Influence of donor postreperfusion changes on graft evolution after liver transplant.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Ibañez.
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of mutant alleles in the CYP21 gene in Spanish girls presenting with precocious pubarche (PP) and to assess the relationships between genotype and endocrine-metabolic variables. DESIGN: Fifty-three unrelated girls with a history of PP (14 prepubertal, 8 pubertal and 31 postmenarcheal) and 35 controls were studied. METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leukocytes. After selection against the pseudogen, an allele-specific PCR was used to identify 14 known mutations in the CYP21 gene. The mutations studied were Pro30Leu, splice intron 2, Ilel72Asn, Cluster E(6), Glyl92Ser, Ins T, GT-CT, Gln318-stop, Arg357Trp, Trp406-stop, Pro453Ser, Arg483Pro, Arg483 frameshift and Val281Leu. A standard 2-h oral glucose tolerance test was performed in all PP girls. Ovarian 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) responses to gonadotrophin-releasing hormone-agonist stimulation was assessed in postmenarcheal PP girls. RESULTS: Thirteen PP girls and eight control girls were heterozygous for one of the mutations studied. The frequency of the carrier status was 25% and 23% in the PP and control groups respectively. Severe mutations were found in 33% of the carrier girls. Serum 17-OHP responses to ACTH stimulation were similar in carriers and non-carriers (351+/-65 vs 334+/-22 ng/dl). The presence of ovarian hyperandrogenism and/or hyperinsulinism was also not related to the carrier status. CONCLUSION: The incidence of molecular defects in the CYP21 gene in the present study was comparable in the PP and control groups. We found no relationship between the presence of carrier status and endocrine-metabolic abnormalities. Prospective studies of larger cohorts of PP girls are needed to ascertain the long-term clinical relevance of CYP21 heterozygosity.
BACKGROUND: The urgent need to increase the organ donor pool has led to the expansion of criteria for donor selection. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of donor age on early graft function, subsequent graft loss, and mortality after liver transplantation (LT). METHODS: Data on LT were evaluated retrospectively in a population-based cohort of 400 LTs in 348 patients. Of these, 21 (5%) were from donors >70 years old. Pretransplantation donor and recipient characteristics and the evolution of recipients were analyzed. The influence of donor age as a risk factor was assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Actuarial graft survival was 89% at 1 month after LT, 81% after 6 months, and 59% after 60 months. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that only donor age (>70 years old) was associated with a higher risk of long-term graft loss (relative risk [RR]=1.4, 95% confidence interval [CI]=1-1.9; P=0.03) and mortality (RR=1.7, 95% CI=1.2-2.3; P=0.01). Graft survival of septuagenarian livers was 80% at 1 month after LT, 56% after 6 months, and 25% after 54 months. Actuarial survival analysis (Kaplan-Meier curves) also demonstrated worse evolution in recipients of livers from old donors (log-rank test, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Advanced donor age is associated with lower graft and recipient survival.
Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) offers the only chance to eliminate both tumor and liver disease in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cirrhosis. However, tumor progression while on the waiting list and recurrence after OLT are frequent. We undertook a large multicenter study to assess survival and related factors of recurrence after OLT. This retrospective study analyses data from 307 consecutive patients with HCC and cirrhosis treated with OLT between 1990 and 1997 in eight centers in Spain. OLT was indicated only for small (<5 cm) localized tumors. Five-year rates after OLT were 63% for survival, 58% for disease-free survival, and 21% for recurrence. Tumor diameter larger than 5 cm was associated with other tumor characteristics that were significant indicators of poor outcome (absence of capsule, three or more nodules, bilobularity, satellite nodules, and vascular invasion). However, in multivariate analysis, alpha fetoprotein (AFP) levels greater than 300 ng/mL (P = .04; P = .02) and macroscopic vascular invasion (P = .01; P = .0001) were the only factors independently associated with mortality and recurrence, respectively. OLT is indicated in patients with small HCCs who have low AFP levels and no macroscopic vascular invasion or extrahepatic disease. By increasing our ability for preoperative tumor imaging, we will achieve better selection of patients with HCC before OLT.
OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to determine whether the clinical features of 21-hydroxylase-deficient nonclassic adrenal hyperplasia are correlated with either age at symptom onset or age at presentation, or both, and with the degree of adrenocortical abnormality. STUDY DESIGN: In a multicenter cohort design 220 women with nonclassic adrenal hyperplasia, with a basal or adrenocorticotropic hormone-stimulated 17-hydroxyprogesterone level >30.3 nmol/L, were studied, either prospectively (n = 39) or retrospectively (n = 181). Patients were stratified by age of presentation into 5 groups: (1) <10 years (n = 25), (2) 10 to 19 years (n = 64), (3) 20 to 29 years (n = 83), (4) 30 to 39 years (n = 30), and (5) 40 to 49 years (n = 16). Two patients >50 years old were excluded from the analysis because of age. RESULTS: Ninety-two percent of patients <10 years old had premature pubarche at presentation, whereas clitoromegaly and acne were each present in only 20% of these younger subjects. With only patients > or =10 years old considered, presenting clinical features included hirsutism (59%), oligomenorrhea (54%), acne (33%), infertility (13%), clitoromegaly (10%), alopecia (8%), primary amenorrhea (4%), and premature pubarche (4%). Among the patients >/=10 years old, the prevalence but not the degree of hirsutism increased significantly with age. Basal levels of 17-hydroxyprogesterone in adolescents were significantly higher than the levels found either in children (<10 years old) or women 40 to 49 years old (P <.01 and P <.03, respectively), although no difference was noted in the stimulated 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels between age groups. The adrenocorticotropic hormone-stimulated levels but not the basal levels of 17-hydroxyprogesterone were significantly higher in patients with clitoromegaly than in women without clitoromegaly. Alternatively, there were no differences in either basal or stimulated 17-hydroxyprogesterone levels between patients with and those without hirsutism, acne, or alopecia. CONCLUSION: In children <10 years old the most common presenting complaint was premature pubarche, whereas hirsutism and oligomenorrhea were more common in older patients. The prevalence of hirsutism increased with age, suggesting the progressive nature of nonclassic adrenal hyperplasia. Furthermore, the adrenocorticotropic hormone-stimulated levels of 17-hydroxyprogesterone were higher in patients with clitoromegaly, which suggests that the degree of adrenocortical dysfunction in nonclassic adrenal hyperplasia determines, at least in part, the clinical presentation.
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BACKGROUND/AIM: The extent of gastric resection and the role of lymphadenectomy in the treatment of gastric cancer are controversial. METHODS: This study evaluates the results of radical gastric resection (D2 lymphadenectomy) in 375 patients with a gastric carcinoma operated according to a prospective protocol. RESULTS: Total gastrectomy was performed in 196 and a subtotal gastrectomy in 179 patients, with an operative mortality of 3.5 and 2.8%. The presence of lymph node metastasis was related to the depth of the tumor in the gastric wall. The cumulative 5-year survival was dependent on the depth of tumoral invasion in the gastric wall and also on the presence of lymphatic metastasis. Curative resection had a significantly better 5-year survival (72%) than noncurative resection (26%). CONCLUSION: Although it is difficult to prove the benefits of extended lymphadenectomy in the surgical treatment of gastric carcinoma, the results of these series seem to support its usefulness.
Cumulative recurrence after surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is very high. Several retrospective analyses have shown that liver transplantation was more effective than resection for patients with HCC at early tumor stages. Consequently, in January 1990, we decided to prospectively indicate orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) as the first surgical treatment for small, localized HCC in cirrhotic patients without nodal involvement independently of the degree of liver function. The aim of this prospective cohort study was to analyze prognosis, recurrence rate, and survival after liver transplantation in patients in whom the main indication was HCC with cirrhosis. Thirty-eight patients in whom the main indication for liver transplantation was HCC and hepatic cirrhosis were compared with 136 transplantations because of cirrhosis without tumor, performed in our unit from January 1990 to December 1995. HCC arising in noncirrhotic livers and those incidently discovered after OLT were excluded from the study. Chemoembolization using doxorubicin, lipiodol, and Gelfoam was performed before OLT in 31 patients with good liver function. There were no differences in gender, but HCC patients were older (57 +/- 7 vs. 50 +/- 10 years [P < .001]). Liver function was better in HCC (Child-Pugh score: 6.9 +/- 2 vs. 8.6 +/- 1.8; P < .001), and hepatitis C virus antibody was positive in 31 (82%) vs. 51 (37%) (P < .007). Seven tumors had bilobar involvement (18%). Capsule was present in 22 (58%). The mean size of the tumor was 3.4 +/- 2 cm. Seventeen tumors (45%) were larger than 3 cm, and 4 (11%) were larger than 5 cm. The average number of nodules was 2 +/- 1. The tumor-node-metastasis stage of the tumors was pT1 in 6 patients (16%), 11 were pT2 (29%), 12 were pT3 (31%), and 9 were pT4 (24%). Seven patients were retransplanted in the HCC group (18%) and 19 (14%) in the nontumor group (not significant). Tumor recurrence was detected in three patients (8%). One, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 82% vs. 79%, 75% vs. 71%, and 63% vs. 68%, respectively, for patients with and without HCC, and no differences were found between the two groups (P = .84). Survival was significantly reduced in patients with a macroscopic vascular invasion and tumors greater than 5 cm in diameter. Recurrence and mortality after liver transplantation in cirrhotic patients with carefully selected HCC are similar to the results in cirrhotic patients without tumor.
