PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K Blackett

Publications and source records attributed to K Blackett.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Gall stone disease in African patients with sickle cell anaemia: a preliminary report from Yaounde, Cameroon.

Cholecystosonography was undertaken in 90 patients with sickle cell disease aged 15 years and over. Gall stones were found in 26 (28.9%) patients. There was no sex difference, but the incidence increased with age from 13.2% at under 20 years to 75% at 30 years and over. The mean serum cholesterol and total and unconjugated bilirubin concentrations were not significantly different between patients with and without gall stones. As most (80.8%) stones were radiolucent they were probably of pigment type, containing little or no calcium, and further investigation into how they are produced is needed. Sickle cell patients with acute abdominal crisis should have gall bladder disease excluded before a diagnosis of vascular crisis is made.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Amoebic pericarditis.

An unusual case of chronic amoebic pericarditis is reported in which the diagnosis of pericarditis was suggested on chest X-ray. The echocardiographic feature of multiple cystic lesions were mainly related to the left ventricle, there was thickening of the visceral pericardium, and some restriction to ventricular filling. The cysts contained anchovy sauce like material, and serological tests for amoebiasis were strongly positive. There was no evidence of an amoebic liver abscess. Clinically the patient improved with anti-amoebic treatment, but died later having refused surgery. The clinical picture may have been modified by earlier chloroquine administration.

Amebiasis↗
PubMed1988

[Functional and immunologic involvement in human African trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma gambiense].

In the first phase of our study, a group of 58 patients were investigated: electromyographic abnormalities were recorded in 52%, electrocardiographic abnormalities in 48%, electroencephalographic abnormalities in 47%, spirographic abnormalities in 31%. Impairments of central nervous system occur classically in Trypanosoma gambiense infection, while cardiac damage is more frequent in T. rhodesiense infection. Noted lesions are due to an immunological mechanism. In the second phase, 25 patients and controls from the same area were investigated. We tried to confirm existence and pathogeny of cardiac impairments in T. gambiense infection: incidence, symptoms, clinical and electrocardiographic signs, disturbances of cardiac rythm. There were ST segment, T wave and PR interval changes. Chest X ray showed cardiomegaly. Echocardiography revealed right ventricular dilatation. There were pericardial effusion and thickening. The immunological tests showed significantly higher IgM and immunoconglutinin levels in the patient group together with the presence of anti-heart antibodies of the IgM and IgG class. Our results suggest that cardiac impairments may be due to immune complexes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Immunological studies in congestive cardiomyopathy in Cameroon.

Significantly higher levels of immunoconglutinin were found in the sera of 40 Cameroonian patients aged between 15 and 80 years with congestive cardiomyopathy than in a matched group of normal Cameroonian controls. C3 values were also abnormal in the group with congestive cardiomyopathy, and a negative correlation was found between the C3 and immunoconglutinin values, indicating complement incorporation into immune complexes. Further, the levels of immunoglobulins G, M, and A were all raised, the most striking increase being of IgM, which was greater than in the normal controls and in a group with 'other cardiac disease' studied for comparison. Complement-fixing autoantibodies to cardiac muscle of the class IgG and IgM were found by immunofluorescence techniques in a significant proportion of the patients with congestive cardiomyopathy. Finally, evidence of trypanosomiasis was found by immunofluorescence tests in 27-5 per cent of patients with congestive cardiomyopathy, compared with 8-5 per cent of patients with other cardiac disease, and 1-9 per cent of normal Cameroonian controls selected randomly. We think that some cases of congestive cardiomyopathy in Cameroon may be caused by untreated subclinical attacks of African trypanosomiasis which produce immune complexes that damage the cardiac tissue where the parasite is lodged. Secondary autoimmune carditis modifies the course of the disease, with the resulting end-stage picture.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Immunological studies in onchocerciasis in Cameroon.

Immunological studies were undertaken in a group of twenty patients with varying clinical manifestations of onchocerciasis. Significantly higher levels of immunoconglutinin, IgG and IgM, and alterations in C3 levels were found in the patient group than in controls. IgG and IgM complement-fixing antibodies to microfilariae of O.volvulus were detected in the sera of these patients. The lymphocyte transformation rate following PHA stimulation was high in patients with localised skin lesions in which the microfilariae were difficult to demonstrate in contrast to the low transformation rate obtained in those with diffuse lesions and in whom microfilariae were readily detected in skin biopsies. The significance of these findings is discussed.

Adolescent↗