Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia or Rendu-Osler-Weber Syndrome in the Same Family

The authors present the case of three patients from the same family in whom hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) or Rendu-Osler-Weber syndrome was diagnosed. The disease is rare and occurs with multiple telangiectases of the skin and mucosa, and pulmonary arteriovenous fistulae. The clinical status of our patients included multiple telangiectases of the skin and mucosa, recurrent epistaxis, exertion dyspnea and cyanosis. Polycythemia and hypoxemia were observed in the blood. The clinical status and conventional radiological examination of the thoracic region, with the suspicion of arteriovenous (A-V) fistulae, pointed to HHT. A-V fistulae were confirmed by pulmonary angiography. The pulmonary A-V fistulae were operated in all three patients and diagnosis was confirmed by histopathological examination of the operated samples. Clinical improvement was observed after the operation and cyanosis, dyspnea, hypoxemia and polycythemia disappeared

Psychosocial Characteristics of Patients with Bronchial Asthma and Coronary Disease: Similarities and Differences

The authors compare two groups of subjects: patients with bronchial asthma and those with coronary disease, with regard to some social characteristics, abilities and perception of factors which they conceive are important in the etiology of their disease. Data were obtained by means of a questionnaire based on a known calibrated scale. A group of 100 patients with bronchial asthma and a group of 102 patients with coronary disease were examined. The significance of the difference was tested by c 2, t-test, Wilcoxon’s test and multivariate discriminative analysis. The results showed statistically significant differences between the patients with bronchial asthma and those with coronary disease in some social and psychological characteristics and also with regard to perception of potential etiological factors of their disease. However, no difference was found in life style and habits between the coronary and asthmatic patients

Doses in the Vicinity of Mobile X-ray Equipment in a Children’s Intensive Care Unit

Most of the patients in the intensive care unit for children are newborns and infants having an infection of the central nervous system, with systemic septic and respiratory infections. Therefore, mobile X-ray equipment including mobile shields is routinely used for diagnosis of the respiratory tract, heart and endovascular cateterisation. The aim of this work was to determine the radiation exposure to the children in the vicinity of the exposed patient in the same or next room. Three measurement runs were carried out with thermoluminescence dosimetry system. The results show that the homogeneity of the irradiation field is adequate, the exposure of children to radiation in the vicinity of the exposed patient in the same or next room is very low, practically in the range of the lowest detectable dose. The entrance dose on the breast of the patient was found to be 0.07 mSv. Therefore, there is no basis for the risk estimation of genetic, leukemogenic and cancerogenic detriment

Perception of Ecological Factors in Asthmatic and Coronary Patients

The aim of the study was to determine whether an examined group of asthmatic patients differ significantly from a control group of coronary patients with regard to perception of two groups of etiological factors and their interaction: a) ecological factors, and b) habits and behavior of the patients. The study included 100 patients with bronchial asthma and 102 with coronary disease. A questionnaire was used to obtain data on ecological factors in the living environment of the patients and information on habits and behavior. The questionnaire was structured according to the specific needs of the study, and as a starting point known, calibrated, psychometric scales were used. Asthmatic and coronary patients did not differ with regard to their place of residence, i.e. the same number lived in the town and village, in similar ecological environments, and they also did not differ with regard to life style and habits. The study indicated statistically significant differences between asthmatic and coronary patients in their perception of several ecological and other risk factors. The asthmatic patients significantly more frequently perceived harmful ecological factors in their environment and regarded them significant for the occurrence of their disease. The coronary patients perceived their unhealthy habits and behavior as the causal factors of their disease