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Biomedical subjects

M Vigneron

Publications and source records attributed to M Vigneron.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

[Cytomegalovirus arteriolitis: gangrene of the feet and early coronary disease after heart transplantation].

Peripheral arteriolitis of the legs from the 4th postoperative day after cardiac transplantation caused ischemia of the feet and required bilateral transmetatarsal amputations on the 28th postoperative day. The causal condition was cytomegalovirus infection, confirmed by rising IgM antibody titres, the detection of a viraemia on the 33rd postoperative day, and, above all, the presence of cytomegalic inclusion bodies in many endothelial arteriolar cells of the amputated limbs. The patient died four months after transplantation and autopsy revealed major lesions in all the distal coronary vessels of the graft which occluded over 4/5ths of the coronary lumens. An aspergillus septicemia was the direct cause of death.

Coronary Disease↗

Primary structure of the second largest subunit of human RNA polymerase II (or B).

The cDNA of the second largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (or B) from HeLa cells has been cloned and sequenced. A predicted amino acid sequence of 1174 residues (calculated molecular mass of 133,896 Da) was derived from the longest open reading frame and compared to the sequences of homologous subunits of polymerases of eukaryotic, archaeal and bacterial origin. After optimal alignment, about 16% of the residues were found to be conserved throughout evolution, from human to Escherichia coli. About 2/3 of the overall length of the conserved domains delineated by these residues are clustered within the C-terminal half of the human polypeptide, whereas the remaining is spread over its N-terminal half. The putative functional significance of these conserved domains is discussed.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

[Evaluation of non invasive methods for the diagnosis of atherosclerosis of the graft after orthotopic cardiac transplantation].

The frequency and severity of atherosclerosis of the cardiac transplant make it an essential complication of cardiac transplantation. Coronary angiography is the usual diagnostic method but it has severe limitations. In order to evaluate other diagnostic methods coronary angiography and non-invasive techniques: echocardiography, exercise stress ECG, exercise radionuclide ejection fraction, stress Thallium scintigraphy, were performed practically simultaneously in 60 patients after cardiac transplantation. These non-invasive methods were said to be positive in the presence of, respectively, a segmental wall motion abnormality, ischaemic ST segment depression, absence of increased ejection fraction on exercise, reversible or irreversible myocardial hypofixation. Coronary angiography was considered as the reference procedure for distinction between "normal coronary circulation" (no angiographically detectable lesion) and "graft atherosclerosis" (at least one coronary stenosis irrespective of the severity and extension). None of the non-invasive methods had an adequate sensibility when compared with coronary angiography (echocardiography 0.27, exercise stress ECG 0.28, exercise radionuclide ejection fraction 0.64, myocardial scintigraphy 0.62) or negative predictive value (echocardiography 0.56, exercise stress ECG 0.58, exercise radionuclide ejection fraction 0.68, myocardial scintigraphy 0.66). This inadequacy of the non-invasive technique may be explained by the fact that they are more adapted to the diagnosis of myocardial ischaemia than that of coronary studies. In addition, the extent of the coronary lesions may have masked discordance between 2 segments by the global hypovascularisation. The results of this study indicate that the non-invasive methods studied cannot be recommended for diagnosis of atherosclerosis of cardiac transplants.

Adult↗

[Treatment using traditional acupuncture of early scapulohumeral pains following heart surgery].

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of traditional Chinese acupuncture in the treatment of scapulohumeral pain during the early stage following heart surgery, by puncture of points not related anatomically or metamerically with the scapulohumeral joint and without any needle stimulation. Reduction of pain and angular gain were almost immediate, durable, measurable and reproducible, which could be explained by possible effects of acupuncture on articular sympathetic mechanoreceptors, then suppressing reflex muscular contractions due to intraoperative postural constraints.

Acupuncture Analgesia↗

[Causes of failure analysis after cardiac transplantation. From a consecutive series of 91 cases].

