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Biomedical subjects

P A Cullum

Publications and source records attributed to P A Cullum.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Distinction between infection and rejection in lung transplantation.

In distinguishing between infection and rejection after human lung transplantation clinical and radiological features were unhelpful, and even confusing. However, incipient rejection could be predicted and distinguished from infection by monitoring alterations in lymphocyte activity by the rosette inhibition test. Earlier prediction seems possible by detecting circulating lung-binding antibody. The ability to detect changes in the immunological status of a patient, even before clinical deterioration, has fundamental implications for the management of patients after transplantation.

Antigen-Antibody Reactions↗

Lung transplantation in a patient with fibrosing alveolitis.

The transplantation of the right lung into a man aged 40 who was suffering from cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis is described. Before transplantation he had been dependent on oxygen, even at rest, for 24 hours a day for almost two years. The donor was a boy of 16 years who had had a fatal cerebral haemorrhage. The transplanted lung functioned perfectly from the time of operation until the patient's sudden death two months later from an overwhelming haemoptysis apparently from a small peribronchial abscess rupturing into the pulmonary artery. By the third postoperative week the patient had been able to walk unaided and without distress outdoors. The problem of differentiating infection from incipient rejection is discussed. We conclude that clinically successful lung transplantation can be achieved, but only if the problems of lung function, infection, and immunosuppression can all be overcome.

Adult↗

Liver transplantation in man--3, Studies of liver function, histology, and immunosuppressive therapy.

The experience gained from 13 hepatic transplant operations is described, with particular reference to the findings in nine patients who survived the immediate operative period. A major problem was found to be infection. Fulminant pneumonia caused death in two adults, at a time when liver function was virtually normal. Infection related to bile fistula and sepsis may be overcome by an improved method of biliary drainage by cholecyst-dochostomy, which was carried out in the last two patients. Jaundice in the second week due to rejection was observed in several patients. The striking histological change was centrilobular cholestasis. The jaundice, which was not prevented by administration of antilymphocyte globulin, was rapidly controlled by temporarily increasing die dose of prednisone. One patient who survived for four and a half months and who had a poor tissue match subsequently developed chronic rejection with progressive cholestatic jaundice. Five of the patients were able to go home and at time of publication two are alive and well 14 and 20 weeks after treatment.

Adolescent↗

Liver transplantation in man. II. A report of two orthotopic liver transplants in adult recipients.

Two patients with primary hepatic malignancy were treated by hepatectomy and orthotopic liver transplantation. In both cases the donor liver was infused with cold solutions and kept chilled without continuous perfusion. There was immediate satisfactory hepatic function in both transplants.The first patient died after 11 weeks from overwhelming bacterial and fungal infections probably secondary to hepatic infarction due to thrombosis of the recipient hepatic artery. The thrombus occurred at the site of the arterial clamp. In an attempt to control the growth before transplantation, the patient had been treated with large doses of chlorambucil, which resulted in extreme marrow depression and septicaemia.The second patient developed cholestatic jaundice during the second and third weeks after transplantation, with histological evidence of mild rejection, which was controlled by increasing the dose of immunosuppressive agents. He is now well, having returned to work six weeks after the operation.Though the first patient showed no evidence of rejection, it is concluded that patients receiving liver allografts should receive immunosuppressive therapy.

Adult↗