Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C G Groth.
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In order to evaluate long-term renal graft function, 149 cyclosporin A and prednisolone (CyA/P)-treated renal transplant recipients were compared with 119 azathioprine and prednisolone (Aza/P)-treated patients. Only patients who had a functioning graft for at least 1 year and who were maintained on their initial immunosuppressive protocol were included. The minimum follow-up period was 4 years. Renal graft function was estimated by yearly determinations of serum creatinine and creatinine clearance. The CyA/P-treated patients had a significantly higher serum creatinine and a significantly lower creatinine clearance at every point in time post-transplantation than Aza/P-treated patients (P less than 0.001). The evolution of renal graft function, as reflected in the line of regression for serum creatinine and creatinine clearance versus time, was estimated for each individual patient. There was an almost stable renal function, as assessed by the median of the slopes of the regression line for serum creatinine versus time in both groups. The median increase in serum creatinine was only 1.4 mumol/l per year for Aza/P-treated patients and 2.4 mumol/l per year for CyA/P-treated patients (difference NS). The median decline in creatinine clearance was 2.18 ml/min per 1.73 m2/year in the Aza/P group and 1.07 ml/min per 1.73 m2/year in the CyA/P group (P = 0.05). In patients with a functioning graft for at least 5 years, creatinine clearance remained unchanged in both groups during the study period. In conclusion, renal graft function, as assessed by measurements of serum creatinine and creatinine clearance, remained essentially unchanged for at least 5 years after transplantation, regardless of the immunosuppressive protocol used.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
With current surgical techniques for pancreatic transplantation, the graft is anastomosed to the iliac vessels, resulting in delivery of insulin to the systemic circulation rather than to the portal vein as in healthy man. The possible influence of the altered route of insulin delivery on the regulation of splanchnic glucose metabolism was studied in four patients with Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus at 6-19 months after combined pancreatic and kidney transplantation. Four non-diabetic, age-matched renal transplant recipients and two groups of age-matched healthy subjects served as controls. The studies were carried out in the basal state and during two rates of intravenous glucose infusion (2 and 4 mg.kg-1.min-1). Fasting arterial glucose and splanchnic glucose output was similar in all groups. Basal hyperinsulinaemia was present in pancreatic graft recipients compared to healthy subjects. During low rate intravenous glucose infusion splanchnic glucose output decreased to a similar extent in all groups. With the higher glucose infusion rate (4 mg.kg-1.min-1) a net glucose uptake was observed which was similar in all three groups. Peripheral glucose uptake was unchanged at the lower glucose infusion rate but increased by 45-55% at the higher rate. It is concluded that despite systemic insulin delivery from a heterotopic pancreatic graft, hepatic glucose metabolism appears normal both in the post-absorptive state and in response to glucose-stimulated endogenous insulin secretion. Portal insulin delivery is thus not necessary for normal hepatic glucose metabolism in the Type 1 diabetic patient.
Between April 1974 and June 1990, 128 pancreatic transplantations were performed. Of these 117 were with pancreatico-enterostomy. In four consecutive series of combined transplantations in uraemic diabetic patients the 1-year graft survival rate have successively improved (27%, 65%, 68% and 73%). In three similar series of single pancreatic transplantations the results also improved but still remained inferior (0%, 33% and 33%). In a series of combined transplantations performed in preuraemic diabetic patients the 1-year actuarial graft survival rate was only 25%. The results with pancreatic transplantation with pancreatico-enterostomy are now satisfactory. However, immunological loss graft function still constitute a major problem in the non- or pre-uraemic recipients. The metabolic control in patients with functioning grafts is normal or near-normal in the majority of patients followed for at least 1 year.
Long-term metabolic control after pancreatic transplantation with enteric exocrine diversion was evaluated in 42 Type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic pancreas recipients with functioning grafts for 1 to 7 years. Glycaemic control (fasting blood glucose, glycosylated haemoglobin A1c, oral and intravenous glucose tolerance tests) was normal or near-normal in most patients, and showed no deterioration with time. In ten patients with functioning grafts for 5 years there was a small, but significant, improvement in the glucose control at 3 to 5 years as compared with that at 6 months post-operatively. In the latter recipients the number of acute rejection episodes correlated negatively with the intravenous glucose tolerance at 6 months (r = -0.64, p less than 0.01) and at 5 years (r = -0.60, p less than 0.01) after transplantation, respectively. The glycaemic control at 6 and 12 months after transplantation was similar whether segmental (n = 35) or whole-organ (n = 7) pancreatic grafts had been used. In six non-uraemic recipients who had received a pancreas transplant alone the serum cholesterol increased in all but one patient (0.05 less than p less than 0.1), and the LDL/HDL-cholesterol ratio was significantly higher (p less than 0.005) one year after transplantation than before. Conversely, in six diabetic patients who had lost the function of their single pancreatic grafts the lipid and lipoprotein profiles remained unaltered. It is concluded that the long-term glycaemic control after segmental or whole-organ pancreatic transplantation with enteric exocrine diversion remains essentially normal in most recipients, and it may even improve with time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
We have studied the fate of diabetic neuropathy and autonomic function in 13 patients with long standing Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus following combined pancreas and kidney transplantation. Fifteen diabetic patients with a kidney graft only served as controls. After initial improvement of the neuropathy in both groups, probably caused by the elimination of uraemia, a continuous improvement during the 48 months study was seen in the euglycaemic pancreas graft recipients only. Autonomic (parasympathetic) function improved only slightly and to a similar extent in both groups.
