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D Launay

Publications and source records attributed to D Launay.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Cardiopulmonary function before and after cyclophosphamide treatment in severe systemic sclerosis: comparison of monthly intravenous bolus and autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation].

PURPOSE: Cyclophosphamide in monthly intravenous bolus is used to treat severe forms of systemic sclerosis with pulmonary involvement. Since 1996, cyclophosphamide therapeutic intensification with autologous haematopoietic stem cells transplantation allowed significant improvement in skin and functional scores in severe systemic sclerosis. Cyclophosphamide potential cardiotoxicity in this setting has been questioned. METHODS: To analyse cyclophosphamide potential cardiopulmonary toxicity (as graded with WHO classification), we retrospectively studied all severe systemic sclerosis patients treated with cyclophosphamide either during autologous haematopoietic stem cells transplantation procedure (group A) or intravenous cyclophosphamide (group B) recruited in 7 French centers volunteers for the study. Parameters to evaluate heart and lung functions at inclusion, then at last follow-up between 6 and 12 months after start of treatment, were compared using the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: (Mean+/-standard deviation): Groups A (N=14) and B (N=13) were similar at the beginning of the study in terms of skin, renal, heart and lung involvement. Cyclophosphamide total dose (/m(2)) received in group A was superior (P=0.02) to the one in group B. After respective follow-up of 10+/-2.8 (group A) and 9.9+/-2.7 (group B) months, cyclophosphamide cardio toxicity (group A: N=3; group B: N=2), evolution of the left ventricular ejection fraction and arterial and pulmonary pressures did not differ in the two groups. CONCLUSION: In spite of higher cyclophosphamide doses during autologous haematopoietic stem cells transplantation than bolus treatment, cardiopulmonary toxicity appeared not increased. The ongoing European ASTIS trial will compare the respective benefits of these 2 cyclophosphamide regimens in severe Systemic sclerosis.

Adolescent↗

[Influence of hypergammaglobulinemia on antiphospholipid antibodies titres].

PURPOSE: Antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL) or lupus anticoagulant (LA), are indispensable for the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). However, antiphospholipid assays can generate false positive results. MATERIALS: We have studied the influence of hypergammaglobulinemia (HG) on aPL antibodies titers in 232 patients twice as positive for aPL antibodies. RESULTS: Out of 232 patients, 93 have an APS (76 primary APS, 17 secondary APS). Thrombosis occurred 138 times in APS patients. Of 139 patients without APS, 95 have an auto-immune disease, 28 have an isolated prolonged KCT and 16 an evolutive neoplasia. LA seems to be the best marker of APS. On the other hand aCL IgG and M, anti-beta2-GP1 IgM titers are significantly higher in patients without APS but with HG. CONCLUSION: Those results suggest that biological APS diagnosis should be carefully performed in patients with HG. In this case, other additional risk factors must be considered for the etiological diagnosis of thrombosis.

Adult↗

Antiphospholipid antibodies in primary Sjögren's syndrome: prevalence and clinical significance in a series of 74 patients.

The aim of this study is to determine prevalence, clinical significance of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) including anticardiolipin antibodies (aCL), anti-beta2GP1 and lupus anticoagulant (LA) in a cohort of 74 patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) according to revised European criteria. aPL were found in 25 (34%) patients; IgG in 23 (12 had low titres, six moderate titres and five high titres) and IgM in five (three and two had respectively moderate and high titres). Eight (11%) patients were found to have LA; anti-beta2GP1 antibodies were detected only in three (4%) patients. Only two patients with LA, aPL and beta2GP1 had recurrent venous thrombosis. One patient with moderate titres of aPL exhibited recurrent spontaneous foetal losses. Peripheral neuropathies without cryoglobulinemia were more frequent in the aPL group. Other systemic involvements of pSS were the same in both groups with or without aPL. Patients with aPL have more concurrent immunological diseases such as thyroiditis and primary biliary cirrhosis and a higher prevalence of hypergammaglobulinemia (P < 0.05). Even if aPL prevalence reached 30% in pSS, titres were usually low, with a close correlation with hypergammaglobulinemia but not with antiphospholipid syndrome, which is related to positivity of both LA and aPL.

