Teresa Cristina Rangel Pereira

Primary adrenal insufficiency in adult population: a Portuguese multicentre study by the Adrenal Tumours Study Group

Introduction Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a rare but severe and potentially life-threatening condition. No previous studies have characterized Portuguese patients with PAI. Aims To characterize the clinical presentation, diagnostic workup, treatment and follow‐up of Portuguese patients with confirmed PAI. Methods This multicentre retrospective study examined PAI patients in 12 Portuguese hospitals. Results We investigated 278 patients with PAI (55.8% were females), with a mean age of 33.6 ± 19.3 years at diagnosis. The most frequent presenting clinical features were asthenia (60.1%), mucocutaneous hyperpigmentation (55.0%) and weight loss (43.2%); 29.1% of the patients presented with adrenal crisis. Diagnosis was established by high plasma ACTH and low serum cortisol in most patients (43.9%). The most common aetiology of PAI was autoimmune adrenalitis (61.0%). There were 38 idiopathic cases. Autoimmune comorbidities were found in 70% of the patients, the most frequent being autoimmune thyroiditis (60.7%) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (17.3%). Seventy-nine percent were treated with hydrocortisone (mean dose 26.3 ± 8.3 mg/day) mostly in three (57.5%) or two (37.4%) daily doses. The remaining patients were treated with prednisolone (10.1%), dexamethasone (6.2%) and methylprednisolone (0.7%); 66.2% were also on fludrocortisone (median dose of 100 µg/day). Since diagnosis, 33.5% of patients were hospitalized for disease decompensation. In the last appointment, 17.2% of patients had complaints (7.6% asthenia and 6.5% depression) and 9.7% had electrolyte disturbances. Conclusion This is the first multicentre Portuguese study regarding PAI. The results emphasize the need for standardization in diagnostic tests and etiological investigation and provide a framework for improving treatment.

Erros cometidos por estudantes de Odontologia de uma universidade pública brasileira na realização de radiografias periapicais

We aimed to identify and quantify the errors that dental students of UFES mostly commit when taking periapical radiographs. A total of 352 periapical radiographs was evaluated in this cross-sectional study. The radiographs were collected in the records of patients attended in the University in the last five years. Type of error and academic semester of the course were considered and data were submitted to the Chi-squared test at a significance level of 5%. The results demonstrated a high frequency of errors (84.37%) where the students in the 9 th academic semester showed the highest frequency (92.30%) while those in the 8 th academic semester had the lowest (70.00%) (p < 0.05). Improper storage (15.60%) was the most frequent error in the sample and it has not been quantified for academic environment in the literature to the best of our science. The other two most frequent errors were: inadequate positioning of the film (14.60%) and low radiographic density (10.60%). We concluded that most of the periapical radiographs taken by the dental students of UFES have errors. Attention should be given to the storage of film-based periapical radiographs in universities.

Radiographic Bone Evaluation after Periodontal Full Mouth Disinfection Treatment in Women Undergoing Chemotherapy or Hormone Therapy with Tamoxifen

Objective: To radiographically evaluate the alveolar bone level after periodontal full mouth disinfection (FMD) treatment in women during chemotherapy (CHE) and hormone therapy with Tamoxifen (TAM). Material and Methods: This is an uncontrolled clinical trial with a convenience sample of women in antineoplastic treatment (CHE and TAM) and non-surgical periodontal FMD treatment. The Radiographic examination consisted of four bitewing radiographs and six periapical radiographs of the upper and lower anterior teeth, acquired according to the parallelling standard technique at three times: before (T0), 3 (T3) and 6 (T6) months after periodontal treatment. The alveolar crest level in the interproximal area of each tooth was measured by two calibrated observer using magnifying glass and digital caliper. Statistical analysis was performed for evaluation of the three times in each experimental group using the Friedman test (p 0.05). Conclusion: Patients undergoing chemotherapy and hormone therapy with Tamoxifen showed better alveolar bone levels after six months of periodontal FMD treatment. The current antineoplasic therapy did not influence the results obtained with periodontal treatment.