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Biomedical subjects

H L Israel

Publications and source records attributed to H L Israel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Outcome in sarcoidosis. The relationship of relapse to corticosteroid therapy.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine the demographic, clinical, and radiographic characteristics of corticosteroid-treated patients with sarcoidosis who developed relapse following a period of clinical stability lasting longer than 1 month, and to compare these characteristics with those of a group of patients with sarcoidosis who were not treated. DESIGN: Historic, concurrent and prospective, nonrandomized, observational study. SETTING: Ambulatory sarcoidosis clinic in a university city hospital. PATIENTS: Over a 4-year calendar period, 337 patients with sarcoidosis were prospectively enrolled in a registry. One hundred eighteen patients were assigned to a spontaneous remission group when symptoms resolved without treatment, and 103 were assigned to an induced remission group when symptoms resolved following corticosteroid therapy and successful discontinuation. In 116 patients assigned to a recalcitrant group, therapy could not be stopped for 1 month or more owing to severity of symptoms or lack of compliance. We defined relapse as a recurrence of symptoms of sufficient severity to warrant treatment with corticosteroids, following a remission without treatment lasting greater than 1 month. INTERVENTION: Patients who were judged to be sufficiently symptomatic to preclude observation without treatment or who failed to respond to conservative treatment with topical or inhaled corticosteroids or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents were treated with systemic corticosteroids at a target dose of 20 mg prednisone per day for 1 year. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: We observed a 74% relapse rate in the induced remission group, but only an 8% relapse rate in the spontaneous remission group (p < 0.01). Relapse occurred with similar frequency in whites and African-Americans (20% vs 28%), despite a lower treatment rate in white patients than in African-Americans (43% vs 76%; p < 0.01). White patients maintained a sustained remission with twice the frequency of African-Americans (58% vs 29%; p < 0.01). During relapse, 40% of chest radiographs showed no change in type, but there was a significant increase in interstitial profusion (p < 0.05). Initial presentation with asymptomatic chest radiographic abnormalities, erythema nodosum, or peripheral adenopathy portended a favorable prognosis, with sustained remission in 60% of such patients lasting 130 +/- 226 months from time of diagnosis. In contrast, patients who presented with musculoskeletal complaints were nine times, and those with symptoms from hepatic involvement were three times more likely to suffer relapse than to sustain remission without receiving corticosteroids. Most relapses (50%) occurred between 2 and 6 months after discontinuing steroid therapy, but late relapse was not unusual, occurring more than 12 months after discontinuing steroid therapy in 20% of patients with induced remission. CONCLUSIONS: Relapse occurred frequently in patients with sarcoidosis who had been treated with corticosteroids, and rarely occurred in patients who had not been treated with corticosteroids in the past. The striking difference in relapse rate between treated and untreated patients suggests that patients with disease that would later be severe and protracted were almost unerringly identified early in their course. One explanation is that severe presenting symptoms portend a protracted and recurrent course; an alternative explanation is that corticosteroids contributed to the prolongation of the disease by delaying resolution.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Taches de bougie.

BACKGROUND: Posterior segment lesions, including taches de bougie, may be the presenting sign of sarcoidosis. In patients with unrecognized sarcoidosis, taches de bougie may be misinterpreted as the lesions of birdshot chorioretinopathy (BCR) or multifocal choroiditis (MFC). METHODS: In a retrospective study, the authors identified 22 patients with taches de bougie and sarcoidosis. A tissue biopsy showed noncaseating granulomas in 17 patients. All available ophthalmic and medical records of these patients were reviewed. RESULTS: Two patterns of taches de bougie were observed. Sixteen patients (73%) had small, discrete white spots in the inferior or nasal periphery, indistinguishable from the lesions of MFC. In six patients (27%), larger, posterior, pale yellow-orange streaks developed that were identical to the lesions of BCR. Visual prognosis was better with posterior streaks. The chest x-ray was normal in 5 of 16 patients with peripheral spots and in 3 of 6 patients with posterior streaks. Serum angiotensin-converting enzyme was negative in 5 of 14 patients. Gallium scan showed increased hilar uptake in five patients, three of whom had a normal chest x-ray. Human lymphocyte antigen A29 was positive in one of nine patients. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcoidosis should be considered in patients with fundus findings that resemble BCR or MFC. Initial evaluation should include chest x-ray and testing the angiotensin-converting enzyme level. These test results may be negative in patients outside the 20- to 40-year age group for typical sarcoid. Further evaluation with nondirected conjunctival biopsy and whole-body gallium scan may be indicated in certain patients, including (1) those with BCR or MFC with normal chest x-ray and elevated angiotensin-converting enzyme level; (2) patients older than 50 years with MFC; or (3) human lymphocyte antigen A29-negative BCR.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

67Gallium scans in Löfgren's syndrome.

Comparison of 67Gallium scans of head and neck showed no significant difference in intensity of uptake between patients with Löfgren's syndrome and sarcoidosis patients with similar chest x rays having other modes of onset. Uptake was the same in the 12 white and 18 black patients studied. Thus, the increased bronchoaveolar lavage lymphocytosis which has been shown to be a feature of Löfgren's syndrome is not paralleled by gallium uptake. Gallium scores had no predictive value regarding outcome showing no significant difference between 13 patients who recovered within a year and 15 patients who developed chronic disease. The outcome was more favorable in white patients and in those whose onset was with Löfgren's syndrome.

Black People↗
PubMed1993

Hepatic and splenic sarcoidosis: ultrasound and MR imaging.