Human pancreatic elastase 1 (E1) is a novel pancreas-specific proteinase that has not yet been investigated after pancreatic transplantation (PTx). Using a recently developed E1 ELISA, we studied the E1 serum curves in 36 type I diabetic patients subjected to PTx with enteric exocrine diversion from the pretransplant value up to 8 years after transplantation (n = 731 samples). A characteristical pattern was observed: following PTx, E1 rose above the normal range to a peak within 6 days and then gradually fell to stabilize after 4-6 weeks at an elevated level (10 ng/ml) for approximately 1 year. Two to 8 years after PTx, E1 levels were still slightly elevated (1-6 ng/ml) in 14/20 patients. During 24 acute rejection episodes, E1 was found not be a sensitive rejection marker during the early postoperative period because of its slow decline from the peak level. However, increasing E1 levels in seven patients more than 2 months after PTx were associated with a variety of lesions to the pancreatic graft, thus suggesting a useful marker indicating exocrine graft damage late after PTx. The slightly elevated levels even years after PTx are most probably due to the non-portal venous drainage of the pancreatic graft.
Pancreatic transplantation was performed in three patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in whom recurrent and severe episodes of hypoglycaemia had been found to be due to defective glucose counterregulation. Thus in these patients the spontaneous blood glucose recovery after insulin-induced hypoglycaemia (0.1 U kg-1 h-1 i.v. insulin until blood glucose levels fell below 2.8 mmol l-1) was delayed, and the responses of glucagon, epinephrine and growth hormone (GH) were absent or diminished. After pancreas transplantation the patients exhibited essentially normal blood glucose control. When the insulin infusion test was repeated 3 months after the transplantation, the blood glucose level recovered rapidly after insulin withdrawal. The glucagon response was restored, and the responses of epinephrine and GH were improved. Plasma C-peptide was suppressed by approximately 50%, which is less than is observed in normal subjects. It is concluded that glucose counterregulation improves after pancreas transplantation. This appears to be mainly due to an improvement in the hypoglycaemia-induced glucagon response, but an amelioration of sympatho-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary regulatory mechanisms may also be involved. The apparent failure to suppress completely the insulin release from the denervated pancreas transplant indicates that inhibition of beta-cell secretion during insulin-induced hypoglycaemia may be partly under neural control.
Familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP) is an autosomal dominant inherited disorder characterized by progressive peripheral and autonomic neuropathy, associated with neural and systemic amyloid deposits. The amyloid fibrils contain a variant transthyretin (TTR) molecule (TTR met30), over 90% of which is produced in the liver. After liver transplantation in two patients with severe symptomatic FAP, only normal TTR was detectable in circulation. The two patients are being monitored at regular intervals, and, although in one patient there was no evidence of reduction in the quantity of amyloid present at 6 months, there had been no further progression of the neuropathy.
An isolated, centroblastic lymphoma developed in a 25-year-old female liver transplant recipient in her liver graft a few months after transplantation. Her immunosuppressive therapy consisted of antithymocyte globulin, cyclosporin, corticosteroids and, periodically, azathioprine. Chromosome analysis showed the tumor to be of female origin, thus excluding the possibility of transfer from the male donor. The tumor cells expressed EBV nuclear antigen (EBNA). The tumor was located in the left lobe of the liver. It was successfully removed 11 months after transplantation by a hemihepatectomy following a very brief combined chemotherapy course, and was then found to be replaced by necrotic tissue. No further treatment for lymphoma was given, and the patient is now free from lymphoma 3 years after transplantation.
The Norrbottnian type of Gaucher disease is a well defined nosological entity with a characteristic course and clinical manifestations. The disease is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme glucosylceramidase (cerebroside-beta-glucosidase). Studies of genomic DNA and cDNA encoding the enzyme show a single base substitution in exon 10 in the Norrbottnian patients. The enzymic lesion causes an accumulation of glucosylceramide and glucosylsphingosine in cells of the monocyte-macrophage system, particularly in spleen, liver and bone marrow. Early splenectomy results in severe symptoms from skeleton and CNS, owing to accelerated storage of glucosylceramide in these organs. Bone marrow transplantation had a life-saving effect and seems to be the method of choice for beneficial enzyme replacement therapy.