Wiener klinische Wochenschrift
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Sep 2020
Can measuring passive neck muscle stiffness in whiplash injury patients help detect false whiplash claims?
Whiplash injury of the cervical spine is the most common injury after a car accident and in 25% of patients it progresses into chronic neck pain. ⋯ Patients measuring below 76 kPa of muscle stiffness in the trapezius muscle might have no whiplash injury. Further follow-up of the patients measuring higher than cut-off value might be beneficial for detecting patients with prolonged neck muscle spasm that can lead to chronic cervical pain syndrome.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Sep 2020
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyEQ-5D-5L questionnaire as suitable assessment of quality of life after epiduroscopy : Multicenter randomized double-blind pilot study.
Epiduroscopy is a well-established diagnostic and to certain level therapeutic tool in complex situations, where conventional methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lack power or resolution to detect pathological changes. Such a situation is primarily failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) but also radicular pain without surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of epiduroscopic treatment in patients with FBSS. ⋯ Epiduroscopy appears to be a beneficial procedure for both patient groups, especially after 6 months, with some benefit remaining after 12 months. The EQ-5D-5L questionnaire seems to be a suitable and comprehensive way to assess patient health in chronic pain states.
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Wien. Klin. Wochenschr. · Sep 2020
Case ReportsAcute amnestic syndrome with hippocampal lesion due to influenza B-associated encephalopathy.
Acute encephalopathy is a rare complication of influenza, particularly in adults. We report the case of a 77-year-old woman presenting with complete anterograde and significant retrograde amnesia developing during an influenza B infection. ⋯ Symptoms partially improved following treatment with intravenous methylprednisolone and immunoglobulins but an amnesic syndrome persisted. We discuss possible causes of neurological complications in influenza infections.
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Due to a legislative amendment in Austria to determine breath alcohol (BrAC) instead of blood alcohol (BAC) in connection with traffic offences, many results of blood alcohol calculations were simply converted using distinct conversion factors. In Austria, the transformation of BAC to BrAC was carried out by using a factor of 1:2000, which, however, is commonly known to be too low. Noticing the great demand for a calculation method that is not exclusively based on blood alcohol, a formula for calculating breath alcohol based on blood alcohol was published in 1989, but in which the body surface area (BSA) was considered the most important influencing variable. ⋯ Hence, for an accurate back calculation of BrAC adjusted values of eliminations rates had to be found. This study describes mean elimination rates of BrAC for both men (0.065 ± 0.011 mg/L h-1) and women (0.074 ± 0.017 mg/L h-1). As previously shown women displayed a significantly higher elimination rate than men (p = 0.006).