European journal of pediatrics
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Our aim was to review our experience of trientine as chelation therapy in children with Wilson disease (WD) and compare to that reported in the literature. We made a retrospective review of the medical notes of 16 of 96 (17%) children diagnosed with WD between 1981 and 2006. Children were 6.6 to 15 years old. ⋯ Laboratory indices remained relatively stable. In line with previous reports, trientine was used mainly as secondary treatment when there were severe side effects with penicillamine. Whilst the current evidence is low quality, it appears that trientine is as efficacious as penicillamine and small population studies show a lower side effect profile.
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Acute respiratory tract infections (ARI) in children are often treated with antibiotics even without evidence of bacterial infection. Serum procalcitonin (PCT) is elevated in bacterial but not in viral infections. ⋯ Taken the results of this retrospective analysis, serum PCT values below 0.1 ng/ml might be a marker to identify children with acute respiratory tract infection in whom antibiotic treatment could be withheld. However, only a prospective intervention trial will prove the general safety of this limit.