Likely Diagnosis (likely + diagnosis)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Medical Sciences


Selected Abstracts


Severe upper airway obstruction in the tropics requiring intensive care

PEDIATRICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2001
Pwk Chan
Background: The clinical profile of severe upper airway obstruction, a challenging acute pediatric emergency, has not been extensively documented in the developing nations of the tropics. Methods: The diagnostic categories, severity of illness and outcome from 63 episodes of severe upper airway obstruction in 56 children admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit between January 1994 and December 1999 were reviewed. Outcome variables studied included requirement for ventilation, mortality and complications. Severity of illness was determined with the Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) II score. Results: Viral croup (29%) was the most common diagnosis, followed by mediastinal malignancy (13%), bacterial tracheitis (11%) and Pierre Robin syndrome (11%). There were no admissions for acute epiglottitis. Thirty episodes (48%) required ventilation for a median duration of 4.0 days. Bacterial tracheitis (100%) and subglottic stenosis (100%) were the most likely diagnoses requiring ventilation. Difficulty in intubation was encountered in 13 episodes (43%) involving, in particular, patients with bacterial tracheitis (83%; P=0.006). Only two patients required a tracheostomy. The overall mortality was 11%. The PRISM score for all categories was generally low (mean 10.3~1.0; median 9.0). Non-survivors had a significantly higher PRISM II score than survivors (27.4~9.7 vs 8.1~4.9, respectively; P=0.002) and were more likely to include children with bacterial tracheitis and mediastinal malignancy. Conclusions: There is marked heterogeneity in the causes of upper airway obstruction in the tropics with viral croup remaining the most common. A significant proportion required ventilation, but outcome is generally favorable, except in those with bacterial tracheitis and mediastinal malignancy. [source]


The Development and Well-Being Assessment: Description and Initial Validation of an Integrated Assessment of Child and Adolescent Psychopathology

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 5 2000
Robert Goodman
The Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA) is a novel package of questionnaires, interviews, and rating techniques designed to generate ICD-10 and DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses on 5-ldyear-olds. Nonclinical interviewers administer a structured interview to parents about psychiatric symptoms and resultant impact. When definite symptoms are identified by the structured questions, interviewers use open-ended questions and supplementary prompts to get parents to describe the problems in their own words. These descriptions are transcribed verbatim by the interviewers but are not rated by them. A similar interview is administered to 1 l-16-year-olds. Teachers complete a brief questionnaire covering the main conduct, emotional, and hyperactivity symptoms and any resultant impairment. The different sorts of information are brought together by a computer program that also predicts likely diagnoses. These computer-generated summary sheets and diagnoses form a convenient starting point for experienced clinical raters, who decide whether to accept or overturn the computer diagnosis (or lack of diagnosis) in the light of their review of all the data, including transcripts. In the present study, the DAWBA was administered to community (N= 491) and clinic (N= 39) samples. There was excellent discrimination between community and clinic samples in rates of diagnosed disorder. Within the community sample, subjects with and without diagnosed disorders differed markedly in external characteristics and prognosis. In the clinic sample, there was substantial agreement between DAWBA and case note diagnoses, though the DAWBA diagnosed more comorbid disorders. The use of screening questions and skip rules greatly reduced interview length by allowing many sections to be omitted with very little loss of positive information. Overall, the DAWBA successfully combined the cheapness and simplicity of respondent-based measures with the clinical persuasiveness of investigator-based diagnoses. The DAWBA has considerable potential as an epidemiological measure, and may prove to be of clinical value too. [source]


Sarcomatoid collecting duct carcinoma of kidney diagnosed with urine and renal pelvic lavage cytology

DIAGNOSTIC CYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010
Akihiro Mimura C.T.
Abstract A case of sarcomatoid collecting duct carcinoma (CDC) of kidney is presented, in which the diagnosis was made cytologically with voided urine and renal pelvis lavage. Cytology of hemorrhagic voided urine revealed highly atypical adenocarcinoma cells with reminiscent ductal structure, which suggested CDC as the most likely diagnosis. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a left renal tumor, and selective lavage of left renal pelvis yielded spindle-shaped, highly atypical cells that indicated sarcomatoid carcinoma. The diagnosis of renal cancer with urine cytology is challenging because of small number of tumor cells in the urine, which are often associated with degeneration. As the urinary cytologic findings of sarcomatoid CDC have not been reported, the characteristic cytologic findings of sarcomatoid CDC are described in detail, and the differential diagnoses with diagnostic pitfalls were discussed. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010;38:603,606. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Abnormal cardiovascular responses to carotid sinus massage also occur in vasovagal syncope , implications for diagnosis and treatment

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 8 2010
A. M. Humm
Background and purpose:, Carotid sinus massage (CSM) is commonly used to identify carotid sinus hypersensitivity (CSH) as a possible cause for syncope, especially in older patients. However, CSM itself could provoke classical vasovagal syncope (VVS) in pre disposed subjects. Methods:, Retrospective analysis of CSM, cardiovascular autonomic function tests (including tilt table testing) and medical history in 388 patients with recurrent syncope to identify and characterize patients in whom an abnormal response to CSM was more likely to reflect VVS than CSH. Results:, CSM was abnormal in 79 patients. In 53 patients (77.2 ± 8.7 years), CSH was the likely cause of syncope. VVS was the more likely diagnosis in 26 younger patients (59.7 ± 12.6 years) with longstanding syncope from youth, in whom fear or pain was as a trigger; 7/26 suffered from intense chronic or intermittent neck pain and one exacerbation of syncopal attacks followed a physical and emotional trauma to the neck. In VVS, 4/26 had spontaneous VVS during head-up tilt, another six after venepuncture (performed in 17/26). In 6/26, the abnormal response to CSM was delayed, occurring 62.8 ± 28.4 s after completion of CSM. The response to CSM was predominantly of the mixed type (20/26) and abnormal on both sides in 14/26. Conclusions:, An abnormal response to CSM may not indicate syncope caused by CSH and needs to be considered in the light of the patient's age, duration of syncopal episodes and detailed history of provocative stimuli. Differentiating CSH from VVS with an abnormal response to CSM has various implications from advice on driving to treatment strategies. [source]


