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Biomedical subjects

B Descamps

Publications and source records attributed to B Descamps.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Superior vena cava obstruction: is stenting necessary?

No therapy is currently available for patients with recurrent vascular obstruction of the superior vena cava (SVC) caused by tumor regrowth after chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Intravascular stenting is a new option for the treatment of vena cava syndrome. Forty cancer patients with SVC syndrome (SVCS) were evaluated by computed tomography (CT) and venography. The SVC or its tributaries were stenosed or thrombosed in all patients. The etiology was malignant in all but 2 cases: non-small-cell lung carcinoma (n = 28), mediastinal nodal metastasis (n = 5), lymphoma (n = 2), pleural mesothelioma (n = 2), small-cell lung carcinoma (n = 1), and postradiation fibrous mediastinitis (n = 2). Stenting was achieved in 39 of the 40 patients, and clinical symptoms subsided in 92%. Stents remained patent in 36 of these 39 patients throughout a mean follow-up of 24 weeks (range 3 days to 24 months). SVC stenting is safe, effective and allows rapid cure of SVCS and port catheter implantation in patients in poor health.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Coeliac plexus block: utility of the anterior approach and the real time colour ultrasound guidance in cancer patient.

AIMS: The aim of our study was to demonstrate the efficacy of ultrasound-guidance compared with computed tomography (CT) guidance for coeliac plexus block in cancer patients. METHODS: Coeliac plexus block (30 ml ethanol) was performed in 34 cancer patients (sex ratio: 10F, 24M), mean age: 54.8 years (range 26-67) under CT (n=21) and ultrasound-guidance (n=13). All patients had excruciating epigastric and generalized abdominal pain caused by cancer of the pancreas (n=13) or upper abdominal viscera (n=9) or a malignancy of extra-digestive origin (n=12). Feasibility and complication rates were analysed. RESULTS: Notable pain relief was obtained in 27 (79%) of the patients. The technical success rate was 100% for CT-guidance and 93% (13/14) for ultrasound guidance. There were six minor complications (17%): chemical peritonitis (n=2), orthostatic arterial hypotension (n=2) and transient left shoulder pain (n=2), no major complications occurred. The target route was transhepatic in 6/13 of the ultrasound cases and mean length was 6 cm (range 3-12 cm). Colour Doppler sonography improved visualization of the 21 Gauge Chiba needle when the needle shaft was vibrated. Echogenic foci were observed around the origin of the coeliac trunk and superior mesenteric artery in all cases. CT coeliac block was successfully performed after failure of ultrasound guidance in one patient. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound guidance is safe and effective and should be attempted for coeliac plexus block whenever possible.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗
PubMed2000

Percutaneous cementoplasty for pelvic bone metastasis.

The aim of this retrospective study was to prove the effectiveness of percutaneous cementoplasty in pelvic bone metastases. We studied the data entered in a multicenter prospective database on 18 cancer patients (average age 58 years) who underwent percutaneous computed tomography (CT) or fluoroscopy-guided cementoplasty from September 1996 to September 1998. The metastatic sites were: acetabulum (n = 12), iliac bone (n = 2), and sacrum (n = 4). Indications were pain recurrence (n = 9) or no relief (n = 3) after radiotherapy, and 6 procedures were performed before radiation. Mean follow-up was 4.6 months, ranging from 11 days up to 24 months. Improvement in pain and walking was obtained in 81.8% cases, and it was generally maintained, except in 1 patient who experienced pain again at day 15 because of an acetabular fracture. Percutaneous cementoplasty is a safe and efficient technique, and is mandatory when radiotherapy fails or when rapid resolution of pain is requested.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Chronic septic granulomatosis revealed by neonatal pulmonary aspergillosis].

