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Biomedical subjects

E Svendsen

Publications and source records attributed to E Svendsen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

In vitro responses to atrial natriuretic polypeptide in human vessels commonly used as aortocoronary bypass grafts.

Vascular effects of atrial natriuretic polypeptide (APII), i.e. the peptide hormone released from the atrial myocardium, were investigated in segments of the human internal thoracic artery (ITA) and saphenous vein (SV) with intact (+E) or injured (-E) endothelium. All segments were subject to several cycles of agonists in order to detect tachyphylactic or facilitatory responses. Opposite, indirect effects on the noradrenaline contracted ITA and SV were obtained in response to APII at a supranormal concentration (50 nM) which had no direct relaxing action on the isolated segments in vitro. In ITA the noradrenaline contractures in subsequent cycles were reduced to 41 +/- 21% (+E) and 28 +/- 9% (-E), but in SV they were enhanced to 211 +/- 115% (+E) and 483 +/- 242% (-E) of those before APII exposure. Thus under in vitro conditions ITA could be indirectly relaxed by APII via tachyphylactic effect on the noradrenaline contracture. SV, on the other hand, was markedly potentiated by APII in its noradrenaline response. In injured endothelium these opposite effects were aggravated.

Atrial Natriuretic Factor↗
PubMed1992

Effects of hyperoxia on human endothelial cell proliferation and morphology in vitro.

The effects of hyperoxia on endothelial cells from human umbilical veins were studied in vitro by flow cytometric DNA analysis, cell proliferation, and morphology. Exposure of the cells to PO2 of approximately 400 and 500 mmHg (corresponding to O2 concentrations of 65 and 95%, respectively) caused, after 24 h, an increase in the proportion of S-phase cells from 18 to 33%. This was followed by a dramatic decrease of S-phase cells to about 4% after 48 h of O2 exposure. This decrease was also sustained after 72 h of O2 treatment. Concomitant with the depletion of S-phase cells was an increase from 13 to 21% in the proportion of cells in the G2M phase, indicating that cells were unable to undergo cell division after a 48-h exposure to 65 and 95% O2. Cells exposed to various PO2 levels (124, 248, 400, and 500 mmHg) showed a dose-dependent reduction in cell proliferation leading to a total inhibition of cell growth after exposure to PO2 of 400 and 500 mmHg. Cells exposed to 248 mmHg PO2 exhibited similar growth rates as the control cells during the first 3 days. Thereafter there was a 50% reduction in cell density as compared to the control cells. Light and scanning electron microscopy showed that the hyperoxic cells underwent morphologic changes characterized by cell contraction and swelling. Thus it is shown that exposure to very high PO2 tensions first stimulates the cells to enter the S phase of the cell cycle. Thereafter changes take place leading to a nearly complete reduction of cell proliferation.

Cell Count↗
PubMed1991

Frequency of pulmonary embolism in patients with circulatory disturbances of the lower limb or intestine. An autopsy study.

The frequency of pulmonary embolism in patients with circulatory disturbances in the lower limbs (CDLL) or intestine (CDI) were investigated in an autopsy series. Pulmonary embolism was seen more frequently in patients with CDLL than in patients with CDI. This difference was maintained irrespective of duration of last admission. Patients with CDLL had pulmonary embolism in 36% of the cases when they stayed in the hospital for more than 5 days prior to death, versus 12% in CDI patients. Pulmonary embolism occurred with approximately equal frequency in all age-groups. Surgery had little influence on the occurrence of pulmonary embolism in patients with CDLL. In 85% of the CDLL cases, pulmonary embolism (n = 81) was considered the immediate cause of death at autopsy. The awareness of this life-threatening disease is poor as only 12% had been diagnosed prior to death.

Arterial Occlusive Diseases↗
PubMed1991

The internal elastic lamina in the basilar artery and its possible significance for intimal thickening. A morphometric study.

The degree of intimal thickening, folding of the internal elastic lamina (IEL) and luminal radius/wall thickness ratio (RWR) have been compared between predilectional sites and a non-predilectional site for atherosclerosis in human basilar arteries. The findings are compatible with the hypothesis that a low degree of folding and a high RWR facilitate intimal thickening. A negative correlation between the fold index and intimal thickening index and a positive correlation between RWR index and intimal thickening index were found. Predilectional areas also have lower fold indices and higher RWR in younger subjects prior to any intimal thickening development.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Infected pseudocyst of adrenal gland. Case report.

A large adrenal pseudocyst was found in a 58-year-old woman presenting with pain in the left hypochondrium and septicemia. Initial blood- and cystic fluid cultures all showed Staphylococcus aureus. After antibiotic therapy the cyst was removed. We have found no previous report of a bacteria-containing infected adrenal cyst in an adult.

