Search

Background: In this study, we wanted to draw attention to the spontaneous pneumomediastinum which rarely seen and to share our experiences. Materials and Methods: Between April 2016 - April 2018, we retrospectively evaluated 12 patients who were hospitalized and treated with SPM diagnosis at Health Practice and Research Center. Results: Of the 12 patients with spontaneous pneumomediastinum, 9 (75%) were male and 3 (25%) were female. Patients had a mean age of 30.5 years (range 15-42 years), 2 patients admitted to the emergency service with swelling and dyspnea complaints, 1 patient with cough and vomiting, 1 patient with cough and chest pain, 3 patients with dyspnea and chest pain, 3 patients with sore throat and chest pain, 2 patients with swelling in the neck after the tooth extraction. 6 (50%) of the patients had a smoking history. Conclusions: Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a disease that is seen rarely in emergencies and should be treated. Sometimes life-threatening complications may develop. Other disorders in differential diagnosis should be eliminated in spontaneous pneumomediastinum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence and pattern of cognitive dysfunction observed in primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS) and to examine the relationships between cognitive abilities, depression, fatigue, and quality of life. Materials and Methods Thirty-two subjects with PSS were compared with 19 healthy controls on comprehensive neuropsychological, depression, fatigue, health state, and daily-life activities tests. Results There was low performance in Clock Drawing, COWAT, Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT), Colorless Word Reading (Stroop1) and Recognizing Colors (Stroop2) Patterns of STROOP test, SDLT, Auditory-Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), immediate and long-term verbal memory, Benton Judgment of Line Orientation Test (BJLOT), and in all the patterns of RCFT in PSS patients compared to the healthy control group ( p < .05). It was observed an increased depression frequency and fatigue severity, impairment in health condition, and a decreased quality of life in PSS cases compared to the healthy controls ( p < .05). All the depression, fatigue severity, and quality of life tests showed a significant positive correlation with each other ( p < .05). A significant negative correlation between Clock Drawing and SF-36-BP ( p = .031, r = −.382) and SF-36-GH ( p = .027, r = −.392) was observed. Conclusions Clock Drawing, PASAT, and AVLT are very useful tests to determine the subclinical and clinical cognitive dysfunction to evaluate attention, information processing speed, executive functions, and short-term and long-term verbal memory in PSS patients. Depression and fatigue may not affect the neuropsychological tests performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim Cognitive dysfunction is a neurologic manifestation in primary Sjögren syndrome ( PSS). On the other hand, several antibodies are related to cognitive dysfunction. The aim of this study is to assess the cognitive dysfunction of PSS patients via detailed neurologic tests. Moreover, its associations with antibodies were also evaluated. Method Twenty-eight female patients with PSS and 17 healthy controls comprised the study groups. Short-term memory, long-term memory, verbal learning, visual memory, visual spatial perception, attention, verbal frequency function, executive functions and information processing speed were evaluated with neurologic tests in both of the study groups. Furthermore, anti- N-methyl-D-aspartate ( NMDA) type anti-glutamate-receptor antibody, anti-ribosomal-p and antiganglioside antibodies were assessed in the study groups. Results The attention, data processing speed, verbal learning, short-term verbal memory and visuo-spatial perception performances were lower in the patients with PSS when compared to the healthy controls. The difference reached statistical significance in Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test ( P < 0.01), Serial Digit Learning Test ( P < 0.01), clock drawing ( P = 0.03), Auditory Verbal Learning Test immediate verbal memory ( P = 0.01) and Benton Judgement of Line Orientation Test ( P = 0.03). Even if antiganglioside antibodies were more likely to be present in the PSS group when compared to the healthy controls, no relationship was found between its positivity and cognitive dysfunction. Conclusion Results of this study suggest that cognitive dysfunction is quite prevalent in PSS patients without being associated with studied antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS) may go undiagnosed or be misclassified due to the insidious nature and wide spectrum of the disease. The available several classification criteria emphasize glandular findings. We aimed to analyze the efficiency of various classification criteria sets in patients diagnosed on the clinical basis by expert opinion and to compare those pSS patients who fulfilled these criteria with those who did not. This is a multicenter study in which 834 patients from 22 university-based rheumatology clinics are included. Diagnosis of pSS was made on the clinical basis by the expert opinion. In this study, we only interviewed patients once and collected available data from the medical records. The European criteria, American-European Consensus Group (AECG) and American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Sjogren's criteria were applied. Majority of the patients were women (F/M was 20/1). The median duration from the first pSS-related symptom to diagnosis was significantly shorter in men (2.5 ± 2.3 vs 4.3 ± 5.9 years) ( p = 0 < 0.016). When the European, AECG and ACR Sjogren's criteria were applied, 666 patients (79.9%) satisfied at least one of them. In total, 539 patients (64.4%) satisfied the European, 439 (52.6%) satisfied the AECG, and 359 (43%) satisfied the ACR criteria. Among the entire group, 250 patients (29.9%) satisfied all and 168 (20.1%) met none of the criteria. The rates of extraglandular organ involvements were not different between patients who met at least one of the criteria sets and those who met none. There is an urgent need for the modification of the pSS criteria sets to prevent exclusion of patients with extraglandular involvements as the dominant clinical features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In this study we aimed to investigate myocardial function and atrial electromechanical properties by conventional and tissue doppler echocardiography in patients with primary Sjögren syndrome. Methods: Forty patients with Sjögren syndrome (SS) and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were enrolled in the study. Using transthoracic echocardiography, myocardial performance index and atrial electromechanical properties were measured. Results: Basal characteristics were similar between two groups. Myocardial performance index values were disturbed in patients with Sjögren syndrome (0.41 vs. 0.32, p<0.01). there was significant intraatrial (16.4±6.4, 5.0±4.5, p<0.01) and interatrial (30.6±10.1, 15.4±5.9, p<0.01) electromechanical delay in this patient group. Conclusion: Myocardial function is disturbed and there is significant atrial electromechanical delay in patients with primary SS. This study is the first to show altered myocardial function and atrial electromechanical properties in primary SS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]