Abdominal imaging studies may be performed for various indications in patients known to have sarcoidosis. To assess magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sonographic ability to detect abnormalities in sarcoidosis patients with abdominal involvement, a prospective study on 18 selected patients was performed. Besides organomegaly, when present, ultrasound demonstrated normal or increased hepatic parenchymal echogenicity, coarsening of the liver parenchyma with or without discrete nodules, focal calcifications, as well as contour irregularity. Splenic discrete nodules were seen on ultrasound in a single patient. Besides organomegaly, MRI abnormalities include abnormal hepatic signal intensity, discrete nodules, contour irregularity, speculation of small hepatic vascular branches, and a high periportal signal intensity. MRI splenic abnormalities include contour irregularity, nodularity, and abnormal signal intensity. The data presented in this study reveals the spectrum of ultrasound and MRI findings in sarcoidosis patients with abdominal organ involvement, potentially enabling the evaluation of the severity of the disease. MRI appears more sensitive than ultrasound for study of abdominal sarcoidosis.

Female↗
PubMed1992

Perspective: preventive isoniazid therapy and the liver.

The preventive use of isoniazid (INH) has been controversial since 1975, but official agencies continue to advocate the procedure. Cost-effectiveness and risk benefit studies of preventive INH use have come to conflicting conclusions. A review of eight such studies indicates an increasing tendency to minimize INH hepatotoxicity and to disregard the declining tuberculosis morbidity and mortality in countries in which INH prophylaxis has not been widely adopted. We report three cases of fatal INH-associated hepatitis that illustrate that this complication of preventive INH use remains a serious problem. Current recommendations that encourage wide use of preventive INH therapy are unwise because they inflict a risk of fatal hepatitis on compliant adults and older children who have little danger of tuberculosis while being difficult to deliver to the alcohol- and drug-addicted persons whose risk is high. Health departments and physicians should severely restrict preventive INH therapy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Whole-body gallium 67 scans. Role in diagnosis of sarcoidosis.

Early studies of 67gallium (67Ga) scanning in sarcoidosis focused on the lungs as a measure of disease activity, likelihood of progression, and the advisability of corticosteroid therapy. The predictive value of pulmonary uptake proved to be limited, but there has been renewed interest in 67Ga scanning as a diagnostic aid with special attention to characteristic extrapulmonary uptake patterns. Review of whole-body 67Ga scans in 172 patients with sarcoidosis, 21 with lymphoma, and 51 with other disorders demonstrated distinctive cranial, mediastinal, and hilar uptake patterns in sarcoidosis patients. Bilateral hilar uptake occurred in 81 sarcoidosis patients (47%) but in no lymphoma cases. Increased lacrimal and/or salivary gland uptake was observed in 47.5% but lacked specificity. Uptake in peripheral lymph nodes was infrequent in sarcoidosis (5%) but common in lymphoma (57%). 67Ga scans are especially valuable in patients with uveitis and liver granulomas whose chest radiographs are normal or equivocal. 67Ga scans, unnecessary in typical cases of sarcoidosis, have an important diagnostic role by reducing the need for invasive biopsy procedures in asymptomatic patients.

Citrates↗
PubMed1991

Chlorambucil treatment of sarcoidosis.

1) PURPOSE: To demonstrate usefulness of chlorambucil in patients with severe sarcoidosis unresponsive to, or intolerant of, corticosteroids. 2) PATIENTS AND METHODS: Corticosteroid therapy was required in 192 (48%) of 401 patients with sarcoidosis seen at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital 1985-89. Chlorambucil was given to 31 of these patients because complicating diseases or problems made adequate corticosteroid dosage impossible (5 cases) or because of failure of corticosteroid in tolerable doses to control the disease (26 cases). 3) RESULTS: Marked improvement was observed in 15 cases, and moderate improvement in 13 others. Chlorambucil was well tolerated and complications attributable to immunosuppression did not occur. A six month course of chlorambucil was often followed by relapse, and prolonged therapy in reduced dosage appears necessary in most patients requiring this treatment. 4) CONCLUSION: Failure of corticosteroids in tolerable dosage to control sarcoidosis is not uncommon, and in such patients chlorambucil treatment is a useful alternative.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Infection with Mycobacterium avium complex in patients without predisposing conditions.

Pulmonary disease caused by Mycobacterium avium complex usually occurs in patients with chronic lung disease or deficient cellular immunity, and its prevalence is increasing. We describe 21 patients (mean age, 66 years) with such infection without the usual predisposing factors, representing 18 percent of the 119 patients surveyed. Seventeen women and 4 men were given a diagnosis of M. avium complex from 1978 to 1987, with a stable incidence over the decade, on the basis of pulmonary symptoms, abnormalities on chest films, positive cultures, and in 14, biopsy evidence of invasive disease. Most of the patients (86 percent) presented with persistent cough and purulent sputum, usually without fever or weight loss. The cough was present for a mean of 25 weeks before the correct diagnosis was made. Radiographic patterns of slowly progressive nodular opacities predominated (71 percent); only five patients had cavitary disease at presentation. All patients responded initially to antimycobacterial therapy, but eight eventually relapsed when it was stopped. Four patients died of progressive pulmonary infection caused by M. avium complex. The extent of the initial pulmonary involvement was greater in patients with progressive disease than in those whose condition improved. We conclude that pulmonary disease caused by the M. avium complex can affect persons without predisposing conditions, particularly elderly women, and that recognition of this disease is often delayed because of its indolent nature.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