Monitoring of patients with deep-vein thrombosis during and after anticoagulation with D-dimer.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Drouet.
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The time of appearance and pattern of expression of several alpha-granule proteins, von Willebrand factor (VWF), fibrinogen and immunoglobulins (Ig) were examined and compared in human bone marrow megakaryocytes (MK) using an immunocytochemical approach. VWF is synthesized by immature MK, whereas it has been shown that fibrinogen is incorporated from the plasma into alpha-granules. The present study was undertaken in order to determine whether there are chronological and morphological differences in the expression of VWF and fibrinogen in vivo in human MK. Seven paraffin-embedded biopsies of normal human bone marrow were labelled with specific antibodies for VWF and for fibrinogen, detected by the alkaline phosphatase anti-alkaline phosphatase (APAAP) method. and analysed by immunomorphometry. We found a clear, statistically significant. difference in the labelling pattern of VWF and fibrinogen. The expression of other endocytosed alpha-granule proteins, immunoglobulins G and A, was therefore studied in bone marrow MK from two patients with multiple myeloma, one with monoclonal IgG and one with monoclonal IgA. The immunostaining pattern was similar to that of fibrinogen and different from VWF, and characteristic of endocytosed alpha-granule proteins. This study demonstrates that: (i) immunohistochemical staining of MK alpha-granules proteins distinguishes the peripheral cockade distribution pattern of endocytosed protein from the perinuclear pattern of endogenously synthesized proteins; (ii) VWF is present in human bone marrow MK when fibrinogen is not yet detectable: (iii) VWF synthesis ceases while fibrinogen is still being incorporated: (iv) immunoglobulins can be detected in MK cytoplasm, with a staining pattern resembling that of fibrinogen.
The effects of the infusion of a human recombinant von Willebrand factor (vWF) preparation in pigs homozygous for von Willebrand disease (vWD) were evaluated on serial measurements of von Willebrand factor antigen and activity, FVIII activity, vWF multimer analysis, in-vivo bleeding time and platelet adhesion and thrombus formation on collagen at high shear rates in an ex-vivo model of experimental thrombosis. Plasma-derived human and porcine vWF were used for comparison. Before infusion, the pigs were characterized by undetectable plasma vWF levels, a low level of FVIII, prolonged bleeding time, severely impaired platelet adhesion and thrombus formation. After infusion of the human recombinant vWF, in-vivo recovery of vWF activity ranged from 58% to 82%, depending on the dose infused, and its half-life was longer than for the plasma-derived concentrates. The highest-molecular-weight forms of human recombinant vWF were removed from the circulation gradually. Infusion of the three vWF concentrates produced inconsistent effects on bleeding time and moderate improvement of platelet adhesion and thrombus formation. After infusion, a prolonged increase of FVIII (> 48 h) was observed, suggesting that human recombinant vWF is able to bind and to stabilize porcine factor VIII and that porcine vWD is a good model for studying such interactions.
As inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) may differently increase bleeding time (BT) and inhibit platelet aggregation in normal and lung-injured patients or experimental models, we studied the effects of iNO on hemostasis in presence and absence of an endotoxic lung injury in the rat. Eight hours after intratracheal administration of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) or its solvent (phosphate-buffered solution [PBS]), four groups of rats were randomized according to the presence or absence of 15 ppm iNO added for an additional 10 h. We measured BT, ex vivo platelet aggregation, plasma fibrinogen, euglobulin clot lysis time (ECLT), and platelet and aortic cyclic guanosine 5'-monophosphate (cGMP) contents. Acute lung inflammation did not influence BT, but increased platelet aggregability, fibrinogen levels, and platelet and aortic cGMP. In control and endotoxic rats, iNO increased BT, reduced platelet aggregability, and increased platelet cGMP. iNO increased aortic cGMP only in healthy rats. ECLT was increased by LPS and unchanged with iNO. These results suggest that the extrapulmonary "systemic" effects induced by iNO on hemostasis were not strictly similar in healthy and LPS rats, inflammation inducing proper changes in coagulation parameters. However, iNO attenuated the procoagulant activity induced by acute lung inflammation, suggesting a potentially beneficial effect of this therapy.