Adult↗

Pulmonary-renal syndrome due to hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome: an unusual manifestation of puumala virus infection in France.

The authors report about a patient who presented with acute respiratory failure, bilateral alveolar infiltrates, without signs of fluid overload, and acute renal failure. Percutaneous renal biopsy revealed acute interstitial nephritis with medulla hemorrhages. Serologic tests for Puumala virus infection were positive. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome should be considered when patients present with pulmonary-renal syndrome.

Adult↗

[Unusual association: hepatic peliosis and Crohn's disease].

INTRODUCTION: Hepatobiliary disorders occurs in about 10 to 30% of inflammatory bowel diseases. Fatty liver and gallstones are preferentially described with Crohn's disease. Conversely, peliosis hepatis has been only exceptionally reported in association with inflammatory bowel diseases. We describe here a case of peliosis hepatis complicating a misdiagnosed Crohn's disease. EXEGESIS: A 24-year-old woman was referred because of a hepatomegaly and a deterioration of the general state. The patient complained about diarrhea for 3 months and about an episode of bloody stools. There was an aphthous-like lesion on the tongue. X-ray pull-through revealed a typical aspect of terminal ileitis as seen in Crohn's disease. The liver was heterogeneous. Liver biopsy revealed a peliosis hepatis. No other possible cause of peliosis hepatis was found. Therefore, in this case, peliosis hepatis, revealed by the hepatomegaly, was associated with Crohn's disease. CONCLUSION: Association between Crohn's disease and peliosis hepatis has only exceptionally been described. A priori, this complication is not a pejorative feature in inflammatory bowel disease. The pathophysiological significance of this association remains unknown.

Adult↗

[Systemic sclerosis and pregnancy].

PURPOSE: Pregnancy in a patient with systemic sclerosis (SSc) may pose a double problem to the medical team: influence of SSc on pregnancy and consequences of pregnancy to SSc manifestations. CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND KEY POINTS: Concepts have evolved. SSc was considered for a long time not only as not very propitious for pregnancy but also as a strict contraindication for procreation because risks for the mother and the baby were thought to be major. Currently, fertility is thought to be normal. Miscarriages and small-for-gestation age infants rate do not seem to be higher in SSc. Maternal and perinatal mortality is also not higher in SSc without severe visceral manifestations, i.e. without either pulmonary hypertension, or cardiac or respiratory insufficiency. Conversely, there is a significantly higher frequency of premature infants in SSc. As regards influence of pregnancy on SSc, the greatest fear is the occurrence of renal crisis, which may be life threatening for both mother and child. Each elevation of blood pressure, even if this increase is mild, should be considered as potentially very serious. However, pregnancy itself does not seem to increase the risk of renal crisis. Consequences of pregnancy to SSc manifestations are various but usually mild. FUTURE PROSPECTS AND PROJECTS: SSc is not a strict contraindication for pregnancy only if severe organ involvement, diffuse subset of SSc or recent onset of the disease has been ruled out. Physicians should be aware of specific problems, which SSc is possibly posing during pregnancy. Finally, it has been recently suggested that pregnancies could be involved in the pathogenesis of SSc through persisting microchimerism of fetal origin.

Acute Disease↗

[DRESS (Drug Rash with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms) syndrome after sulfasalazine and carmazepine: report of two cases].

INTRODUCTION: To better individualize drug hypersensitivity reaction, Bocquet et al. have recently called this adverse drug reaction DRESS (Drug Rash with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms). EXEGESIS: We report two cases of DRESS and highlight the main characteristics of this syndrome. Two patients presented severe febrile skin eruption following drug intake (carbamazepine or sulfazalazine), with hypereosinophilia and hepatitis. All symptoms resolved after drug withdrawal and corticosteroid therapy. DRESS syndrome is an idiosyncratic reaction characterised by febrile eruption, occurring 2 to 6 weeks after the beginning of the treatment, accompanied by systemic symptoms and biological abnormalities (hypereosinophilia, hepatitis). Some complications can occur. This syndrome can be fatal. Numerous drugs can be responsible for this reaction to medication. The physiopathology has not yet been elucidated, and the treatment is not codified, but the triggering agent must immediately be stopped. Corticotherapy is sometimes used. CONCLUSION: It is important to recognize this entity recently named DRESS syndrome because it can mimic other pathologies, is potentially serious, and because withdrawal of the incriminating drug is imperative.

