No abstract

Spontaneous rupture of the spleen is a rare clinical condition that usually presents as a complication of a background pathology and can become a life-threatening condition if it is not diagnosed in time. We present the case of a 15-year-old girl with abdominal pain and clinical data of hypovolemic shock. The simple tomographic study revealed deformation of the splenic architecture and hemoperitoneum. Surgery demonstrated splenic rupture with ptosis spleen and intraperitoneal free blood. The anatomopathological examination showed the presence of splenomegaly and findings suggestive of peliosis. It also highlights the known causes related to spontaneous splenic rupture.

The presence of a foreign body in the airway is a potentially life-threatening clinical condition that requires urgent medical attention. We present a case of a 12-year-old boy who presented in the emergency room with a history of an episode of choking after aspiration of a foreign body, followed by severe respiratory distress and subcutaneous emphysema. Chest radiography revealed hyperinflation data, pneumothorax, and subcutaneous emphysema data. The flexible bronchoscope examination showed the presence of an inorganic foreign body impacted on the carina with tracheal lesions and laryngeal edema. It was necessary to perform a tracheostomy for its definitive extraction. The gold standard in the treatment of foreign body aspiration is bronchoscopy; although, in children, the technique adopted continues to be controversial, flexible bronchoscopy can be effective and very useful.

We analyzed the effect of diosgenin, administered with atorvastatin or ezetimibe, on the fate of 3H(G)-taurocholic acid or 26-14C-cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic rats. Male Wistar rats received a hypercholesterolemic diet (HD), HD + atorvastatin (HD+ATV), HD + ezetimibe (HD+EZT), HD + diosgenin (HD+DG), HD+ATV+EZT, or HD+ATV+DG for 40 days. We also included a control normal group (ND). The labelled compounds were administered on day 30. The animals were placed in metabolic cages for daily feces collection. At day 40 the rats were sacrificed. Lipid extracts from blood, liver, spinal cord, testicles, kidneys, epididymis, intestine, and feces were analyzed for radioactivity. Cholesterol activity was the highest in the liver in HD rats. DG diminished one half of this activity in HD+DG and HD+ATV+DG groups in comparison with the HD group. HD+ATV rats showed four to almost ten-fold cholesterol activity in the spinal cord compared with the ND or HD rats. Fecal elimination of neutral steroids was approximately two-fold higher in the HD+DG and HD+ATV+DG groups. Taurocholic acid activity was four to ten-fold higher in HD+DG intestine as compared to the other experimental groups. Taurocholic activity in the liver of HD and HD+DG groups was two and a half higher than in ND. Our results show that the combination of DG and ATV induced the highest cholesterol reduction in the liver and other tissues.