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary aspergillosis is now the main cause of death in chronic granulomatous disease (CGD); it may occur before the age of one year and then often reveals CGD. CASE REPORT: A male newborn was referred to hospital at 27 days of age for fever (39 degrees C), hemodynamic failure and biological inflammation syndrome caused by pulmonary infection. Chest CT scan revealed multiple and bilateral intraparenchymatous nodules. An open lung biopsy showed histiocystic granuloma with multinucleated giant cells. Culture of tracheal, bronchoalveolar lavage samples and lung biopsy grew positive for Aspergillus fumigatus. Impaired chemiluminescence production by neutrophils was detected, enabling the diagnosis of CGD. It was later confirmed by the study of neutrophils functions. The child recovered after 12 months of parenteral amphotericin B therapy. CONCLUSION: A febrile multifocal pneumopathy occurring in infancy should lead to consider the possibility of CGD which may be confirmed by the chemiluminescence test.

Aspergillosis↗
PubMed1980

Determination of intracellular adenosine triphosphate for detecting anti-HLA antibody-mediated cytolysis. Introduction to a new method for HLA typing.

Intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) determination appears to be a rapid, and reliable technique for the detection of complement-dependent cytolysis mediated by cytotoxic anti-HLA sera. Only a few minutes after the addition of complement to anti-HLA-coated target lymphocytes, a striking loss of intracellular ATP is observed. The technique can be easily performed with minute amounts of cells, serum, and complement, and exactly following the technical conditions of the standard HLA typing microcytotoxicity test (MCT). One of its main advantages over MCT is that the reading of results can be performed automatically. Since in most tissue typing laboratories all steps preceding the reading of MCT results have already been automated, this method could be of great interest, with a view to permitting the complete automation of HLA typing.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1980

[Recent data on antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity, or the ADCC phenomenon].

A review of the recent literature on ADCC affords strong evidence that this cytotoxicity phenomenon, discovered fortuitously in 1965, can no longer be considered only a laboratory curiosity. It is, in fact, more than probable that ADCC is involved in most defense mechanisms of the individual from allograft immunity and antitumoral defense to the resistance of the host against most pathogens.

Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity↗
PubMed1979

[Serum and articular immune complexes detection by the antibody-dependent cytotoxicity inhibition reaction in inflammatory rheumatological conditions and connective tissue disorders (author's transl)].

Detection of circulating and intra-articular soluble immune complexes, has been done in 28 rheumatoid arthritis, 8 mixed connective tissue diseases and 8 other connective tissue diseases. The method used, is based on a competition reaction in the antibody dependent lymphocytotoxicity reaction (ADC). In rheumatoid arthritis serum immune complexes were detected in 75% of the seropositive cases and 66% of the seronegative ones. The mean level of complexes is higher in the former form of the disease. In a given patient, the concentration of immune complexes in joint fluid, is higher than in serum. Immune complexes were present in the serum of 75% of patients with mixed connective tissue disease, but, here, at a concentration lower than in rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. It is proposed that measurement of serum immune complexes, can also be an interesting parameter in the follow-up of the patients.

Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity↗
PubMed1979

Improved renal allograft survival after blood transfusion: a nonspecific, erythrocyte-mediated immunoregulatory process?

Phagocytosis of altered red blood cells in vitro by mononuclear phagocytic cells is followed by profound depression of bystander lymphocytes' responses to antigen. Rapid endocytosis of transfused erythrocytes in vivo may transiently impair mononuclear phagocytic cell function, resulting in immunological unresponsiveness as observed in vitro. Transplantation at this time would be predicted to benefit from this attenuation of recipient immunocompetence, resulting in improved graft survival.

Blood Transfusion↗
PubMed1979

Antibody dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) in 229 sera from human renal allograft recipients.

Comparison between CDC and ADCC in a human allogeneic model using the same cytotoxicity marker, i.e. 51Cr release from labelled target cells, provided a better definition of the optimal technical conditions for revealing ADCC. Testing 229 sera from human renal allograft recipients after transplantation, we found that CDC is detected only during rejection (43% of cases) whereas ADCC can be found both in those recipients tolerating their grafts and in those undergoing rejection, more frequently in the former than in the latter (39% vs. 21%, p less than 0.05). These in vivo results and other in vitro experiments support the assumption that two distinct varieties of antibody can mediate the in vitro ADCC phenomenon, some directed against the A, B and C HLA loci and having a deleterious effect on the graft, and others capable of exerting a protective effect and which could be directed against D related HLA determinants.