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To evaluate the relative role of plasma and platelet von Willebrand factor (vWF) pools in hemostasis and arterial thrombogenesis, pigs with vW disease (vWD) were injected with vWF concentrate and/or grafted with bone marrow from a normal pig. Hemostasis was assessed by measurement of ear immersion bleeding time, factor VIII (FVIII) activity, and plasma and platelet vWF antigen levels. The thrombotic process was explored at 650 s(-1) and 1600 s(-1) in an ex vivo cylindrical perfusion chamber. Pigs with vWD exhibited a prolonged bleeding time (>30 minutes) compared with normal pigs (<5 minutes); in addition, they showed normal platelet adhesion and thrombus formation at 650 s(-1) but profoundly reduced platelet adhesion and thrombus formation at 1600 s(-1). Each experiment was performed before and 3 and 24 hours after injection of vWF concentrate. In our bleeding time study, only plasma vWF restoration induced a partial but delayed correction (24 hours postinjection), which was correlated with the highest measured level of FVIII activity. In the perfusion chamber model, restoration of plasma or platelet vWF pools resulted in similar partial correction of platelet adhesion and average thrombus size. In the perfused pigs, the maximum correction occurred 3 hours postinjection. Platelet deposition reached normal values after vWF concentrate was injected into a grafted pig. The present results suggest that when both plasma and platelet vWF levels are restored in vWD pigs, bleeding time and the thrombotic process are normalized according to different kinetics and with differing degrees of effectiveness.
Erythrocyte aggregation was measured in 12 patients with congenital dysfibrinogenemia. The results showed hyperaggregation in four patients who had presented a thrombotic disorder, while aggregation was entirely normal in patients with asymptomatic dysfibrinogenemia. None of the four symptomatic patients had any other anomaly of hemostasis, in particular no coagulation inhibitor deficit or anti-phospholipid antibodies. The possible involvement of erythrocyte hyperaggregation in the thrombotic process is discussed.
INTRODUCTION: Kasabach-Merritt syndrome is a very rare disease of infancy, with profound thrombocytopenia and a mild to severe consumption coagulopathy; this biological phenomenon is difficult to control. CASE REPORT: A 1-month old boy had a congenital plaque-like lesion in the calf. It was a biopsy-proven tufted angioma. Five weeks later, Kasabach-Merritt syndrome developed. After failure of ticlopidine + aspirin, and oral betamethasone treatment, thrombocytopenia was cured with vincristine treatment, then the leg lesion slowly continued to shrink after cessation of the treatment. It had disappeared before the age of 1 year. DISCUSSION: We highlighted two points: 1) Kasabach Merritt does not appear as a complication of a classic hemangioma (infantile, "cellular", "capillary", involuting-type), as it has long been thought. In our experience, it develops on a different endothelial cell proliferation, in this case a congenital tufted angioma, but it can also engraft on a kaposiform hemangioendothelioma. 2) These patients are difficult to treat because, up to now, no single treatment has given constant by good results. Vincristine was recently introduced in the treatment of Kasabach-Merritt syndrome, with excellent, rapid outcome. CONCLUSION: What seems a therapeutic progress in a difficult field needs further control.