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Using a simple and standardized method we estimated both insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity in peripheral tissues in relation to Tanner pubertal stages. Early insulin response, mean blood glucose (MBG), mean serum insulin (MSI), glucose uptake rate in peripheral tissues and insulin sensitivity index (SI) in response to the standard oral glucose tolerance test were evaluated in 73 normal girls. Study subjects were divided into 4 groups: group 1 (Tanner stage I, n = 20); group 2 (Tanner stage II, n = 14); group 3 (Tanner stages III and IV, n = 15), and group 4 (Tanner stage V, n = 24). Steroid levels and insulin-like growth factors were determined to characterize clinical pubertal development. MBG was similar in all groups but MSI increased at stage II and retained similar values throughout puberty, with those of group I being statistically lower than in the other groups (p < 0.001). When MSI values were adjusted per kilogram of body weight, a significant increase was observed in group II (p < 0.05). The MSI adjusted values were: group 1, 1.0 +/- 0.4; group 2, 1.4 +/- 0.4; group 3, 1.0 +/- 0.3, and group 4, 1.0 +/- 0.4 mU/l/kg. SI values were similar in groups 1 and 2 and significantly lower than in groups 3 and 4 (p < 0.001). Our results confirm both that insulin secretion is related to age and that an insulin-resistant state occurs during puberty. Thus, the insulin-resistant state coincides with Tanner stage II. In conclusion, this mathematical approach is considered to be a simple and reliable method for analyzing the possible alterations in insulin secretion and action in children and adolescents in whom more sophisticated procedures must be limited in this early period of life for ethical reasons.
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Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS: hyperandrogenism and oligomenorrhea) have been shown to have exaggerated ovarian 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) responses after GnRH agonist stimulation, suggestive of disordered ovarian cytochrome P450c17 alpha activity. However, most hyperandrogenic women also have an exaggerated LH response to both native GnRH and GnRH agonists. To assess whether the known LH hyperresponsiveness in PCOS patients mediates their exaggerated 17-OHP response to GnRH agonist challenge or whether the 17-OHP response can be duplicated by direct stimulation of the ovary with a fixed amount of hCG, 25 PCOS women [age, 20.6 +/- 1.1 yr; body mass index (BMI), 24.9 +/- 1.3 kg/m2] and 5 controls (age, 29.4 +/- 2.3 yr; BMI, 29.2 +/- 3.0) underwent both GnRH agonist (leuprolide acetate) and hCG testing. In addition, 23 normal women (age, 26.5 +/- 1.5 yr; BMI, 27.2 +/- 1.7 kg/m2) underwent hCG testing, and 21 other normal women (age, 19.3 +/- 0.5 yr; BMI, 23.0 +/- 0.8 kg/m2) underwent leuprolide acetate challenge. Blood was sampled before and 24 h after (the previously determined time of the peak response) leuprolide acetate (500 micrograms, sc) and hCG (5000 IU, im) stimulation tests. The tests were administered during the early follicular phase in women who were ovulatory and in randomized order in the subjects receiving both stimuli. Peak serum 17-OHP levels did not differ between leuprolide acetate or hCG stimulation in PCOS patients or controls when measured at 24 h (324.9 +/- 41.9 vs. 360.4 +/- 54.0 in PCOS; 183.2 +/- 19.6 vs. 141.2 +/- 11 ng/dL in controls). Peak 17-OHP levels after hCG challenge and GnRH agonist stimulation were highly correlated (r = 0.82; P < 0.001) in the subjects receiving both stimuli. Although leuprolide acetate elicited a higher estradiol (E2) response than hCG in all subjects, serum E2 levels increased significantly after hCG treatment in both patients and controls (P < 0.001 and P < 0.0001). The small, but significant, increase in serum E2 after hCG stimulation suggests that a rigid two-cell model of ovarian steroidogenesis may be an oversimplification of in vivo physiology. Our results suggest that exaggerated 17-OHP responses to GnRH agonist stimulation in hyperandrogenic women are not mediated by the known hyperresponsiveness of LH in these patients, but are due to increased ovarian androgen sensitivity to LH stimulation.
