Early Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis after Mitral Valve Replacement: A Case Report

Background: Tuberculous endocarditis is a rare but serious complication of heart valve replacement surgery. We report the case of a 24-year-old patient, who presented with tuberculous endocarditis after mechanical mitral valve replacement, with a favorable clinical course following anti-tuberculosis treatment. Case Presentation: We report a 24-year-old male patient, admitted to the cardiac surgery department of the Fann Hospital (Dakar, Senegal), for the management of severe mixed (rheumatic and endocarditic) mitral insufficiency with associated tricuspid insufficiency. He had a history of recurrent angina and polyarthralgia in childhood, was hospitalized several times for refractory global cardiac decompensation, and for a suspected infective endocarditis a month before his admission. On admission, the clinical examination revealed signs suggestive of mitral and tricuspid insufficiency. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed severe post-endocarditic mitral insufficiency with A3 amputation, highly mobile 15 mm vegetations on the free edge of the large valve, moderate tricuspid insufficiency, and severe pulmonary artery hypertension. Mechanical mitral valve replacement and tricuspid valve annuloplasty using autologous pericardial strip were performed via median sternotomy. After ten days, the patient presented with global cardiac decompensation associated with a clinico-biological infectious syndrome, and tans-oesophageal echography revealed an abscess at the sinotubular junction, communicating with the aorta. A thoraco-abdomino-pelvic CT scan was done, which revealed a bilateral alveolar-interstitial syndrome with mediastinal lymphadenopathy. Anti-tuberculosis treatment with RHZE was initiated for 06 months. The clinical course was favorable. Conclusion: Tuberculous endocarditis in prostheses is a serious complication of heart valve replacement surgery, which may evolve favorably under medical treatment.

Impact of Multifidus Muscle Morphometry on the Clinical Evolution of Chronic Low Back Pain

Purpose: The multifidus muscle is an important extensor muscle of the lumbar spine. It plays a major role in the stability and realization of axial rotation movements of the thoraco-lumbar spine. Its atrophy by fatty degeneration would be at the origin of the occurrence of chronic low back pain which constitutes a public health problem in Senegal. Taking into account its anatomy is essential for the etiopathogenic analysis and the treatment of low back pain. The purpose of our work was to investigate the impact of multifidus muscle morphometry on the anatomy-clinical evolution of low back pain. Material and method: this was a prospective study over a period of 30 months from November 2019 to May 2022. It involved 100 patients seen in the neurology department of Fann Hospital for chronic low back pain and who had already had a scanner falling within the criteria for low back pain. We used 3D Slicer, SPSS 20, Excel 2016 software to model and analyze the morphometric data of the multifidus muscle after physiotherapy and control lumbar scans. Results: The sex ratio was 2.23. The average age of the patients was 45 ± 7 years. On the initial CT scan, according to the Hadar classification, we noted a predominance of grade 2 with 56% in L5/S1, followed by grade 1 with 32% and grade 3 with 14%. In L4/L5, the majority of patients, 67%, had grade 1. A conflicting circumferential disc bulge with the roots predominating in L5/S1 was present in 94% of men (p-value = 0.02). Before physiotherapy, the average volume of the multifidus was 193 mm3 ± 39, after physiotherapy it was 203 mm3 ± 42 with a progression rate of 5.2%. Clinically, severe type pain had regressed from 86% before physiotherapy to 0% after physiotherapy (p-value = 0.03). Conclusion: Taking into account the morphometry of the multifidus is an essential element in the management of chronic low back pain.

Duplication of the Inferior Vena Cava, Azygos Continuation and Retro Aortic Renal Vein: Fortuitous Discovery

We present a rare case associating inferior vena cava’s (IVC) complex variations. Anatomical, embryological and clinical aspects are discussed. Duplication’s discovery was fortuitous during an abdominal ultrasound and was confirmed by the CT scan. The latter also highlighted azygos continuation, retro aortic renal vein and an iliac venous anomaly. These variants are important to know in order to be able to differentiate them from lymphadenopathy, para-vertebral masses, and aortic pathologies. It is necessary to report them before any retroperitoneal surgery or interventional vascular procedure.