Adolescent↗

[Pulmonary hypertension screening in systemic scleroderma: a cohort study of 67 patients].

PURPOSE: Pulmonary hypertension is a severe complication of systemic sclerosis and has emerged as a major cause of morbidity and mortality in this condition. Treatment is all the more efficient as pulmonary hypertension is early diagnosed. A good knowledge of the clinical, biological and functional features of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis is therefore necessary to suspect and to diagnose pulmonary hypertension as early as possible. METHODS: Sixty seven patients with systemic sclerosis were retrospectively studied. We compared clinical, immunological, functional (spirometry) and morphological (pulmonary fibrosis) features according to the presence (n = 25) and the characteristic of pulmonary hypertension (isolated or secondary) or the absence (n = 42) of pulmonary hypertension, assessed by Doppler echocardiography. RESULTS: CREST syndrome (calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, oesophageal involvement, sclerodactyly and telangiectasia) was more frequent in patients with isolated pulmonary hypertension than in patients without PH (72.7% vs 28.5%, P < 0.05; odds-ratio [OR] = 6.6) and dyspnea was more severe (P < 0.001; OR = 11.4). The age at time of pulmonary hypertension diagnosis was higher in patients with secondary pulmonary hypertension than in patients with isolated from (median: 62.5 years (range: 32-35) vs 53 years (range: 37-85), P < 0.05). Patients with isolated pulmonary hypertension had anticardiolipin antibodies more frequently than patients without pulmonary hypertension (72.7% vs 35.7%, P < 0.05). Isolated reduction of diffusing capacity was preferentially observed among patients with isolated pulmonary hypertension than among those without pulmonary hypertension. A linear relation between systolic pulmonary artery pressure values and diffusing capacity values (r = 0.72, P < 0.01) was found. Isolated reduction of diffusing capacity was more frequent in patients with isolated pulmonary hypertension than in patients without pulmonary hypertension (63.6% vs 14.3%, P < 0.001; OR = 10.5). CONCLUSION: The severity of pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis justifies a systematic screening by Doppler echocardiography and diffusing capacity measurement. Our results allow us to better define the characteristics of sclerodermic patients with isolated or secondary pulmonary hypertension. The search for pulmonary hypertension should be repeated with time and clinicians should be particularly vigilant in the case of a patient presenting these characteristics.

Adult↗

Scleromyxedema (lichen myxedematosus) associated with dermatomyositis.

A 41-year-old white man is described with papules of the lower and upper back, the neck and the upper chest, a marked deposition of mucin in the upper reticular dermis, and an IgG lambda monoclonal gammopathy strongly evocative of scleromyxedema (lichen myxedematosus). Additionally, he developed intense myalgia, muscle weakness and rhabdomyolysis, which were associated with heliotrope erythema, photosensitivity and an erythematous rash of the dorsum of the hands with Gottron's papules. Muscle biopsy revealed an inflammatory myositis, and dermatomyositis was diagnosed. The association of dermatomyositis and secondary mucinosis, or muscle involvement in primary papular mucinosis are not rare. However, the association between scleromyxedema and dermatomyositis has only exceptionally been reported.

