Serum beta 2 microglobulin levels in renal transplant patients.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to A M Kootte.
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In a 42-year-old Caucasian female, acute myelocytic leukemia (M2) presented as occlusion of the distal aorta and right iliac artery. She died after 10 days of respiratory failure. At postmortem examination the aortic wall contained multiple thrombi composed of fibrin and leukemic cells. There was no evidence of diffuse intravascular coagulation. Thromboplastic activity of the blast cells could have played a role in the formation of thrombi in the large vessels of this patient.
To study the effectiveness and nephrotoxic side-effects of cyclosporin A (CsA) in renal transplant recipients, a prospective randomised trial was designed to compare CsA with azathioprine (Aza). Each treatment group consisted of 40 patients; in the CsA group, 18 were randomly selected for conversion to Aza after 3 months. The 1-year graft survival for CsA-treated patients was 87% compared with 66% for the Aza group (P = 0.033). Anti-rejection therapy was administrated to 78% of the patients in the Aza group and 47% of those in the CsA group (P less than 0.01). There was no difference in the incidence of primary non-functioning kidneys, cytomegalovirus infections, hypertension, or degree of proteinuria between the two treatment groups. At 3 months the mean creatinine clearance was 42 +/- 2 ml/min (mean +/- SEM) for the CsA group compared with 56 +/- 4 ml/min for the Aza group (P less than 0.01), whereas the mean creatinine clearances at 6 months for both the converted and the non-converted CsA-treated patients did not differ from that found in the Aza-treated group. At 1 year, the mean creatinine clearance for CsA-treated patients who were converted to Aza was higher than that found for Aza-treated patients (62 +/- 7 vs 50 +/- 6 ml/min; P less than 0.05). Furthermore, the increment in creatinine clearance observed after conversion from CsA to Aza at 3 months showed a linear relationship (r = 0.9061) with the CsA trough levels before discontinuation of the drug. This indicates that CsA treatment induces a dose-dependent, nephrotoxic side-effect which is probably reversible.
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27 patients (aged 15-55 years) with relapsed acute myelogenous (AML) and lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), and with lymphoblastic non Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) have been treated with intermediate dose cytosine arabinoside (AraC, 1 g/m2 q 12 h X 12) and 3 d of m-AMSA (20 patients), 90-115 mg/m2 daily, or daunorubicin (7 patients). 18 of them attained a complete remission (AML 10/14, ALL 3/5, NHL 5/8). 7 patients received consolidation treatment with 1-2 courses comprising 4 d of AraC (3 g/m2 q 12 h X 8) and m-AMSA (90-115 mg/m2) on d 5 of each course. 2 patients underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and 9 received no further treatment after remission induction. In addition to vomiting, fever and conjunctivitis, toxicity in 6 patients included a combination of severe diarrhoea, fever and signs of paralytic ileus. 3 of them died during the pancytopenic phase. The pancytopenic period ranged from 16-25 d (median 21 d) after the remission induction and 14-21 d (median 19 d) after the consolidation course. Median remission duration was 5 months for those patients who received no treatment after remission induction and greater than 9 months (4+ - 16+ months) for the patients who received consolidation courses. Increased dosages of AraC are active in relapsed leukaemia and lymphoma, although optimal dose and schedule are still undetermined.
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The utility of routine urinary cytology in renal transplant recipients was investigated. Slides of 79 urine samples obtained from 59 renal transplant patients shortly after transplantation and of 275 urine sediments from 126 patients who had received a transplant before 1978 were screened for abnormal urothelial cells. None of the samples taken within one year of transplantation contained malignant cells. For five patients transplanted before 1978, repeated cytologic examinations showed malignant cells, but neither urologic examination nor clinical nor postmortem follow-up studies revealed a tumor. In all five cases, the abnormal cells disappeared from repeat samples within two to three months. None of the other 121 patients, with repeatedly normal urinary cytologies, exhibited a urinary tract carcinoma in the 24-month follow-up period. It would appear that the cytologic findings in the urine of renal transplant patients who have received long-term immunosuppressive medication may be transiently abnormal.