing minimally invasive parathyroidectomy to be performed at a date chosen according to the patients' and surgeon's respective schedules. The authors consider that cinacalcet may benefit severely hypercalcaemic patients awaiting surgery for primary hyperparathyroidism.