The Configuration of the Femoral Arterial Bifurcation’s Influence on Its Atherogenesis

Several theories point to the influence of the geometry of femoral arterial bifurcation in the formation and evolution of atherosclerosis plaques at the level of common, superficial and deep femoral arteries. The objective of this study is to correlate the degrees of calcifications of the femoral tripod with different morphological parameters, namely conicity, tortuosity, proximal and distal diameters of the arteries and angles between the common femoral artery (CFA) and the superficial femoral artery (SFA) and the profound femoral artery (PFA) and the superficial femoral artery. The results showed that only the tortuosity of the common femoral artery influences the formation of atherosclerosis plaque. These results allow us to predict the degree of calcification of the femoral tripod based on the tortuosity of the common femoral artery.

Indications and Results of Repair of the Rhumatismal Valve in Children in Senegal concerning 63 Cases

In Africa, acute rheumatic fever is endemic. Cardiac involvement is one of the most common complications in the form of valvular heart disease representing all damages to the heart valves. It is in this perspective that we realized this study whose general objective was to evaluate the results of mitral repair surgery in children in Senegal and the specific objective was to state the indications for mitral repair surgery and assess the results in terms of morbidity and mortality. This is a retrospective and analytical monocentric study, in the thoracic and cardiovascular surgery department of FANN National University Hospital Center in Dakar. It took place over a period of 30 months. All the patients who underwent mitral surgery, aged less than 18 years were included. The total number of patients was 63, including 39 girls and 24 boys, a sex ratio of 0.62. The average age at the time of the surgery was 12 years old [5 - 17]. The functional symptomatology was dominated by the dyspnea found in all the patients. Cardiac ultrasound was diagnosed with mitral regurgitation in all patients. For all surgical procedures, the approach was a vertical midline sternotomy. The mitral valve was approached by left atriotomy in 40 patients (63.5%) and by transseptal way in 23 patients. All patients had undergone mitral valve repair associated or not with either aortic valve repair in 9 patients (14.2%), aortic valve replacement in 3 patients (4.8%), or one tricuspid valve repair in 31 patients (49%). The average duration of intubation was 6 hours [2 - 52]. The average length of stay in intensive care was 2 days. Postoperative complications have been observed. Surgery was performed in 10 patients with 3 mitral valve replacements, 2 aortic valve replacements, a double mitral and an aortic valve replacement associated with a tricuspid repair and in 4 cases a perfection of their mitral repair. Early and late surgical mortality was zero. The average follow-up time for our patients was 9 months [1 - 26]. During their follow-up, the evolution was favorable in 89% of patients who no longer had any functional symptoms.

Breast Morphometry in Senegalese Women:Study on a Sample of 118 Subjects

Nowadays, women are more and more resorting to breast surgery for the purposes of isolated esthetics or within the framework of a mammectomy for tumor with its cohort of psychological problems post mutilation often requiring reconstruction. In context of breast cancer increase in Senegal, we have carried out breast morphology in female subjects of the Sahelian type in order to contribute to the development of a morphological database for reconstruction, reduction or breast augmentation. It was a prospective study on 118 female subjects received at Cancer Institute for screening. They were divided into two groups (age ≤ 40 years and age?> 40 years). Subjects’?morphometric variables were collected in anatomical position and correlated with age, parity, obesity and genital activity using. Fifty six subjects (47.5%) were over 40 years of age. There were 40 multiparous (33.9%). Fifteen subjects (12.7%) and six subjects (5%) were obese and morbidly obese, respectively. Subjects in genital activity were 34 (29%). The overall average size of the areola was 4.3 ± 1.5 cm. The nipple was low located with an average of 7.2 ± 3.5 cm. The diameters mentioned above increased significantly with age and body mass index, for p-values ?0.05, with the exception of the vertical diameter. Breast diameters were greater in postmenopausal women. Morphometry of Sahelian-type women’s breast is strongly influenced by socio-demographic data, hence the need to take it into account during reconstruction, reduction or breast augmentation surgeries in Senegal.