Ninety-three cardiac transplantations were carried out in 91 patients (2 retransplantations) between March 1st 1987 and November 1st 1989, in 84 adults and 7 children under 15 years of age. The indications were dilated cardiomyopathy (48%), ischemic cardiomyopathy (35%), decompensated valvular heart disease (11%), congenital heart disease (3%) and two cases of Uhl's anomaly. Twelve patients underwent transplantation after external circulatory assistance (13%), 11 patients after inscription on the list of extreme emergencies, and 68 on an elective basis (74%). The postoperative immunosuppressive protocol was triple therapy: Ciclosporine, Azathioprine and Prednisone. Three of the children died. The early adult mortality was 9 cases (10.7%). It was 8% in patients operated electively. Major infectious complications occurred in 10 patients (11%). Rejection was looked for by systematic endomyocardial biopsy and echocardiography. Three hundred and forty-nine biopsies were made. Thirty-five patients (44%) had no problems of rejection. Seventy-nine patients have now been followed up for an average of 19 months. There were 7 late deaths. Seventy seven per cent of the survivors are asymptomatic. Acute rejection and transplant dysfunction were the two main causes of early mortality after cardiac transplantation. Although the long-term prognosis is uncertain, the medium-term results are very encouraging.

Actuarial Analysis↗

[Abnormal origin of the left coronary artery in the adult. Scintigraphic and surgical correlations].

The authors report two cases of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery in the adult. The two patients were pauci-symptomatic and were successfully operated, the one by reimplantation of the left coronary artery in the aorta and the other by an internal mammary artery left anterior descending artery bypass. Resting and stress myocardial scintigraphy and radionuclide ventriculography were performed before and after surgery in both cases. An analysis of segmental wall motion was possible in one patient. Before surgery, there was hypo-fixation of the tracer during the stress test and an alteration of left ventricular function. Postoperative isotopic investigations confirmed the efficacy of surgery the absence of regional ischemia and the normalisation of the ventricular contraction. These results argue in favour of a surgical reconstruction of a two coronary system, given the spontaneous risk of sudden death in this condition.

Adolescent↗

[Saint-Jude Medical tricuspid prosthesis. Long-term clinical, biological and echocardiographic assessment].

Twenty-four patients with a Saint-Jude Medical tricuspid valve prosthesis, aged 5 to 77 years, were studied. The etiology of the tricuspid lesion was rhumatic in 17 cases, infectious in 4 cases, and congenital in the other 3. Fourteen patient (58%) had undergone previous valve surgery, 7 of whom had undergone tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) by a bioprosthesis. Three patients were operated on for the third time. The TVR was isolated (4 cases) or associated with aortic valve replacement (3 cases), mitral valve replacement (8 cases), double aortic and mitral valve replacement (7 cases), repair of a ventricular septal defect (VSD) (1 case) and radical treatment of a Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW) in 1 case. There were 3 early deaths (12.5%). Eighteen of the 21 survivors were followed up clinically, biologically (detection of hemolysis) and by Doppler echocardiography for an average period of 45 months (range 10 to 96 months). The clinical benefit was clear cut. No embolic complications were observed and there were no cases of hemolysis. The mean resting tricuspid pressure gradient was 3.57 +/- 2.36 mmHg. The Saint-Jude Medical prosthesis would therefore seem to be a good alternative to other mechanical valve prosthesis in the tricuspid position and without the risk of valve degeneration associated with bioprosthesis.

Adolescent↗

The segment-specific gene Krox-20 encodes a transcription factor with binding sites in the promoter region of the Hox-1.4 gene.

Krox-20 is a mouse zinc finger gene expressed in a segment-specific manner in the early central nervous system, which makes it a potential developmental control gene. In this report, we show that the Krox-20 protein binds in vitro to two specific DNA sites located upstream from the homeobox containing gene Hox-1.4. The nucleotide sequence recognized by Krox-20 is closely related to the Sp1 target sequence, which is consistent with the similarity existing between the zinc fingers of the two proteins. In co-transfection experiments in cultured cells, Krox-20 dramatically activates transcription from the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase promoter when an oligomer of its binding site is present in cis close to the promoter. Analysis of mutated binding sites demonstrates that the level of activation by Krox-20 correlates with the affinity of the protein for the mutant sequence. These data indicate that Krox-20 constitutes a sequence-specific DNA-binding transcription factor. Parallel analysis of the expression of Krox-20 and Hox-1.4 in the neural tube by in situ hybridization revealed no overlap, arguing against direct interactions between these two genes. The possible involvement of Krox-20 in the regulation of the transcription of other homeobox genes is discussed in view of their respective patterns of expression.