Adult↗

Relationship between parity and clinical and biological features in patients with systemic sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of parity on the clinical and biological features of systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: We recorded the following clinical and biological data of 100 consecutive women with SSc: age, disease duration before diagnosis, cutaneous extension of sclerosis according to LeRoy's classification, pulmonary involvement, and antinuclear antibodies. We compared these features to the number and sex of children who were born before SSc onset. Date of birth of the first children was systematically recorded. RESULTS: Patients with limited SSc had more children before SSc onset than patients with diffuse SSc (2.4 +/- 1.8 vs 1.7 +/- 1.5; p < 0.05). The interval between first birth and SSc onset was shorter for patients with limited SSc than for patients with diffuse SSc (11.0 +/- 9.9 vs 23.5 +/- 14.5 yrs; p < 0.01). Patients with pulmonary fibrosis had more children than patients without pulmonary fibrosis (2.5 +/- 1.9 vs 2.0 +/- 1.6; p < 0.05). Age at first birth was significantly higher when the child was a girl than a boy (26.8 +/- 7.5 vs 22.9 +/- 5.3 yrs; p < 0.05). The interval between the first birth and SSc onset was shorter when the child was a girl than a boy (16.2 +/- 9.6 vs 25.4 +/- 13.4 yrs; p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Pregnancy related microchimerism could be preferentially associated with limited SSc and pulmonary fibrosis. Microchimerism may be facilitated in cases in which the fetus is female.

Adult↗

Aerosolized iloprost in CREST syndrome related pulmonary hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the outcome of patients with CREST syndrome associated severe pulmonary hypertension treated by aerosolized iloprost in a noncomparative study. METHODS: Five patients with CREST syndrome associated severe pulmonary hypertension were treated with 100 microg/day of aerosolized iloprost. New York Heart Association functional class and exercise tolerance (6 min walk test) were assessed at baseline, after one month, and then every 6 months. A right heart catheterization was performed at baseline in all but one patient. Systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAP) was measured with Doppler echocardiography after one month and every 6 months. RESULTS: The mean followup was 13.2 +/- 8.8 months (median 6, range 6-24). Subjective quality of life improved in all patients. NYHA functional class decreased from Class III to II in 3 patients, from Class III to I in one patient, and from Class IV to III in one patient. At 6 months, the distance walked in 6 min had increased from 352 +/- 48 to 437 +/- 56 m (p = 0.06). At one month the mean systolic PAP was 58 +/- 13 vs 81 +/- 9 mm Hg at baseline (p = 0.04). At 6 months the mean systolic PAP was 57 +/- 13 mm Hg (p = 0.06). The improvement of both clinical and hemodynamic status was maintained in the 2 patients treated for 2 years. Neither adverse effects nor need to increase the daily dose of iloprost were observed. One patient died of right heart failure and one patient did not experience any improvement of exercise tolerance and hemodynamics. CONCLUSION: Aerosolized iloprost might be potentially useful as treatment for CREST syndrome associated pulmonary hypertension. However, patients who could benefit from this treatment will probably have to undergo careful criteria selection.

Administration, Inhalation↗

[Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome].

Puumala hantavirus is the most common hantavirus infection in Western Europe. The causative agent, Puumala virus, is a member of the Hantavirus genus in the Bunyaviridae family. The natural hosts of hantaviruses are chronically, but asymptomatic infected rodents, which transmit the virus to human in their excretions. Puumala virus is carried by the bank vole, clethrionomys glareolus. Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) caused by Puumala virus in France or Belgium is very similar to the previously described Nephropathia epidemica in Scandinavia. In most severe cases, the disease is clinically characterized by high fever of abrupt onset, headache, loin or abdominal pains, nausea and vomiting, and occasionally acute and transient myopia. Renal involvement results in transient proteinuria and hematuria and acute renal failure. Except for interstitial hemorrhage in the outer medulla, the renal histopathologic findings are unspecific and include prominent changes in the interstitium with interstitial oedema and inflammatory infiltrates. Thrombocytopenia, mild elevation of liver enzymes, and leukocytosis are typical laboratory findings. Spontaneous complete recovery is the rule. Laboratory diagnosis is primarily based on serology such as indirect immunofluorescence or capture enzyme--linked immunosorbent assays which detect IgM antibodies and an increased level of IgG antibodies against Puumala virus. Viral antigen may be demonstrated in the cytoplasm of renal tubular epithelial cells.

Acute Kidney Injury↗