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Biomedical subjects

J Wechsler

Publications and source records attributed to J Wechsler.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

Cutaneous lymphomas other than mycosis fungoides: follow-up study of 52 patients.

Cutaneous lymphomas other than mycosis fungoides (MF) represent a rare and heterogeneous group of lymphomas. Their clinical behavior remains largely unknown. In this study, the clinical and immunohistologic characteristics and follow-up data of 52 well-documented cases of cutaneous lymphomas other than MF, presenting with initial cutaneous lesions, were reviewed. Twenty-seven patients presented with skin disease alone (stage IE), and 25 patients had concurrent cutaneous and extracutaneous disease (stage IV). The tumors were grouped into high-grade lymphomas (HGLs; 21%), intermediate-grade lymphomas (IGLs; 58%), and low-grade lymphomas (LGLs; 21%). A B-cell phenotype was most often expressed by cutaneous lymphomas (73%), particularly by stage IE lymphomas (85%). Among 13 cases of T-cell lymphomas, loss of one of the pan-T-cell antigens was detected in all cases but one. The clinical course of cutaneous lymphoma was closely dependent on stage and histologic subtype but not on T-cell or B-cell phenotype. Of 20 patients with stage IV HGL or IGL, 13 were treated by polychemotherapy with curative potential. Their median survival was 37 months. Fourteen patients with stage IE HGL or IGL were treated by radiotherapy alone. Nine patients (69%) relapsed within 2 years posttreatment. Seven of them relapsed in the skin outside the initial site involved, suggesting that radiotherapy alone is not an adequate treatment for these patients. Preliminary results concerning seven other patients with stage IE IGL or HGL treated by an initial third-generation polychemotherapy regimen are presented.

Adolescent↗

Transient intraepidermal bullous reaction after skin graft for toxic epidermal necrolysis. Ultrastructural and immunohistochemical features similar to those of inherited epidermolysis bullosa simplex.

Blister formation in skin graft donor or recipient sites is uncommon. We describe a 49-year-old female patient with bullae in sites of grafts used in the treatment of toxic epidermal necrolysis. Generalized loss of skin developed 3 weeks after she had ingested phenobarbital. Sixty days after the beginning of the toxic epidermal necrolysis, the reepidermization was only 80% and skin grafts were placed on lower-extremity and abdominal wounds using the first healed sites as donor sites. Several bullae and erosions were noted on grafted areas 3 weeks later. Skin biopsy specimens revealed separation at the dermoepidermal junction, and no autoantibodies were detected by direct and indirect immunofluorescence. Electron microscopy demonstrated that the blister was formed through the basal keratinocytes and that the dermoepidermal junction, including hemidesmosomes and anchoring fibrils, was normal. Immunofluorescence mapping was performed using polyclonal antibodies from the serum of patients with bullous pemphigold and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita and monoclonal antibodies against GB3 antigen and collagen type VII. All but the bullous pemphigold serum gave positive results; only faint and focal staining of the dermoepidermal junction was observed with bullous pemphigold serum. These findings are the same as those encountered in hereditary epidermolysis bullosa simplex. A biopsy performed 1 year later in the same site as the first one revealed that bullous pemphigold antigen was normally expressed. Keratinocytes autografted in the treatment of toxic epidermal necrolysis may become transiently, functionally abnormal because of the alteration of recipient sites.

Blister↗

Toxic epidermal necrolysis after bone marrow transplantation: study of nine cases.

Acute graft-versus-host reaction after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation has been reported to induce toxic epidermal necrolysis. To assess the respective role of acute graft-versus-host disease and of drug reaction in this setting, we retrospectively reviewed nine cases of toxic epidermal necrolysis that occurred in a series of 152 allogenic bone marrow recipients. In five cases visceral involvement was suggestive of acute graft-versus-host disease without any drug more than "doubtfully" suspected. In four cases extracutaneous symptoms were absent or mild and suspect drugs (mainly sulfonamides) had been administered with a timing suggestive of "possible" causality. All nine patients died, mainly from infection possibly aggravated by high doses of corticosteroids. We conclude that toxic epidermal necrolysis may be more frequent than generally thought after bone marrow transplantation and has a poor prognosis. It seems to be related to a drug reaction to sulfonamides as often as to acute graft-versus-host disease.

Acute Disease↗

[Recurrent peptic ulcer--surgical complications].

Recurrent ulcer is serious complication of surgical treatment. Resection, reconstructive operations under conditions of severe adhesions, inflammatory infiltrates and abscesses are exacting and often connected with complication. In the period of 1978-1987 the authors carried out 64 reoperations for recurrent peptic ulcer, incl. 39 cases, whom they had to operate urgently. 19 patients were reoperated on account of penetration and peroperation of the ulcer, 11 because of massive haemorrhage, and 9 patients because of gastrocolic fistulae. In reoperations, subtotal resection of the stomach with vagotomy was carried out in 66%. In 4 patients reoperated repeatedly, Zollinger-Ellison's syndrome was found and resection of the pancreas was performed simultaneously. The mortality rate in the group, including patients reoperated urgently, was 21.9% (i.e. 14). The authors emphasize that the main aim of reoperation must be long-term therapeutic results without recurrences of ulcers and without serious functional disturbances.

Adult↗