Animals↗

[Total anomalous pulmonary venous connection. Results of repair in 50 infants].

Fifty infants with isolated total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (TAPVC) were operated between 1/01/73 and 31/12/87. The average weight at surgery, which was performed under hypothermia with circulatory arrest in 92 per cent of cases, was 4.5 Kg. The preoperative pulmonary to systemic pressure ratios (PAP/PS) enabled identification of two groups of patients: Group I: TAPVC without severe pulmonary hypertension (PAP/PS less than 0.85) (n = 35), and Group II: TAPVC with severe pulmonary hypertension (PAP/PS greater than 0.55) (n = 15). The hospital mortality was 22 per cent (8 cases) in Group I compared with 73 per cent (11 cases) in Group II (p less than 0.05). Patients in Group II were younger (64 days compared with 137 days, p less than 0.02), lighter (p less than 0.05) and had preoperative mean pulmonary artery systolic pressures of 83 mmHg (p greater than 0.001). Three patients in Group I required early reoperation for stenosis of the pulmonary veins at the site of repair resulting in pulmonary hypertension, and all died. The global survival was 28 patients with an average follow-up of 7 years (range 1 to 15 years). Six of these patients were reoperated (2 phrenoplications, 4 atrial shunts). All survivors are asymptomatic and have no conduction defects. Control echocardiography in 15 of the 28 survivors was judged to be normal. These results show that obstructive forms of TAPVC (Group II) carry a very poor prognosis: immediate results in this group could only be improved by earlier surgery. The clinical long-term results in those who survive surgery are very satisfactory.

Age Factors↗

[Treatment of ventriculo-pulmonary disconnections with prosthetic conduits. Long-term results].

Between 1973 and 1989, 81 consecutive patients aged 2 to 42 years old, with ventriculo-pulmonary discontinuity, were treated by implantation of prosthetic conduits. The initial pathology was Tetralogy of Fallot (33%), complete transposition of the great arteries (20%), truncus arteriosus (17%), double outlet right ventricle (17%) and atrioventricular discordance with L malposition of the great arteries (10%). The overall early mortality was 22% (18 cases) and 14% (5 cases) in the 36 patients operated after 1982. Sixty three patients were followed up for 3 months to 16 years; there were 8 late deaths which occurred spontaneously or at reoperation. Postoperative catheterisation was carried out in 33 cases; the average ventriculopulmonary systolic pressure gradient was 40 +/- 26 mmHg. Six patients were reoperated to change the conduit, on average 6 years +/- 23 months after the first operation. Five other patients underwent endoluminal dilatation of a stenosed conduit which delayed reoperation to change the conduit in 3 cases. Prosthetic conduits have been extensively used in patients with ventriculo-pulmonary discontinuity because they are readily available. However, because of progressive degradation of the prostheses between the 5th and 10th postoperative years, other therapeutic solutions should be considered, i.e. endoventricular repair when possible and, in other cases, the use of aortic homografts.

Actuarial Analysis↗

[Apico-aortic shunts. Indications, results].