Antibody-Dependent Cell Cytotoxicity↗
PubMed1979

[Study of macrophages infiltrating rat cardiac allografts. 1.--Description of the technique of heterotopic cardiac transplantation in the rat and morphological analysis of the cells infiltrating the graft (author's transl)].

The technique of heterotopic cardiac transplantation in the rat is described in detail. A simple, nontraumatic method of obtaining cellular prints from the heart is proposed for the study of cells infiltrating the allograft. Analysis of the morphological aspect of the cellular infiltrate present at the time of rejection in a series of allografts revealed a very high proportion of cells belonging to the monocyte-macrophage series, thus suggesting an important role for these cells in the rejection process.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

[Study of macrophages infiltrating rat cardiac allografts. II.--Cytoenzymatic analysis of cells infiltrating the grafts and of peritoneal macrophages in isograft and allograft recipients (author's transl)].

Cytoenzymatic analysis of cells infiltrating heart transplants in the rat confirms the high participation of monocytes and macrophages. However, when comparing iso and allografts, only slight differences are observed in the lysosomal enzyme specific colorations, whereas a striking difference in these colorations is found between heart infiltrates and peritoneal exsudates from these recipients. This could favour the hypothesis of a local macrophage activating process within the graft but seems more probably due to differences in cell maturation stages.

Acid Phosphatase↗
PubMed1979

Detection of soluble immune complexes by the technique of ADCC inhibition in human diseases.

Soluble immune complexes were detected using inhibition of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) in sera of patients with various diseases. Results were positive in 32/41 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (78%), in 27/38 systemic lupus erythematosus patients (71%), in 7/10 cutaneous lupus erythematosus patients (70%), in 6/8 mixed connective tissue disease patients (75%), in 11/26 membranous glomerulonephritis patients (42%), in 6/20 membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis patients (30%) and in 3/12 multiple sclerosis patients (25%). ADCC inhibition was compared with PEG precipitation technique and was found to be more sensitive for detecting soluble immune complexes. Various pitfalls are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

[Suppression of the mixed lymphocytic reaction by autologous red cells and their constituents: a new hypothesis on the apparent tolerogeneic effect of blood transfusions during transplantation].

Using the lymphocyte reaction (MLR) as an in vitro model of allogeneic response we have demonstrated that red blood cells (RBC), when phagocytosed by monocytes present in the reaction, induce almost complete suppression of the MLR. A similar effect is achieved by the RBC lysate or purified hemoglobin. These data strongly suggest that the better graft tolerance apparently induced by blood transfusion given to the recipient at the time of transplantation may result from a non specific immunodepressive process induced by the injected erythrocytes, and mediated by the monocyte.

Blood Transfusion↗
PubMed1978

[The selection and surveillance of cadaver kidney recipients. Recent development in graft immunology (author's transl)].

This study, based on results of 252 cadaver kidney transplantations, shows that some factors which reflect individual immune response capacity, such as ability to produce anti-HLA antibodies, sex and response to hepatitis B virus, appear, along with HLA compatibility, to markedly influence renal graft survival and leads us to propose the following new guide-line for cadaver kidney recipient selection: For "good responders" (i.e., patients with anti-HLA antibodies, females and HBs Ag negative individuals) a close HLA compatibility with the donor (3 or 4 antigens in common) is necessary, while this need not be observed for "non-responders" (i.e., patients without preformed anti-HLA antibodies, males and HBs Ag persistent carriers). Furthermore, review of recent methods proposed for detecting early cellular and humoral manifestations of rejection leads to proposal of the following immunological monitoring of the transplant recipient. Systematic and frequent testing for circulating cytotoxic cells and antibodies against donor antigens, regular dosage of complement factors and of the nephretic factor, and investigations for the migration leukocyte inhibiting factor and macrophage arming factor, possibly produced in vitro by lymphocytes. Both these protocols for recipient selection and immunological monitoring can henceforth be applied and may contribute to improve cadaver kidney transplantation prognosis.

Cadaver↗