To assess whether patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency exhibit a steroidogenic response to GnRH agonist consistent with functional ovarian hyperandrogenism (FOH) and elucidate the relationship between adrenal and ovarian hyperandrogenism, the LH, FSH, estradiol, 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), androstenedione, total testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and 17-hydroxypregnenolone responses to a sc dose of leuprolide acetate (500 micrograms) were evaluated in 10 patients with classic CAH (mean age, 18.4 +/- 0.95 yr), 7 of whom had oligomenorrhea, pretreated with dexamethasone (2 mg/day for 5 days, including the day of the test). The results were compared with those obtained in 11 patients with FOH (mean age, 18.7 +/- 0.46 yr) and 17 normal women (mean age, 19.68 +/- 0.59 yr) not pretreated with dexamethasone. Leuprolide acetate stimulation caused a significant augmentation of plasma E2, 17-OHP, androstenedione, testosterone, and 17-hydroxypregnenolone concentrations in all CAH patients. However, in only 6 (60%) of them, all with oligomenorrhea, was the 17-OHP response (posttest minus pretest value) similar to that of FOH patients and significantly higher than that in controls. In this subset of CAH patients, LH plasma levels after stimulation were significantly higher than those of CAH subjects with 17-OHP responses in the normal range, controls, and FOH patients, whereas FSH levels were similar to those of controls. In this latter group, plasma FSH concentrations after stimulation were significantly higher than those in FOH. In conclusion, the results of the present study indicate that LH-dependent functional ovarian hyperandrogenism is frequent in patients with classic CAH. As ovarian hyperandrogenism might be partially responsible for the menstrual irregularities that are common complications in such patients, all classic CAH patients with oligomenorrhea should undergo short term stimulation with GnRH agonists to ascertain the presence of ovarian hyperandrogenism and receive appropriate treatment.
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The postpubertal outcome of a group of girls diagnosed of premature pubarche during childhood was assessed 1) to determine the incidence of functional ovarian hyperandrogenism (FOH) through the ovarian-steroidogenic response to the GnRH agonist leuprolide acetate, 2) to validate leuprolide acetate stimulation in FOH diagnosis, and 3) to ascertain whether FOH-predictive biochemical markers exist at the diagnosis of premature pubarche. Of 35 patients (age, 15.4 +/- 1.5 yr), 16 showed hirsutism, oligomenorrhea, and elevated baseline testosterone and/or androstenedione (delta 4-A) levels. Subcutaneous administration of leuprolide acetate (500 micrograms) produced similar increases in gonadotropin levels in oligomenorrheic patients, regularly menstruating patients (n = 19), and controls (n = 12; age, 15.3 +/- 1.3 yr) when tested at 6 h. Of all of the steroids measured, 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) and delta 4-A levels 24 h postleuprolide acetate stimulation were significantly higher in oligomenorrheic patients than in the other two groups (P < 0.0001). No overlapping in 17-OHP responses occurred between oligomenorrheic patients and the other groups. Baseline dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and delta 4-A levels at the diagnosis of premature pubarche correlated with 17-OHP values postleuprolide acetate challenge (r = 0.47; P < 0.005 and r = 0.67; P < 0.0001, respectively). These results show a distinct leuprolide acetate challenge response in 45% of the postpubertal premature pubarche girls studied, suggestive of an increased incidence of FOH, and support the need for continued routine postmenarcheal evaluation of this group of patients. Responses of 17-OHP to leuprolide acetate challenge facilitate the identification of FOH patients, establish this test as a reliable diagnostic tool in FOH diagnosis, and confirm the ovaries as the source of hyperandrogenemia in most patients with androgen excess. Although increased 17-OHP responses after leuprolide acetate stimulation seem to occur more frequently in girls with elevated dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and/or delta 4-A levels at the diagnosis of premature pubarche, specific biochemical markers predictive of FOH in this group of patients are still lacking.
The natural history of girls with premature pubarche is reported to be normal, but the effects on puberty and on final height are not well documented. We assessed the outcome of a group of girls with premature pubarche from two Latin populations in whom 21-hydroxylase deficiency had been ruled out by an ACTH test. Patients comprised 127 girls (70 Northern-Italian and 57 Northern-Spanish), of whom 69 had entered puberty and 38 had attained adult height. Height, bone age, onset and progression of puberty, height prognosis, adult height, and baseline plasma androgen levels were evaluated. Advanced skeletal maturation and tall stature were constant features during the first years of follow-up and subsequently declined. Puberty began at 9.7 +/- 0.9 yr, and age at menarche (12.0 +/- 1.0 yr) was comparable to maternal and population menarcheal ages. The appearance and chronology of pubertal milestones in both populations were very similar. Adult heights correlated with the height prognosis at diagnosis and at onset of puberty, and were above midparental heights. Premature pubarche produces a transient acceleration in growth and bone maturation with no negative effects on the onset and progression of puberty and final height.