La Revue de médecine interne
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Tropheryma whipplei culture and genome sequencing have, thanks to new tools, rationalized both diagnosis and treatment of Whipple's disease. Whipple's disease involves mainly Caucasian male, approximately 50-years-old, suffering from arthralgia, weight loss and diarrhea. A worsening of clinical manifestations after immunosuppressive therapy is frequently observed while antibiotics prescribed for another infection improves the clinical status. ⋯ PCR and culture (particularly for cerebrospinal fluid) performed on various tissues and fluids allow the localized infections diagnosis. In classic Whipple's disease, the treatment with doxycycline (200mg/day) and hydroxychloroquine (600 mg/day) for a length of 12 months followed by a lifetime treatment by doxycycline (200 mg/day) should be recommended to avoid reinfection. In localized infections, a treatment with doxycycline (200mg/day) and hydroxychloroquine (600 mg/day) is proposed for 12 to 18 months followed by a lifetime follow-up.
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Hypophysitis is a rare disorder. As clinical manifestations and radiologic signs are non specific, the diagnosis is difficult. Pathogenesis of hypophysitis remains largely unknown but new histological and etiological variants have been recently reported. ⋯ An entity of IgG4 related plasmatic hypophysitis has been described and well-defined diagnostic criteria have been proposed. Monoclonal antibodies directed against the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4), investigated in metastatic cancer, can induce hypophysitis. Several candidate pituitary auto-antigens have been described in the last decade, although none has proven to be useful as a diagnostic tool.
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Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a chronic disease characterized by repeated upper airway obstructions during sleep, resulting in fragmented sleep with arousals, nocturnal intermittent hypoxemia and diurnal dysfunctions. Despite its high prevalence in elderly, sleep apnea syndrome seems to be underestimated and difficult to be recognized because of the lack of clinical symptoms specificity in this population. Among the numerous consequences of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, cognitive impairment prevails on the attention, executive functions and memory. ⋯ In this context, the question arises whether obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a possible etiological or aggravating factor of cognitive decline in elderly with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer's disease. Although there are conflicting results in studies evaluating therapeutic efficiency of continuous positive air pressure, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome seems nevertheless as a correctable factor, at least for its impact on some cognitive consequences. Looking for sleep apnea syndrome in elderly with cognitive decline should be considered in a global, diagnosis and therapeutic management.
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Over the past decades, the incidence and the number of hospital admissions for acute pancreatitis have increased in the Western countries. The two most common etiological factors of acute pancreatitis are gallstones (including small gallstones or microlithiasis) and alcohol abuse. Acute pancreatitis is associated with a significant mortality (4-10%) and 25% in case of pancreatic necrosis, especially. ⋯ The incidence trends of acute pancreatitis possibly reflect a change in the prevalence of main etiological factors (e.g. gallstones and alcohol consumption) and cofactors such as tobacco, obesity and genetic susceptibility. Priority is to search for associated causes, especially in cases with atypical symptoms. In case of first acute pancreatitis in patients older than 50 years, the presence of a tumor (benign or malignant) has to be specifically ruled out, using CT-scan, MRI and endoscopic ultrasound.
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Patients suffering from muscular symptoms or with an increase of creatine kinase levels may present a myopathy. In such situations, clinicians have to confirm the existence of a myopathy and determine if it is an acquired or a genetic muscular disease. In the presence of an acquired myopathy after having ruled out an infectious, a toxic agent or an endocrine cause, physicians must identify which type of idiopathic myopathy the patient is presenting: either a myositis including polymyositis, dermatomyositis, and inclusion body myositis, or an immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy. ⋯ Anti-MDA-5 antibody are specifically associated with dermatomyositis, and define a skin-lung syndrome with a frequent severe disease course. Anti-TIF1-γ is also associated with dermatomyositis but its presence is frequently predictive of a cancer association whereas anti-MI2 is associated with the classical dermatomyositis. Two specific antibodies, anti-SRP and anti-HMGCR, are observed in patients with immune-mediated necrotizing myopathies and may be very useful to distinguish acquired myopathies from dystrophic muscular diseases in case of a slow onset and to allow the initiation of effective therapy.