High-pressure balloon dilatation for the treatment of primary obstructive megaureter: is it the first line of treatment in children and infants?

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of high-pressure balloon dilatation (HPBD) as treatment of primary obstructive megaureter in paediatric patients. HPBD proved to be a safe, feasible and minimally invasive technique to treat primary obstructive megaureter with surgical criteria, even under 1 year of age. In comparison with standard surgery, HPBD has the advantages of being a less invasive procedure with no patient-age limitations. In our opinion, the HPBD may be utilised as  first-line treatment in the management of primary obstructive megaureter  in children, avoiding unnecessary bladder surgery in most cases. In any case, this technique does not influence conventional surgery in the case of failure.

18F-FDG PET/CT compared with ultrasound and biopsy for detection of vasculitis of the temporal artery branches

The objective of this study was to describe the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of 18F-FDG positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) of the temporal artery compared with temporal artery ultrasound and histology of the temporal artery in patients with suspicion of having giant cell arteritis. The results show that assessment of the temporal artery with PET/CT is a valuable extension in the diagnostic workup for giant cell arteritis. PET/CT and ultrasound have comparable diagnostic accuracy, but differ on a segment and a patient level and may thus be used as complementary tests. PET/CT has a lower sensitivity for the parietal branch than ultrasound and histology.

Comment on: Glatz et al. Associations of sodium, potassium and protein intake with blood pressure and hypertension in Switzerland

Comment on: Zuercher P, et al. Dysphagia in the intensive care unit in Switzerland (DICE) – results of a national survey on the current standard of care

Reply to comment on: Zuercher P, et al. Dysphagia in the intensive care unit in Switzerland (DICE) – results of a national survey on the current standard of care

Reply to comment on: Glatz et al. Associations of sodium, potassium and protein intake with blood pressure and hypertension in Switzerland

Supplementum 249: Abstracts of the annual meeting 2021 of the Swiss Society of Paediatrics