Document Detail


Atheroembolic disease--a frequently missed diagnosis: results of a 12-year matched-pair autopsy study.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20517183     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Diagnosis of atheroembolic disease (AD) is challenging, because no specific test is available and AD often masquerades as other clinical conditions. We conducted the current study to investigate the relative frequency of autopsy-proven AD over time, to describe its clinical presentation, and to identify risk factors for AD. We screened 2066 autopsy reports from 1995 to 2006 for AD. For each AD case, a control patient without AD was matched for age, sex, and autopsy year. Diagnostic and therapeutic interventions (surgery, catheter interventions, and drug treatment) in the last 6 months before death, as well as clinical and laboratory parameters during the last hospitalization, were retrieved from electronic charts. We identified 51 patients with AD. Among these only 6 (12%) had been diagnosed clinically. The organs most often affected were kidney (71%), spleen (37%), and lower gastrointestinal tract (22%). The relative AD frequency decreased over time from 3.5 to 0.5 per 100 autopsies, whereas the frequency of clinically suspected and biopsy-proven AD remained constant. Among clinical signs, skin lesions such as livedo reticularis and blue toe (33% vs. 14%; p = 0.04) were significantly increased in AD patients compared with the matched controls. We also observed a trend for higher incidence of eosinophilia and proteinuria in AD patients. Vascular interventions within 6 months before death were highly associated with AD (55% vs. 29%; p = 0.01), and in a multivariable analysis this remained the only significant risk factor for AD. Thus, the diagnosis of AD is frequently missed. Vascular interventions represent the most important risk factor for AD and should be performed restrictively in high-risk patients.
Authors:
Caroline Fries; Malgorzata Roos; Ariana Gaspert; Peter Vogt; Franco Salomon; Rudolf P W?thrich; Stephan R Vavricka; Thomas Fehr
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Medicine     Volume:  89     ISSN:  1536-5964     ISO Abbreviation:  Medicine (Baltimore)     Publication Date:  2010 Mar 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-06-02     Completed Date:  2010-06-21     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  2985248R     Medline TA:  Medicine (Baltimore)     Country:  United States    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  126-32     Citation Subset:  AIM; IM    
Affiliation:
Division of Nephrology, University Hospital Z?rich, Z?rich, Switzerland.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Autopsy*
Biopsy
Case-Control Studies
Embolism, Cholesterol / complications,  diagnosis*,  epidemiology*
Eosinophilia / epidemiology,  etiology
Female
Gastrointestinal Tract / pathology
Humans
Incidence
Kidney / pathology
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Middle Aged
Proteinuria / epidemiology,  etiology
Retrospective Studies
Risk Factors
Spleen / pathology

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


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