Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Jun 2013
Review Comparative Study[Safety aspects of parenteral iron supplementation therapies in patients with chronic kidney disease].
Iron deficiency often occurs in patients with chronic kidney disease and can be effectively treated with parenteral supplementation of iron. In these patients, prompt application of iron therapy can help to reduce the dependence of erythropoietin-stimulating agents and effectively treat anemia. Correct evaluation of iron metabolism in CKD patients can be difficult. ⋯ Due to limited data, a comparison of third-generation iron preparations with previous preparations is not possible. Recently, for the first time, the third generation iron preparation ferumoxytol has been directly compared to iron sucrose. From this data and others, it remains unclear whether third generation iron preparations show safety-relevant superiority.
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Dtsch. Med. Wochenschr. · Jun 2013
Review[Pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with congenital heart disease: current issues and health care situation].
Defects of the heart and associated large vessels (CHD) are among the most frequent congenital anomalies. Owing to improved interdisciplinary management, about 90% of CHD patients reach adulthood. Up to 10% maintain or newly develop pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) over time, which impairs exercise tolerance and prognosis. ⋯ Mean 4-year survival in incident patients (PAH-CHD diagnosis after start of the registry in 2007) was 79%, compared with 72% in patients with idiopathic PAH (IPAH). According to these registry data, patients with PAH-CHD have impaired exercise capacity, and substantially reduced quality of life. They receive combination therapy or OAC, respectively, less frequently than IPAH patients, however, their survival rate is higher.
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This CME-review is about the clinical importance of the abdominal lymph node diagnostic with special attention to various ultrasound techniques. This includes innovative techniques like contrast enhanced ultrasound and elastography. ⋯ The article deals as well with endosonographic techniques because of the upmost importance of the technique for diagnosing mediastinal and abdominal lymphnode swellings. In conclusion of the article different clinical scenarios and clinical algorithms are presented to help the reader to diagnose abdominal lymphadenopathy correctly in an efficient way.
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The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by severe impairment of gas exchange and remains a challenge for modern intensive care medicine. The most common causes of ARDS are pneumonia and sepsis. The mortality in severe ARDS is as high as 50 %. ⋯ Furthermore, lung protective mechanical ventilation must be applied using low tidal volumes and limiting inspiratory pressures. Intermittent prone positioning can reduce mortality in severe cases of ARDS. In extreme, life threatening cases extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can stabilize gas exchange and serve as a bridge to recovery and means to enable lung protective ventilation.
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Tissue-based molecular diagnostics is a fast growing diagnostic field, which already complements morphologic classifications in many cases. Pathology based molecular diagnosis is performed almost exclusively on paraffin embedded material and always in conjunction with histopathology. ⋯ The rapidly growing number of clinically relevant predictive biomarkers together with impressive technical advances, specifically the development of massive parallel sequencing, will modify the care of patients with malignant diseases. Pathology, therefore, has returned in the very center of interdisciplinary patient care.