OBJECTIVES: Hemangiomas of infancy follow a characteristic three-phases course: proliferation, involution, regressed Proliferative endothelial cells predominate during the proliferative phase. Moreover it has been shown that patients with active angiogenesis have elevated levels of urinary bFGF (basic Fibroblast Growth Factor). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Here we report our preliminary results of urinary bFGF assay (ELISA) for the diagnosis and follow up of severe hemangioma. We also assayed bFGF in normal infants, in patients with large vascular malformations and in infants with Kasabach-Merritt syndrome. RESULTS: In the control group, urinary bFGF was elevated in new borns but nul or very low in infants. Urinary bFGF levels were normal, i.e. very low in 4 patients with a vascular malformation. In infants with a clinically proliferative hemangioma, urinary bFGF was elevated in 8 among the 10 studied. bFGF levels guided treatment in 9 patients. Urinary bFGF was elevated in 4 patients with Kasabach-Merritt syndrome. DISCUSSION: Angiogenesis is regulated by angiogenic and inhibitory factors. The angiogenic factor bFGF is an autocrine growth factor for endothelial cells and hemangioma endothelial cells expressing bFGF in their cytosol during the proliferative phase. As suggested by J. Folkman and his group, assay of urinary bFGF appears useful in differentiating between hemangioma and vascular malformation and for follow up of treated patients.
The factors of thrombosis (endothelium, haemostasis, coagulation, fibrinolysis) are implicated from the initiating phase of atherosclerotic lesions. Their participation is more established (and studied) in the later phases of intraluminal evolution of atherosclerosis, of thromboembolic complications of the lesions and interventional procedures. The traditional theory of response to physical lesions of the endothelium as an initiating factor of atherosclerotic lesions, which gave platelets an essential role, has been replaced by that linking an early functional lesion of the endothelium and a cellular response by monocytes infiltrating the vessel wall, becoming macrophages. The macrophages participate in changes of the LDL in the wall, ingest the lipids at the same time as the smooth muscle cells which have migrated and proliferated from the media to the intima. The lipid overload, especially with oxidised LDL, is intracellular at first in these foam cells, then extracellular as the cells die. During the early stages, all the tissue factors of activation and development of coagulation are present in the vessel wall and then within the lesion. This intra-cellular coagulation results in the production of thrombi in the tissues and the transformation of fibrinogen to fibrin. These stages precede and participate in cellular proliferation and extracellular lipid deposits. Factors of tissular thrombolysis (the uPA pathway) play a part in cellular immigration and proliferation. It is only at a later stage that the lesion activates intravascular coagulation and fibrinolysis which, in conditions of variable equilibrium, will result in the clinical complications of the atherosclerotic process. All these factors therefore participate firstly in the tissues and then within the lumen, in the progression and complications of atherosclerosis which for these reasons is often called atherothrombotic disease. The comprehension of these mechanisms is essential for the development and interpretation of tests and treatment applied to different stages of the disease, which is all the more complex given that in a given patient at a given time, lesions at different stages are present in the arterial network.
OBJECTIVE: In 1940 Kasabach and Merritt described an infant with a vascular anomaly, extensive purpura, and thrombocytopenia; they called his lesion "capillary hemangioma." Hemangioma is a benign tumor that grows in infancy and is characterized by proliferation of endothelial cells and regression during childhood. Although Kasabach-Merritt syndrome (KMS) is frequently mentioned as a possible complication of hemangioma, our experience suggests that the anatomic vascular lesion underlying the thrombocytopenia is not a "true," classic, involuting type of hemangioma of infancy and childhood. STUDY DESIGN: We reviewed the clinical and hemostasis data and the response to treatment in 22 cases of KMS, and we analyzed the biopsy specimens of 15 of them. RESULTS: Clinically none of the 22 patients had classic hemangioma. There was no female preponderance. All patients had severe thrombocytopenia (lowest platelet count = 3000/mm3) and consumption of fibrinogen. Histologically, none had the typical "capillary," involuting type of hemangioma of infancy: they exhibited either a tufted angioma or a kaposiform hemangioendothelioma pattern; all specimens also contained numerous abnormal lymphatic-like vessels; lymphatic malformation was the major component in two patients. The infants exhibited a heterogeneous response to a number of therapeutic regimens, as noted in other reports. Severe morbidity was present; three of our patients died, and one had leg amputation. "Residua" were, in fact, residual vascular neoplasia, variable in duration, and not a stable fibrofatty residuum, as in classic involuted hemangioma; only the hematologic phenomenon was "cured" after a period of years. CONCLUSIONS: KMS is a distinctive disease of infancy, but the underlying vascular lesion is not a "true," classic, involuting type of hemangioma of infancy. This is a different vascular tumor with a resemblance pathologically to either tufted angioma or kaposiform hemangioendothelioma in association with lymphatic-like vessels. Whether the underlying lesion in KMS is a single anatomic entity or heterogeneous cannot be definitely concluded from this study. We need a better understanding of the pathogenesis of KMS to improve our therapeutic management.
Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a frequent event in patients with spinal cord injury, even with prophylactic anticoagulant therapy. Lower limb paralysis is a known major risk factor for venous thrombosis, supposedly due to the venostasis in relation with total immobility. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the endothelial response to anoxia to determine whether recovery of fibrinolytic potential occurs in patients subjected to forced bedrest because of a spinal cord injury and whether this recovery is related to the incidence and/or evolution of DVT. We evaluated vascular endothelium reactivity in the lower limbs no longer submitted to the hydrostatic pressure of the erected position in 15 patients with paraplegia or tetraplegia and in 10 normal volunteers after venous occlusion produced by the application of 10 cm Hg pressure to the lower limb for 15 min comparatively to the upper limb used as reference. Among the 15 patients, 10 whose spinal cord injury had occurred 1 to 6 months earlier were still receiving prophylactic anticoagulant therapy, whereas the five other patients were not receiving prophylactic anticoagulants because the injury dated back 6 months or more. After venostasis, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) increased significantly in both patients and controls in the upper limb (tPA levels twofold and threefold respectively in controls and patients) but showed no significant changes in the lower limb; prolonged immobility did not allow recovery in the lower limbs of a level of fibrinolytic responsiveness identical to that in the upper limbs. The plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI1) remained unchanged after anoxia, although wide interindividual variations were seen. Natural coagulation inhibitors and circulating blood stigmates of hypercoagulability were measured. None of the patients had abnormally low levels of coagulation inhibitors (ie, antithrombin III, protein C and protein S levels were normal). Seventy-five per cent of patients (prophylactically anticoagulated or not) had very high levels of fibrin degradation products (D. Dimer levels sevenfold to eightfold those of the controls), but all patients had normal levels of thrombin-antithrombin complexes and prothrombin fragments 1 + 2. The permanence of the thrombotic process characterized by an increase in D. Dimer levels without recovery of fibrinolytic potential suggests a proposal for the patients an indefinite antithrombotic treatment at curative doses.
We retrospectively studied the prevalence, histologic features, clinical correlations, and long-term outcome of the intrarenal vascular lesions of lupus nephritis (LN) in a series of 169 renal biopsies performed between 1980 and 1994 in 132 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. The most common vascular lesions were nonspecific sclerotic changes, found in 37% of the biopsies (24% if only the cases with moderate to severe changes are considered). The other common vascular lesions were "immunoglobulin microvascular casts," found in 24% of the biopsies. Vasculitis and thrombotic microangiopathy were rare lesions and were seen in only 4 (2.4%) and 1 (0.6%) cases, respectively. Isolated sclerotic vascular changes were present in biopsies from older patients with a longer duration of LN, compared with the group with no vascular lesions, and were associated with a significantly higher prevalence of hypertension. Overall, however, the long-term renal and patient survival of this group did not differ significantly from that of the patients without vascular changes. Immunoglobulin microvascular casts (IMCs) ("lupus vasculopathy") were characterized by the presence of immunoglobulin deposition within the glomerular capillaries and small arterioles. In the present study we extensively investigated the morphologic and immunologic features of this lesion. The lesions were notable for the absence of endothelial or parietal vascular lesions and of fibrin, platelets, and leukocytes, which indicates that thrombosis is not involved in the vascular obstruction. According to our data immunoglobulin precipitation in the microvasculature seems to play a central role in the pathogenesis of this lesion, which is why we propose the term "immunoglobulin microvascular casts." In general, IMCs were associated with the most severe and active forms of diffuse proliferative lupus nephritis (World Health Organization [WHO] class IV). However our data show that, in contrast to previous studies, the long-term outcome of patients with IMCs is not worse than that of other patients with class IV LN. It may even be somewhat better, suggesting that this type of lesion may reverse with immunosuppressive therapy. In addition, we did not find any association between the presence of IMCs and the lupus anticoagulant, IgG anticardiolipin antibodies, or extrarenal vascular manifestations. Concerning vasculitis and thrombotic microangiopathy, our results confirm that their occurrence is quite rare in-lupus nephritis. The outcome of our 4 patients with vasculitis was not particularly poor, which could be related to early and/or aggressive treatment. Taken as a whole, our data confirm that the presence of active and severe forms of diffuse proliferative LN (WHO class IV) carries a worse prognosis compared with the other forms of LN. In our study, and in agreement with previous reports (23), the long-term renal survival of patients with class IV LN was significantly worse than that of patients with other forms of LN, with a 10-year renal survival of 70% compared with 85%, respectively. However our data do not support the conclusions of some previous studies that the presence of intrarenal vascular lesions is a marker of poor renal prognosis in lupus nephritis. More precisely, our data show that the somewhat poorer renal outcome observed in patients with IMCs is related to the fact that in most cases these lesions are associated with class IV lupus nephritis, and not related to the presence of the vascular lesion per se.
Previous observations on the heterogeneous distribution of von Willebrand factor in the vascular endothelium led us to examine the expression of angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) in function of the vascular origin of endothelial cells (EC). EC from pig thoracic aorta, pulmonary artery, inferior vena cava and brain capillaries were cultured and assayed for ACE by enzymatic radiochemical determination and by western-blot and immunofluorescence using an antiACE polyclonal antibody. EC from the various vascular levels secreted ACE in the culture medium; western-blot analysis showed its presence at cellular level and immunofluorescence confirmed its location on the plasma membrane. But quantification revealed that EC from pulmonary artery contain more ACE than EC from the other vessels, especially from brain capillaries; immunofluorescence correlated well with the functional data. In contrast, secretion of ACE by brain capillaries EC was faster than that of arteries and of vena cava, the latter being the less effective. This differential ACE expression along the vascular tree could have a pharmacological implication since ACE inhibitors, used in the treatment of arterial hypertension, may act more at the vascular level than on the plasma renin-angiotensin system. On the other hand, endothelial distribution of ACE was different from that of von Willebrand factor; in particular we showed that EC cultured from vessels of pigs homozygous for the von Willebrand disease, in which von Willebrand factor synthesis was completely abolished, normally express ACE.
Neonatal hemangioma is a common benign proliferation of unorganized structures containing stromal and capillary endothelial cells. We tested the hypothesis that such cell proliferation might result from the release by stromal cells of endothelial cell mitogens. Stromal cells cultured from biopsies of surgically removed life-threatening hemangiomas released an endothelial cell mitogen in vitro that was indistinguishable from vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) based on independent criteria such as affinity chromatography for heparin or anti-VEGF IgG and radioreceptor assay. A functional product of the KDR gene encoding a cognate VEGF receptor was also expressed by these stromal cells. Transient transfection with antisense oligonucleotides targeted on the translation initiation codon of KDR abolished its tyrosine phosphorylation and mitogenic response of neonatal hemangioma cells to VEGF, confirming the existence of an autocrine loop of proliferation. When grafted in nude mice, these stromal cells elicited an angiogenic response that was blocked by neutralizing anti-VEGF IgG. These results might provide a clue to the importance of stromal cells in the pathogeny of neonatal hemangiomas.
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