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Biomedical subjects

Jeffrey T Kirchner

Publications and source records attributed to Jeffrey T Kirchner.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Hepatitis B.

Hepatitis B causes significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. More than 400 million persons, including 1.25 million Americans, have chronic hepatitis B. In the United States, chronic hepatitis B virus infection is responsible for about 5,000 annual deaths from cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Hepatitis B virus is found in body fluids and secretions; in developed countries, the virus is most commonly transmitted sexually or via intravenous drug use. Occupational exposure and perinatal transmission do occur but are rare in the United States. Effective vaccines for hepatitis B virus have been available since 1982; infant and childhood vaccination programs introduced in the 1990s have resulted in a marked decrease in new infections. Risk factors for progression to chronic infection include age at the time of infection and impaired immunity. From 15 to 30 percent of patients with acute hepatitis B infection progress to chronic infection. Medical therapies for chronic hepatitis B include interferon alfa-2b, lamivudine, and the nucleotide analog adefovir dipivoxil.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

Identifying exercise-induced bronchospasm. Treatment hinges on distinguishing it from chronic asthma.

Exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB) is an often-undiagnosed but common problem affecting both recreational and elite athletes. Although exercise can trigger exacerbation of chronic asthma, EIB should not be confused with the chronic inflammatory disease. In this article, Drs Hermansen and Kirchner review the incidence, diagnosis, and treatment of EIB and explain how to distinguish EIB from chronic asthma.

Asthma↗
PubMed2002

The clinical management of recurrent genital herpes: current issues and future prospects.

This article reports the proceedings of an expert panel discussion on current clinical management practices for the treatment of recurrent genital herpes. The panel reviewed the effectiveness of primary and specialist care settings in the UK and USA and identified the principal clinical needs of patients with recurrent genital herpes. The ideal alternative to daily suppressive nucleoside analogue therapy is a treatment with long-term impact on the natural history and prognosis of recurrent genital herpes. The potential of resiquimod, an immune response modifier, to resolve this unmet need was examined. Resiquimod is reported to delay the onset of recurrent genital herpes symptoms in patients in a Phase II clinical trial. While awaiting clinical confirmation of this new development in immunotherapy, the panel concluded with two recommendations: a reassessment of recurrent genital herpes management in terms of physician education of patients, and the promotion of a positive patient-physician relationship in the approach to treatment.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed2002

Resolution of renal failure after initiation of HAART: 3 cases and a discussion of the literature.

Renal failure is a known complication of HIV infection. The most common form is HIV-associated nephropathy, or HIVAN. It is characterized by high-grade proteinuria with rapid progression to end-stage renal disease. The kidneys of affected patients appear enlarged on ultrasonography. Histopathologically, there is focal segmental glomerulosclerosis with glomerular collapse. Before the era of HAART, patients with HIVAN had limited survival, although in some cases this was prolonged if dialysis was instituted. Over the past few years, isolated case reports have shown that patients with HIVAN will recover renal function following initiation of HAART. We report 3 patients believed to have HIVAN who exhibited marked improvement in renal function after treatment with a regimen comprising 2 nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors and a protease inhibitor.

AIDS-Associated Nephropathy↗