Reye's syndrome

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Acute rheumatic fever during childhood in Kuwait: the mild nature of the initial attack

A prospective clinical study is reported of the initial attack of acute rheumatic fever in 210 children seen in Kuwait over a period of four years. The main presenting feature was pain in the joints, caused by arthritis in 79% of our patients and by arthralgia in 15%. Five per cent presented with chorea alone and 1% with congestive heart failure alone. Carditis was detected in 46.2%, cardiomegaly in 10%, pericarditis in 1.4% and congestive heart failure in 4.8%. The incidence of chorea was 7.6%, of erythema marginatum 1% and of subcutaneous nodules 0.5%. The mortality rate was 0.5%. Data from this study reflect the mild nature of acute rheumatic fever in Kuwait, in contrast to the aggressive nature of the disease described from neighbouring and developing countries.

Long term results of valvar replacement in Kuwaitis

The long term follow-up of 59 Kuwait citizens who underwent valve replacement is presented. There was an early mortality of 12% and late mortality of another 12% with actuarial survival of 76% at five years. These values compare well with earlier Western series. The mean age of 26 is about half that reported in the Western literature. The ratio of mitral valve involvement (pure or mixed) to aortic valve involvement is 2.5:1 indicating that rheumatic heart disease is still prevalent. However, no case was operated during rheumatic activity. Anticoagulation therapy was well tolerated among the Bedouin community with acceptable thromboembolic and bleeding complications. There was high foetal wastage with only two live births out of six pregnancies. Valve malfunctions, haemolysis and subacute bacterial endocarditis complications are also discussed and were little different from other series.

Effect of mebendazole against Echinococcus granulosus and Taenia hydatigena cysts in naturally infected sheep and relevance to larval tapeworm infections in man

The ability of three treatment schedules of mebendazole to kill well-established hydatid cysts was studied. Pregnant sheep, naturally infected with Echinococcus granulosus and/or Taenia hydatigena, were treated daily with mebendazole at a dose rate of 50 mg/kg body weight for either five days, one month, or three months. At autopsy, seven months after the commencement of treatment, no evidence was found that the 5-day treatment schedule had any damaging effect on E. granulosus cysts. The effects of the one month treatment were equivocal. There was evidence of a damaging effect from the 3-month treatment schedule and protoscoleces were not infective to dogs. No T. hydatigena cysts survived the 1- and 3-month treatments, but organisms from the 5-day treatment were infective to dogs. These results for E. granulosus in sheep suggest that long-term treatment with mebendazole may be required in hydatid disease in man. The results obtained for T. hydatigena in sheep are discussed in relation to the treatment of cysticercosis from T. solium in man. Mebendazole showed no untoward effect on the sheep or their lambs.

[Early and late functional hearing results from a modified technique for tympanoplasty (author's transl)]

This paper is a comparative study of the early and late functional results of tympanoplastic operations, as modified by Khan. Following such surgery, we examined 494 patients who had been operated on between 1970--1972 in the ENT Clinic of the Free University of Berlin (Klinikum Westend). Preliminary and final hearing results were recorded with the aid of sound audiograms, which were critically assessed by two different types of evaluations. These included the results of pure-tone changes and speech reception thresholds as achieved by the tympanoplastic operations. On the basis of socially useful hearing improvements, the functional results of cases operated in our clinic are above average. The hearing gain shown from post-operative controls to the final studies is especially satisfactory, since this also includes an improvement in bone conduction.

Estimation of cardiac chamber size by routine chest radiography and echocardiography

The size of the left atrium and both ventricles was estimated by routine chest radiography and compared to echocardiographic single-chamber measurements. Left atrial size correlated well, but echocardiography appeared to be considerably more sensitive in detecting enlargement. Estimates of left ventricular size by radiography and echocardiography showed considerable discrepancy, since the single-dimension echocardiographic technique does not reflect lateral or inferior enlargement, which is readily visible on the radiography; however, ultrasound can distinguish left ventricular hypertrophy from dilatation. Right ventricular size cannot be assessed accurately using the single-diameter technique. The authors suggest that a combination of both techniques would be more accurate than either modality alone and that two-dimensional cardiac studies should prove more reliable than the single-diameter method.