PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L Irato

Publications and source records attributed to L Irato.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

HIV-related severe thrombocytopenia in intravenous drug users: prevalence, response to therapy in a medium-term follow-up, and pathogenetic evaluation.

Severe thrombocytopenia (TP) accounted for 5.3% of cases in a consecutive series of 380 HIV-infected intravenous drug users (IVDUs) at presentation. Forty-one of 53 subjects with severe TP showed haemorrhages and were treated as follows: ten were splenectomized, 17 were given high-dose intravenous immunoglobulins (HDIg), and 10 received anti-Rh(D) immunoglobulins (anti-Rh Ig). Splenectomy induced a complete clinical response in all cases: four out of 10 patients maintained platelet counts greater than 100 x 10(9)/l. HDlg gave a good clinical response in all patients, but eight out of 17 suffered haemorrhages during the follow-up and recall treatments were necessary. Six out of 10 patients treated with anti-Rh lg maintained platelet counts greater than 30 x 10(9)/l, but in two cases the treatment was interrupted because of severe haemolysis. No patient progressed to overt AIDS during the follow-up. Splenectomized patients in particular did not show adjunctive risks of worsening of the HIV-related clinical picture. A platelet kinetic study performed in 20 patients with severe HIV-related TP suggests a possible role for platelet sequestration in TP of HIV-infected IVDUs, in which a liver involvement is very frequent.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

T-lymphocyte subsets and delayed type hypersensitivity as classification parameters for HIV infection among drug-addicts.

HIV selectively infects T helper lymphocytes, which play an essential role in cell-mediated immunity mechanisms. Impairment of these mechanisms can be evaluated, other than by clinical parameters, by testing lymphocytic subsets and cutaneous delayed type hypersensitivity. All these indices are used in the Walter Reed Foundation (WR) staging system, which includes the different stages of HIV infection. In our study we investigated the above mentioned parameters in a series of 180 HIV positive PDAs. A classification of the same patients according to WR's criteria was also designed. Of our patients, 46.1% resulted normoergic, 27.2% hypoergic and 26.7% anergic. Of all normoergic subjects, 83.7% (with more than 400 OKT4+ cells/mmc) could be assigned to the WR2 and 16.3% (with less than 400 OKT4+ cells/mmc) to the WR3 staging group. Among the hypoergic patients, only 34.7% were assignable to the WR4 group, whereas the majority (65.3%) had more than 400 OKT4+ cell/mmc. Even among the anergic group, 62.5% did not fit the WR5 stage, exhibiting an OKT4+ level higher than 400/mmc. In the latter 2 groups (referred to as D and E), T helper lymphocyte counts were performed at regular intervals; however, only the ones followed-up for at least 6 months were evaluated. OKT4+ cells were shown to decrease more frequently and more rapidly in the anergic than in the hypoergic patients, which points to cutaneous anergy as representing an early sign of impairment of cell-mediated immunity.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1986

Clinical and epidemiological aspects of the first 50 cases of AIDS in Milan.

Between April 1984 and December 1985, 50 patients diagnosed as AIDS were observed in our Clinic. Risk factors were homosexuality in 21 cases (42%), drug addiction in 20 (40%), homosexuality and drug addiction in 3 (6%), haemophilia in 1 (2%). In the remaining 5 cases the infection was acquired by vertical transmission in 2 (4%), by promiscuous heterosexual intercourse in 2 (4%) and by a single blood transfusion in 1 (2%). Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) was the main clinical feature in 8 patients, although associated with opportunistic infections (OI) in 7 of them. A total of 91 different OI were diagnosed with a noteworthy prevalence of mycotic infections compared with OI due to other micro-organisms: 40 deep mycoses by Candida albicans, and 5 cryptococcoses. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was diagnosed in 20 patients. Our data differ from the ones collected in the USA both epidemiologically, since we observed a greater incidence of AIDS in drug-addicts than in homosexuals and clinically, since in Italy a lower rate of neoplastic disease and, conversely, a higher rate of OI other than PCP are reported.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

T lymphocyte subpopulations defined by monoclonal antibodies in essential mixed cryoglobulinemia and in secondary cryoglobulinemias.

T lymphocyte subpopulations defined by monoclonal antibodies were determined in patients with essential mixed cryoglobulinemia (EMC) and secondary cryoglobulinemias (SC). A decrease of circulating lymphocytes and a reduction in the absolute number of T3+, T4+ and T8+ (p less than 0.01) as well as in the percentage of T4+ lymphocytes (p less than 0.05) were found in EMC. A significant decrease of T8+ cells, both in percentage (p less than 0.01) and absolute number (p less than 0.001), was evidenced in SC, while T3+ and T4+ cell counts were not significantly different from those of healthy controls.

Adult↗