Adrenal Gland Diseases↗
PubMed1991

Periodicity in metastatic tumour growth demonstrated in the human liver at autopsy. Preliminary report.

The present study is based on 1,069 autopsies made up of stomach, breast, renal and colonic cancer. Periodicity is described in the liver weight index (liver weight/body height) at death in patients with liver metastases. The seasonal variation tended to be more marked in females and among older patients, and it differed with tumour type. A period with maximum deaths tended to follow that of maximum liver weight index. A periodic difference previously reported in a small series of malignant melanomas is thus not an isolated phenomenon. This indicates that basic biological pathways concerned with the control of tumour growth may be involved. How the system works remains an open question.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1990

Internal elastic membrane in the internal mammary and left anterior descending coronary arteries and its relationship to intimal thickening.

The internal mammary artery (IMA) is less prone to intimal thickening than coronary arteries and is routinely used in coronary bypass surgery. To resolve whether morphologic differences can explain why IMA develops less intimal thickening, morphometric measurement of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) and IMA was carried out in 62 autopsies from individuals of various age groups. The amount of intimal thickening, the degree of folding of the internal elastic membrane, and media thickness were estimated by appropriate indices. Intimal thickening of LAD was more marked, occurred earlier and could be demonstrated even below one year of age, but was not found before 21 years of age in the IMA. A fold-index of the internal elastic membrane was significantly higher in the IMA than in the LAD and correlated negatively with an intimal thickening index in both arteries (P less than 0.0001 for both). The fold-index decreased with age, most markedly in LAD. Negative correlation was also found between a media thickness index and the intimal thickening index in LAD (P less than 0.02). The fold-index may indicate the magnitude of tangential intimal tension during life and may be of significance for development of intimal thickening and atherosclerosis. Lower fold-index may in part explain the propensity of atherosclerosis in LAD compared with IMA. Also, reduced fold-index with age accompanied the occurrence of atherosclerosis with age.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Successful pregnancy following treatment of primary malignant lymphoma of the uterine cervix.

A case of primary histiocytic lymphoma in the uterine cervix of a 22-year-old nulligravid woman is reported. To avoid surgical or radiological castration she received six courses of combination chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide 750 mg/m2, doxorubicin 50 mg/m2, vincristine 2 mg all iv on Day 1 and then together with oral prednisone 50 mg twice daily on Days 1-5). Approximately 20 months after therapy she delivered a healthy child. Six years have passed since primary treatment was initiated. No evidence of recurrent lymphoma has been observed.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Clinically undiagnosed malignant tumours found at autopsy.

In a series of over 20,000 autopsies carried out over a 25-year period, 700 cancers (11%) were found in patients in whom the diagnosis of cancer had not been considered relevant clinically. In over half of them the unrecognized tumour was considered an incidential finding and thus of no importance to the individual concerned, though of epidemiological concern. As expected from the literature the main organs involved were kidney and prostate, with stomach cancer in third place. In contrast, the unrecognized cancers that caused death were most often from the pancreas or lung, again with the stomach in third place. These patients with stomach or lung cancer were frequently thought to have died of other diseases in the gastrointestinal/respiratory tract, and the disease cited was often present though not the cause of death. These patients tended to be older than those with clinically recognized disease, and had been hospitalized late in the course of their fatal illness, at which time clinical recognition would not have influenced the outcome. Earlier recognition of this type of cancer is thus essential. This cannot be achieved without definition and further analysis of the entities concerned.

Autopsy↗
PubMed1990

Myoendothelial junctions in human saphenous veins.

The frequency and morphology of myoendothelial junctions occurring in human saphenous veins have been investigated. The junctions are mostly established via slender membrane projections. The junction slit is filled with a electron-dense material, sometimes forming shark-tooth-like configurations. The morphology of these heterocellular junctions is not compatible in all cases with gap junctions, tight junctions or desmosomes. The frequency of heterocellular junctions in endothelial cells of saphenous veins is estimated to be approximately 10 per cell, but their significance is not finally determined.

Endothelium, Vascular↗
PubMed1989

Changes in the cancer spectrum at autopsy: 1975-1984.

In an autopsy series of 8571 cases from 1975 to 1984, cancer deaths increased significantly, particularly in those cases over 60 years of age. A similar trend was seen in the mortality statistics from the district. Study of the degree of correlation between the frequency for the different types of cancer and the total deaths from that cancer at autopsy in the population supplies guidelines for use in assessing the relevance of autopsy findings to epidemiological research. It is stressed that without autopsy control monitoring of cancer in a population is incomplete and unreliable. An autopsy frequency of 40 per cent or more for the cancer in question in the population as a whole is required combined with series of 5-600 cases if satisfactory studies are to be initiated. Such conditions are difficult to fulfil for the less common types, but offer a valid approach to the monitoring of those types of cancer that are numerous enough to merit such attention.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1989

Trace elements intake in the Faroe Islands. III. Element concentrations in human organs in populations from Bergen (Norway) and the Faroe Islands.