Seven children or adolescents aged 8 to 20 years (average 13.5 years) underwent implantation of an apico-aortic conduit from 1980 to June 1989. Eleven previous operations under cardiopulmonary bypass had been performed. The indications were recurrence of muscular subaortic stenosis and/or congenital valvular stenosis in 3 cases, and stenotic, previously implanted aortic valve prosthesis of small calibre in 4 cases. The preoperative left ventricular-aortic systolic pressure gradient was between 70 and 130 mmHg. The first two patients had a bioprosthetic valvulation and the 5 succeeding patients a St Jude Medical mechanical prosthesis. The early and late mortality was nil. The average follow-up period is 5, 6 years at present (range 6 months to 9 years). One patient had to undergo repeat valve replacement after 5 years for degenerescence of the porcine bioprosthesis implanted in the conduit. No other complications related to the conduit or valve were observed. At the endpoint of the study all patients were asymptomatic without treatment. Control echocardiographic data showed normalisation of the indices of left ventricular function. Apico-aortic conduits would seem to be a safe and effective technique for the treatment of recurrent severe obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract.

Adolescent↗

[Surgical treatment of aortic dissection. Value of echocardiography and MRI for long-term follow-up].

Twenty-five patients aged 31 to 74 years (average 50 years) operated for type A aortic dissection (type I: 19 cases, type II: 6 cases) were included in this study. Surgical repair only concerned lesions of the ascending aorta. The hospital mortality was 20 per cent (5 cases), and usually secondary to extension of the dissection. With the exception of 2 late deaths, all patients were followed up for an average of 3.5 years. A late assessment including nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the thoracic aorta was obtained in 17 of the 18 survivors. These investigations confirmed the good result of repair of the ascending aorta, the uselessness of systematic aortic valve replacement and the palliative nature of repair of type I dissection as 80 per cent of patients had a persistent patent false lumen in the distal aorta.

Adult↗

[Assisted circulation by external heterotopic prosthesis as a bridge to heart transplantation].

Eleven patients aged 7 to 58 years were placed on assisted circulation with Pierce (2 cases) or Abiomed (9 cases) external prosthetic ventricles as a bridge to cardiac transplantation. The indications were terminal cardiac failure following cardiomyopathy (7 cases), decompensated ischemic heart disease (3 cases) and subacute post-transplantation rejection (1 case). The duration of the assisted circulation ranged from 24 hours to 11 days. All patients were transplanted but 3 died after transplantation (27%). The circulatory assistance was satisfactory in all patients as shown by the regression of clinical signs of low cardiac output and the normalisation of diuresis. The complications observed during assisted circulation and after cardiac transplantation were: haemorrhage (36%), infection (27%) and thromboembolism (9%). These preliminary results with a 72% post-transplantation survival rate, show that both systems are effective "bridges to cardiac transplantation". The Abiomen device is excellent value for money and relatively simple to install and represents a good compromise between the sophisticated techniques of circulatory assistance and the problems of the cost of health care.

Adolescent↗

Use of the Abiomed BVS System 5000 as a bridge to cardiac transplantation.

The Abiomed BVS System 5000 (Abiomed Cardiovascular, Inc., Danvers, Mass.) is a gravity-filled, pneumatically driven external prosthetic ventricle that has been implanted as a circulatory support device in six patients 9 to 58 years of age, presenting with a refractory heart failure nonamenable to any type of corrective operation. Three (including a 9-year-old girl) had an end-stage nonobstructive myocardiopathy, and two (including one patient who had had a massive recent myocardial infarction) had an ischemic heart disease. When first seen, the 58-year-old patient had an acute rejection and graft failure occurring 2 months after a first transplantation. All patients showed evidence of a low-output state (cardiac index less than 1.5 L/min/m2), with renal failure (mean urinary output, less than 27 ml/min) and hypoxia (mean arterial oxygen pressure = 56 torr under 80% forced inspiratory oxygen), despite maximum pharmacologic support (dobutamine, 16 to 18 gamma/kg/min; dopamine, 3 to 18 gamma/kg/min; adrenaline, 0.2 to 0.7 gamma/kg/min; furosemide, 7 to 17 gamma/kg/min). The device was implanted through a midline sternotomy and under peripheral normothermic bypass. Five patients received a biventricular support, and one a single left prosthetic ventricle. The cannulation included a right-angled cannula in both the left and right atrium and a suture of the arterial Dacron tubes onto the ascending aorta and main pulmonary artery. After careful deairing of the tubing and ventricles, the console was activated and the bypass progressively discontinued. Heparin infusion was begun 3 hours after chest closure and was continued for the duration of assist pumping, which was 2 to 11 days (mean duration, 7.43 days). The system could provide a complete support of the circulation with both right and left ventricular index remaining stable at 2.4 to 3 L/min/m2. After a dramatic improvement at the time of the system activation, the urinary output remained adequate, thus allowing for a decreasing need for diuretic therapy. In two cases, including one of isolated left ventricular assist pumping, the circulation could be totally supported during 11 hours and 23 hours, respectively, of refractory ventricular tachycardia. Four of six patients were shortly weaned from inotropic agents. Hematologic studies showed a moderate decrease of the coagulation factors level during the first 6 hours of circulatory support, and this remained stable and within normal limits thereafter. There have been three cases of bleeding complications necessitating surgical revision on the sixth hour, the twelfth hour, and the sixth day, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

