A forgotten old disease: mediastinal tuberculous lymphadenitis in children

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the study was two-fold: (1) to highlight the varied presentation of mediastinal tuberculous lymphadenitis (MTL) in children and (2) to identify parameters, that may help in the early diagnosis of this condition.

METHODS

Between January 1995 and December 2002, 13 children with histological diagnosis of MTL were retrospectively assessed for age at presentation, history of exposure to TB, presenting symptoms, investigations, initial diagnosis, surgical treatment and outcome. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine potential risk factors for early diagnosis of MTL.

RESULTS

Thirteen children presented with: (a) fever, night sweats and weight loss (4); (b) acute respiratory distress (2); (c) cough and shortness of breath (SOB) (5); (d) stridor (1); and (e) chest pain (1). TB was suspected only in 6 children (46%) at presentation. In the other 7 cases (54%) the presumed diagnoses were: neuroblastoma (n=1), metastatic malignancy (n=1), bronchial polyp (n=1), bronchogenic cyst (n=2), and presumed foreign body (n=2). Bronchoscopy was diagnostic in identifying cheesy material within the bronchus and organisms on lavage in 4 (30%) and in identifying external compression in 2 (15%). Thoracotomy and excision of the lymph node mass was necessary to treat the mediastinal compression and to ascertain the diagnosis of TB in 3 children (23%). All 13 children had complete resolution of tuberculous lymphadenitis following anti-tuberculous treatment. The diagnostic clues in this cohort of patients were cough and SOB with history of exposure to tuberculosis (P=0.0001) and bronchoscopy and lavage with positive staining for acid-fast bacilli (P=0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Tuberculosis was not suspected in 54% of children with MTL, and they posed diagnostic dilemma on admission. Bronchoscopy must be used as a diagnostic tool in children where tuberculosis cannot be excluded by radiology or specific skin tests. Thoracotomy and excision may be necessary to treat the obstructive symptoms.

Lethal mesenteric ischaemia after cardiopulmonary bypass: a common complication?

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of the study was twofold: (1) to identify the incidence of acute mesenteric ischaemia (A.M.Isc.) following cardiopulmonary bypass and (2) to identify factors associated with its development.

METHODS

A retrospective review of all autopsy reports from 1st January 1994 to 31st December 2000 was undertaken. Fifty-two patients were identified with acute mesenteric ischaemia at post-mortem following cardiac surgery. Demographic, pre-, intra- and post-operative variables were collected from their case notes. Four age, sex and period matched controls [n=208 (4 x 52)] were randomly selected for each case. Conditional logistic regression was used to compare the cases and controls.

RESULTS

A total of 11,202 patients underwent surgery requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) during the study period with an overall mortality rate of 3%. The autopsy rate was 95% throughout the study period. From autopsy reports 52 patients (corrected for autopsy rate: 0.49% of group) were identified with A.M.Isc. Comparing controls with A.M.Isc. cases by univariate analysis, significant associations (P</=0.001) with A.M.Isc. were identified. These included: (1) peripheral vascular disease [15 (7%) vs. 14 (27%)]; (2) intraaortic balloon pump (IABP) use [5 (2%) vs. 22 (42%)]; (3) post-operative renal failure [2 (1%) vs. 32 (61%)]; (4) operation type (coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) alone [143 (69%) vs. 25 (48%)], valve alone [35 (17%) vs. 5 (10%)], valve+CABG [23 (11%) vs. 11 (21%)], major cardiac [7 (3%) vs. 11 (21%)]); (5) priority of operation (elective [155 (75%) vs. 27 (52%) emergency 52 (25%) vs. 25 (48%)]; and (6) smoking 12 (7%) vs. 9 (17%). CPB and cross-clamp times (minutes) were also significantly different between the groups [median (inter-quartile range (IQR)); 72 (55,96) vs. 100 (76,128) and 39 (30,54) vs. 56 (37,84), respectively]. Neither diabetes 23 (11%) vs. 6 (12%) nor hypertension 102 (49%) vs. 26 (50%) achieved significance (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The incidence of acute mesenteric ischaemia is 0.49% of all cases undergoing CPB. A.M.Isc. is a common association with death following CPB (11%). It appears to be significantly associated with the presence of peripheral vascular disease, IABP use, the development of post-operative renal failure, operation type and priority, smoking, duration of CPB and cross-clamp time. Surprisingly, it was not linked to general risk factors for vascular disease.