Differentiating thrombotic microangiopathies induced by severe hypertension from anemia and thrombocytopenia seen in thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura,

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL APHERESIS, Issue 3 2004
J.A. Egan
Abstract Thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) is a recognized complication of malignant hypertension (HTN). Such patients have blood pressures ,200/140 mmHg but the condition is defined by the presence of papilledema and is frequently complicated by acute renal failure. Here we report two patients with severe HTN (systolic ,180 mmHg or diastolic ,120 mmHg), TMA, thrombocytopenia, renal failure, and, in one case, neurological changes (4 of 5 manifestations of the TTP pentad). A 50-year-old male with HTN presented with blurred vision, dizziness, headache, confusion, renal failure, and a TMA (PLT = 39 × 109/L and LD = 2,781 normal <600 U/L). On presentation, BP was 214/133 mmHg and an ophthalmic exam demonstrated no papilledema. With HTN control over 7 days, his platelet count rebounded (220 × 109/L), LD declined (1,730 U/L), and mental status improved. A 60-year-old female with diabetes, HTN, Lupus erythematosus, mild chronic anemia, and thrombocytopenia presented with abdominal pain, shortness of breath, renal failure, and a TMA (PLT = 83 × 109/L and LD = 2,929 U/L). Blood pressures were 180,210/89,111 mmHg and ophthalmic exam demonstrated no papilledema. With HTN control over 8 days, her platelet count rebounded (147 × 109/L), and LD declined (1,624 U/L). Although in both cases a diagnosis of TTP was considered because of overlap with the classic diagnostic pentad, neither received plasmapheresis. TTP is a diagnosis of exclusion, where there is no other likely diagnosis to explain the TMA. In cases of severe HTN (with or without papilledema), the diagnosis of TTP should be held in abeyance until the effect of HTN control can be assessed. J. Clin. Apheresis 19:125,129, 2004. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Androgen Receptor Expression Helps to Differentiate BCC From Trichoblastoma and Trichoepithelioma

JOURNAL OF CUTANEOUS PATHOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
L. Izikson
Histological differentiation between basal cell carcinoma and benign trichoblastic neoplasms such as trichoepithelioma and trichoblastoma can be difficult on small biopsies. Therefore, several attempts have been made to identify immunohistochemical differences between these entities. Recent studies showed androgen receptor expression in a number of mature epithelial structures in the skin and in epithelial neoplasms including basal cell carcinoma. In contrast, androgen receptor expression was absent in mature hair follicles or the few trichogenic neoplasms studied to date. These findings suggested that androgen receptor expression might be a useful adjunct in the histological differential diagnosis between basal cell carcinoma and benign trichoblastic neoplasms. Therefore, we performed immunohistochemical analysis of androgen receptor expression in 32 basal cell carcinomas and 10 benign trichoblastic tumors (6 trichoepitheliomas and 4 trichoblastomas). In our study, expression of androgen receptor was detected in 78% of basal cell carcinomas. None of the trichoblastic tumors showed any androgen receptor immunoreactivity. These results confirm the lack of androgen receptor expression in benign trichoblastic neoplasms and indicate that finding of androgen receptor expression points to basal cell carcinoma as the most likely diagnosis. [source]


Atypical presentations of pityriasis rosea: case presentations

JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY & VENEREOLOGY, Issue 1 2005
A Chuh
ABSTRACT Atypical cases of pityriasis rosea (PR) are fairly common and less readily recognized than typical eruptions. We present four patients for whom we believe atypical PR is the most likely diagnosis. A 33-year-old man had purpuric lesions bilaterally on the legs with classical rash on the trunk. A 28-year-old woman had intensely pruritic and urticarial lesions. A 10-year-old girl had hundreds of small papular lesions 1,3 mm in size. A pregnant woman aged 26 had oral haemorrhagic ulcers with classical PR eruption on her trunk. The oral ulcers erupted and remitted at the same time as the generalized eruption. We reviewed the literature and proposed a classification based on rash morphology, rash size, rash distribution, number of lesions, site of lesions, severity of symptoms and course of the eruption. We believe that it is difficult to make a clear division to define typical and atypical PR, and that it is important not to ascribe any unusual or atypical skin eruption with PR unless other dermatoses have been excluded. [source]


A neuro-Behcet's lesion in oculomotor nerve nucleus

ACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 2 2003
M. D. Aydin
Objective , Fascicular oculomotor nerve involvement is occasionally seen in Behcet's disease, but nuclear involvement is very rare. Case presentation , A 25-year-old woman presented with the Behcet's symptoms and the left eye problems. Physical examination revealed muco-cutaneous lesions, eyelid ptosis, mydriasis, upward and medial gaze palsy and lateral deviation on the left eye. Serologic tests were positive. An inflammatory lesion was detected in the left oculomotor nerve nucleus on magnetic resonance imaging. Neuro-Behcet's disease was considered the most likely diagnosis. Result , Dexamethasone treatment was ordered. Muco-cutaneal lesions, laboratory abnormalities were normalized after 1 year; but oculomotor nerve palsy persisted in spite of improvement in radiological findings. Conclusion , Clinical signs of oculomotor nerve palsy may persist despite the radiological improvement. [source]