The SV40 TC-II(kappa B) enhanson binds ubiquitous and cell type specifically inducible nuclear proteins from lymphoid and non-lymphoid cell lines.

We have characterized the complexes resulting from the specific binding in vitro of proteins present in nuclear extracts of several lymphoid and non-lymphoid cell lines to the TC-I and TC-II sequences of the simian virus 40 (SV40) enhancer. No proteins could be detected, binding selectively to the TC-I sequence, but two proteins TC-IIA and TC-IIB were identified interacting specifically with both the TC-II/kappa B enhanson, 5'-GGAAAGTCCCC-3' (important for the activity of the SV40 enhancer in vivo), and with the related H-2Kb enhanson, 5'-TGGGGATTCCCCA-3'. The binding of these two proteins to mutated TC-II enhansons correlates with the effect of these mutations in vivo, suggesting that both proteins may be important for SV40 enhancer activity. The TC-IIA binding activity was present in nuclear extracts of mature lymphoid B cells and was increased in pre-B cell nuclear extracts by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cycloheximide treatment. Furthermore, complex formation between the TC-IIA protein and the TC-II enhanson was efficiently competed by the kappa B motif from the kappa chain enhancer, indicating that TC-IIA is the NF-kappa B factor or a closely related protein. However, in contrast to previous reports, a TC-IIA/NF-kappa B-like protein whose properties could not be distinguished from those of the TC-IIA protein present in lymphoid B cells, was found in nuclear extracts of several untreated non-lymphoid cell lines, notably of HeLa cells, but not of undifferentiated F9 embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells [F9(ND)]. The TC-IIA binding activity which was moderately increased in HeLa cell nuclear extracts by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and/or cycloheximide treatment could be induced in nuclear extracts of F9(ND) cells by cycloheximide, but not by TPA. Moreover, the TC-IIA binding activity could be induced in cytosolic fractions from F9(ND) cells by treatment with deoxycholate, indicating that these cells contain an inhibitor protein similar to the previously described NF-kappa B inhibitor, I kappa B. The second TC-II enhanson binding protein, TC-IIB, which could be clearly distinguished from the TC-IIA/NF-kappa B-like protein, by a number of differential properties, resembles the previously described KBF1/H2TF1 protein as it binds with a higher affinity to the H-2Kb enhanson than to the TC-II/kappa B enhanson, and its pattern of methylation interference on the H-2Kb and TC-II/kappa B enhansons is identical to that reported for the KBF1/H2TF1 protein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗

[Technic for implanting biventricular external assistance devices. Pending cardiac transplantation].

The extensive development of orthotopic heart transplantation results in a relative shortage of grafts. When cardiac grafts are unavailable, some patients at the end-stage of decompensated heart failure may benefit from a biventricular external circulatory assistance device as a "bridge" to transplantation. We describe a reproducible technique for the implantation of such external devices, based on the systematic use of extracorporeal circulation. This technique was tested in 8 patients. Its main advantage is that it prevents thromboembolic complications which are a constant threat when the devices are used for a prolonged period.

Adult↗