Post-infection immunocomplex glomerulonephritis and Legionnaires' disease in a patient with adult Still's disease during treatment with interleukin 1 receptor antagonist anakinra: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Legionellosis is a systemic disease that primarily affects the lungs. However, dysfunction in many organ systems, including the kidneys, has also been described. There are only a few reported cases of renal dysfunction in patients with legionellosis.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 27-year-old Caucasian woman with known adult Still's disease was admitted to our hospital for community-acquired pneumonia, due to <it>Legionella </it>infection, with acute renal failure. Although her respiratory symptoms responded well to antibiotic treatment, her renal function worsened, with severe proteinuria and edema. A renal biopsy showed extracapillary and endocapillary proliferative glomerulonephritis with accompanying chronic and acute interstitial nephritis. This was consistent with a post-infection immunocomplex glomerulonephritis. After initiation of steroid therapy, her renal function improved. Additionally, therapy with diuretics and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor was initiated because of persistent proteinuria. Under this treatment regimen, her severe edema and proteinuria disappeared.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To the best of our knowledge, there is only a handful of reported cases of post-infection glomerulonephritis with a nephrotic syndrome in a patient with legionellosis. Our findings suggest that, in patients with Legionnaires' disease with renal failure, post-infection immunocomplex glomerulonephritis should be considered and steroid therapy may be an effective modality to treat the renal complication.</p

Jo1-antisynthetase syndrome and severe interstitial lung disease with organising pneumonia on histopathology with favourable outcome on early combined treatment with corticosteroids, mycophenolate mofetil and rituximab

Antisynthetase syndrome is a rare autoimmune disease and represents a distinct entity within the idiopathic inflammatory myopathies. Its variable systemic manifestations are composed of myositis, interstitial lung disease, non-erosive arthritis, fever, Raynaud's phenomenon, hyperkeratotic skin changes and the presence of antibodies against aminoacyl-transfer-RNA-synthetases. Interstitial lung disease is the major determinant of morbidity and mortality. The role of lung biopsy remains controversial but it might be considered on an individual basis and may provide information regarding prognosis and treatment response. An integrated clinical, radiological and pathological approach to interstitial lung disease has to be emphasised. Due to the rarity of the disease, no standardised treatment guidelines for antisynthetase syndrome exist. We discuss a patient with anti-Jo1-autoantibody antisynthetase syndrome with proximal myositis and severe, rapid onset, interstitial lung disease with a histopathological pattern of organising pneumonia on surgical lung biopsy and good response to early combined immunosuppressive treatment with corticosteroids, mycophenolate mofetil and rituximab

Application of an aviation model of incident reporting and investigation to the neurosurgical scenario: method and preliminary data

Object. Incident reporting systems are universally recognized as important tools for quality improvement in all complex adaptive systems, including the operating room. Nevertheless, introducing a safety culture among neurosurgeons is a slow process, and few studies are available in the literature regarding the implementation of an incident reporting system within a neurosurgical department. The authors describe the institution of an aviation model of incident reporting and investigation in neurosurgery, focusing on the method they have used and presenting some preliminary results. Methods. In 2010, the Inpatient Safety On-Board project was developed through cooperation between a team of human factor and safety specialists with aviation backgrounds (DgSky team) and the general manager of the Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta. In 2011, after specific training in safety culture, the authors implemented an aviation-derived prototype of incident reporting within the Department of Neurosurgery. They then developed an experimental protocol to track, analyze, and categorize any near misses that happened in the operating room. This project officially started in January 2012, when a dedicated team of assessors was established. All members of the neurosurgical department were asked to report near misses on a voluntary, confidential, and protected form (Patient Incident Reporting System form, Besta Safety Management Programme). Reports were entered into an online database and analyzed by a dedicated team of assessors with the help of a facilitator, and an aviation-derived root cause analysis was performed. Results. Since January 2012, 14 near misses were analyzed and classified. The near-miss contributing factors were mainly related to human factors (9 of 14 cases), technology (1 of 14 cases), organizational factors (3 of 14 cases), or procedural factors (1 of 14 cases). Conclusions. Implementing an incident reporting system is quite demanding; the process should involve all of the people who work within the environment under study. Persistence and strong commitment are required to enact the culture change essential in shifting from a paradigm of infallible operators to the philosophy of errare humanum est. For this paradigm shift to be successful, contributions from aviation and human factor experts are critical