Flameless as well as flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry were used for the analysis of six elements (calcium, iron, zinc, selenium, cadmium and mercury) in human organs (liver, kidney cortex and medulla, heart, pancreas and spleen) from 13 bodies from Bergen and 10 from the Faroe Islands. Samples were taken at autopsy and the organs selected were without pathological signs. All patients were born between 1899 and 1923. Element concentrations in the organs studied were comparable to previous studies, except for high mercury and selenium values in the liver, the kidney cortex and medulla of subjects from the Faroe Islands. The high mercury and selenium values may be explained by the high consumption of pilot whales by the Faroe Islands population.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Trends in cardiac metastasis.

A review of 8571 autopsies disclosed 2833 patients with malignant tumours from 1975 to 1984 at the Department of Pathology, The Gade Institute. Cardiac metastases were found in 130 cases. An increase of cardiac involvement was shown in the autopsy material from 1.2% in 1975-1979 to 1.8% in 1980-1984. The same trend was seen if cardiac metastases were related to malignant tumours. Numerically, lung cancer accounted for most of the metastases seen, but the increase was made up by other tumours than lung cancer. especially malignant melanoma, mesothelioma, breast cancer and sarcomas. These tumours have a high frequency of heart metastases and the increased incidence of these cancers in the material explains the rise of cardiac metastases. Cardiac metastases increased with rising number of distant metastases. This study shows that mesotheliomas have the highest percentage of cardiac spread. The importance of autopsy for detecting metastatic spread in sites that are difficult to detect clinically is emphasized.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Comparison of clinical and postmortem diagnosis of pulmonary embolism.

The incidence of pulmonary embolism and the number of clinically missed diagnoses of it in necropsies carried out between 1960 and 1984 at this department were investigated. Pulmonary embolism primarily affects elderly people with serious underlying disease; in this study it was found more often in women. The incidence of pulmonary embolism (9% of all necropsies) was unchanged during the period studied. In contrast, pulmonary embolism as the "sole" cause of death increased (p less than 0.0005). Although most pulmonary emboli were the immediate cause of death, the clinical diagnosis was often missed (in 84% of all cases). Furthermore, such clinically missed diagnoses increased over the years (p less than 0.005), especially in patients with heart disease and cancer. Without necropsy there will be considerable underdiagnosis of pulmonary embolism, therefore providing a misleading figure in the death statistics for this often fatal disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Prevalence of pulmonary embolism at necropsy in patients with cancer.

The series studied comprised 6197 patients who had died of or who had cancer at death and represents all patients with cancer from 21,530 necropsies performed at this department from 1960-84. Pulmonary embolism was significantly more common among cancer patients than in those with non-neoplastic diseases. Among those palliatively treated, patients with ovarian cancer, cancer of the extrahepatic bile duct system, and cancer of the stomach had the highest prevalence of pulmonary embolism (34.6%, 31.7%, and 15.2%, respectively). Necropsy patients with cancer of the oesophagus and larynx, together with leukaemia, myelomatosis, and malignant lymphoma had the lowest prevalence (0-5.6%). Palliatively treated cancers in organs of the peritoneal cavity had a significantly higher incidence than all other cancers combined. Cancer of the peritoneal cavity may impede venous drainage from the lower limbs and thus be an important factor in the onset of deep calf vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. It is concluded that cancer represents an increased risk factor for onset of pulmonary embolism, in particular in patients with ovarian cancer and cancer of the extrahepatic bile duct system.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Cervical ranula.

Ranulas are mucous extravasation cysts, and usually originate from the sublingual salivary gland. They may occasionally infiltrate the tissue planes of the neck and present as a cervical tumour. The literature is reviewed, and four personal cases of cervical ranula presented. Successful treatment may be achieved in the vast majority of cases by removal of the sublingual salivary gland.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Focal endothelial cell injury in rabbit aorta, aggravation of injury by 2 days of cholesterol feeding.

A randomized morphometric study of "spontaneous" endothelial cell injury in rabbit aorta was performed blindly. Four different areas of the aorta were sampled in a standardized fashion and examined by scanning electron microscopy. The finding of protruding endothelial cells was taken as sign of injury. The endothelial cell injury was focal and, in the sampled areas, particularly prevalent in the distal part of the lesser curvature of the aortic arch and the distal lip of intercostal artery orifices. In the area between two intercostal artery orifices on the same side of the midline injured cells were only exceptionally found. Rabbits fed a 2% cholesterol diet for 2 days showed an increase in protruding cells, particularly at the intercostal artery orifices. It is concluded that the endothelial cell injury in rabbit aorta may be caused by local factors, determining the focal nature, and by systemic factors, such as acute hypercholesterolemia.

Animals↗