Cancer after transplantation.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Aravot.
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Acute cardiac rejection remains an important cause of death during the first year following cardiac transplantation. Right ventricular biopsies at regular intervals are the main method of detecting rejection, although it is invasive. Unfortunately, non-invasive methods of detecting rejection have not proved reliable enough to replace cardiac biopsies. We assessed the usefulness of technetium-99m 2-methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile (99mTc-Sestamibi) perfusion scanning in detecting acute rejection in 12 human orthotopic cardiac transplant recipients. Rest and exercise studies and right ventricular biopsies were performed on two occasions. Isotopic evidence of rejection was defined as a perfusion abnormality on either the resting or exercise studies. 99mTc-Sestamibi studies successfully identified acute rejection in 8 of 11 rejection episodes (p less than 0.04). The calculated sensitivity and specificity of 99mTc-Sestamibi scanning were both 72%. Perfusion scanning with 99mTc-Sestamibi may be useful in the diagnosis of acute rejection in cardiac transplant recipients.
Between December 1983 and April 1989, 222 combined heart and lung transplant operations were performed for treatment of pulmonary vascular disease and parenchymal lung disease at Harefield Hospital. Seventeen of these patients had emphysema, and 11 of them were followed up for a minimum of 1 year. There were nine male and two female patients. Their mean age was 39 (range, 32 to 54) years. Seven had alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency. Six patients were receiving continuous oxygen therapy, and two patients were dependent on a ventilator. Postoperatively, the patients' lungs were ventilated for a median of 3 days (range, 24 hours to 2 weeks). Two patients subsequently required further periods of ventilation. Immunosuppression consisted of azathioprine and cyclosporine. Three patients also received low-dose oral steroids. There was one early death, which occurred on the second postoperative day. The remaining patients were followed up for 12 to 53 (mean, 22) months. One patient had cytomegalovirus pneumonitis 6 weeks postoperatively that responded to treatment. There was one late death at 14 months after reoperation for treatment of obliterative bronchiolitis. The overall survival was 91% at 1 year. All survivors achieved an excellent level of rehabilitation. It is concluded that the medium-term results of heart and lung transplantation for treatment of emphysema are good and that patients with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency may undergo transplant procedures without substitution therapy.
The use of donor hearts from heart-lung recipients, the so-called domino procedure, began at Papworth Hospital in November 1988. Between then and September 1992, 198 heart transplantations and 86 heart-lung transplantations were performed. Fifty-three heart-lung recipients donated their hearts for use in the domino procedure. Thirty-two domino hearts were transplanted at Papworth and 21 were exported to other centers. Institution of the domino procedure allowed us to perform 19% more heart transplantations (166 to 198) than would have been done had the procedure not been used. The ischemic time was significantly shorter for the domino hearts compared with organs from brain dead donors (134 minutes versus 191 minutes; p < 0.001). No difference was found in the 3-month (84% versus 83%) or 1-year (74% versus 76%) survival between domino and nondomino recipients. Other potential advantages of the domino procedure include detailed pretransplantation evaluation of the heart in live donors and the potential for human leukocyte antigen matching. Additionally many heart-lung recipients have elevated pulmonary artery pressures and a "conditioned", hypertrophied right ventricle. The use of such hearts for heart transplantation has theoretic appeal for patients with elevated pulmonary vascular resistance.