A 39-year-old right-handed male suffered several episodes of transient right-sided weakness, sensory loss, and Broca's aphasia at age 31. Diagnostic studies failed to demonstrate any cause for these events. Following a complete recovery, he noted the onset of stiffness and increasing muscle bulk in his right arm, which gradually restricted its use. Simultaneous recordings from contracting biceps and triceps muscles in both arms suggested that the hypertrophy was physiologically induced by an abnormal mechanism providing resistance during phasing activity.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Blood use in liver transplantation.

During the first 5 years (1981-1985) of the liver transplantation program in Pittsburgh, a total (preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative) of 18,668 packed red cell units, 23,627 fresh-frozen plasma units, 20,590 platelet units, and 4241 cryoprecipitate units was transfused for the procedures. This represents 3 to 9 percent of the total of blood products supplied by the Central Blood Bank to its 32 member hospitals. Six hundred thirty-six (636) transplants were performed on 485 patients in two hospitals: the Presbyterian University Hospital (564 beds) and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh (236 beds). All of the blood components used in the operations were procured and released by the Central Blood Bank. This report describes some of these findings.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Immune hemolysis by isohemagglutinins in factor IX concentrates.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Loss of red cell alloantibodies over time.

The loss of red cell alloantibodies over time was analyzed in 160 patients with 209 antibodies retested 1 to 60 months after initial identification. The mean follow-up consisted of 3.6 specimens taken over 18 months. Twenty-nine percent of clinically significant and 72 percent of clinically insignificant antibodies were not detected on at least one follow-up screening. Anti-Jka and anti-C were lost in 59 and 45 percent of cases, respectively. No significant differences in overall antibody loss were found according to sex, diagnosis, or the presence of multiple antibodies. Patients under 20 years of age may be more likely to lose significant antibodies. Pretransfusion review of previous records is vital for the prevention of delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions, because of the high number of clinically significant antibodies that are undetected in subsequent routine screening.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied