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Biomedical subjects

R H Levey

Publications and source records attributed to R H Levey.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Outcome of renal transplantation in children less than two years of age.

Twenty-two renal transplants were performed in 21 children less than two years of age at Children's Hospital. Fourteen were from living related donors and eight were from cadaveric donors. The five year patient and graft survivals of these recipients were compared to all other pediatric recipients between two and 18 years of age who received renal transplants over the same time period. Five year graft survival for recipients less than two years of age was 86% following living-related donor transplantation and 38% following cadaver donor transplantation. Older pediatric recipients aged between two and 18 years had a five year graft survival of 73% following living-related donor renal transplantation, which was similar to that for recipients less than two years of age. Although older cadaveric recipients had a comparable five year graft survival to younger recipients, at 42%, the patterns of graft loss were different. Graft failures in young recipients occurred within the first seven months post-transplant, whereas the older recipient's grafts failed more gradually. Actuarial five-year patient survival in recipients less than two years of age was 86% following living-related donor renal transplantation and 70% following cadaver-donor renal transplantation. Recipients less than two years of age had a poorer patient survival than older recipients following both living-related donor renal transplantation (P = 0.06) and cadaver-donor renal transplantation (P less than 0.05). These findings suggest that the graft survival of living-related donor renal transplantation in recipients less than two years of age is better than that of cadaver-donor renal transplantation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

The medical and surgical management of typhlitis in children with acute nonlymphocytic (myelogenous) leukemia.

The treatment of acute leukemia in childhood has been increasingly successful. Infectious complications are the major cause of morbidity and mortality among these patients receiving aggressive chemotherapy. In particular, neutropenic enterocolitis or typhlitis has had a reported mortality of 50% to 100%. The authors reviewed a series of 77 previously untreated patients with acute myelogenous leukemia begun on treatment from March 1976 to June 1984 to better define the characteristics of typhlitis and its optimum management. Twenty-five patients had episodes of typhlitis, characterized by fever, abdominal pain, and tenderness, occurring during periods of neutropenia. Ten of these patients had watery diarrhea as a major additional symptom, and nine patients had a significant episode of gastrointestinal bleeding. In seven instances, blood culture results were positive, all for intestinal flora. The episodes of typhlitis occurred most frequently during the induction therapy (19 patients). Five patients experienced typhlitis during maintenance therapy, and one patient had acute appendicitis. Two patients had typhlitis during their reinduction therapy, and of note, one had had abdominal symptoms during her initial induction. All patients were treated initially with broad-spectrum antibiotics and bowel rest. Four criteria have been used for surgical intervention: (1) persistent gastrointestinal bleeding after resolution of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia and correction of clotting abnormalities; (2) evidence of free intraperitoneal perforation; (3) clinical deterioration requiring support with vasopressors, or large volumes of fluid, suggesting uncontrolled sepsis; and (4) development of symptoms of an intra-abdominal process, in the absence of neutropenia, which would normally require surgery. Using these criteria, five patients required surgical intervention for typhlitis or its sequelae and one for acute appendicitis. There was one perioperative death resulting from miliary tuberculosis. Among the 21 patients managed medically, there was 1 death resulting from typhlitis in a patient in whom surgery was deferred because of her multiple failures to enter remission.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Maintenance of vascular access patency in pediatrics.

The patency of vascular access shunts and fistulae has been prolonged by a combined surgical and radiological approach that includes percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), surgical revision, thrombectomy, and thrombolysis. Over the last 3 years, 35 vascular accesses in 27 patients were found to have angiographic abnormality. PTA was performed 32 times on 19 accesses and 7 PTAs resulted in patent accesses by the end of the study. Surgical revision was performed 9 times on 8 accesses and 2 of the surgical revisions resulted in a patent access by the end of the study. Concerning Thomas femoral shunts, PTA prolonged the patency by 2.2 months and surgical revision by 3.8 months per procedure. Concerning arteriovenous (AV) fistulae, PTA prolonged the patency by 4.3 months and surgical revision by 3.5 months per procedure. A combination of procedures effectively doubles the duration of patency of Thomas femoral shunts and almost triples the duration of patency of AV fistulae in children. Forty-one percent of these accesses remain open 1 year following the initiation of these procedures.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Progressive tubulointerstitial renal disease in infancy with associated hepatic abnormalities.

Clinical, pathologic, and biochemical data are reported in two male infants who had rapidly progressive renal failure, enlarged kidneys, hepatosplenomegaly, and fat malabsorption. One infant, studied prior to the onset of significant renal insufficiency, manifested renal Fanconi syndrome, hyperparathyroidism, and marked hypocalcemia. After a brief period of dialysis, both received renal transplants. Neither has clinical evidence of reoccurrence of the renal disorder in the transplant, but both still have hepatic abnormalities. Morphologic features present in both patients include a renal lesion characterized by tubulointerstitial injury with a tubulocystic component and hepatic abnormalities with bile duct proliferation, portal fibrosis, and inflammation. These cases do not readily conform to any single published diagnostic category, including nephronophthisis-congenital hepatic fibrosis or infantile polycystic kidney disease, and appear to be unique.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1985

The surgical management of fungal pulmonary infections in children with acute myelogenous leukemia.

Infections are the primary cause of complications and death in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia. Current aggressive treatment protocols have improved patient survival but produce extended periods of profound neutropenia during which the patients are particularly susceptible to opportunistic infections. Candida and Aspergillus species are the most common of the fungi causing invasive infections in these patients. In a group of 77 previously untreated children with acute myelogenous leukemia begun on treatment from March 1976 to June 1984, four patients developed localized fungal infections of the lung. These initially appeared as pulmonary infiltrates on chest roentgenograms during periods of severe neutropenia (three during remission induction and one after intensive consolidation therapy). Endobronchial cultures failed to identify the infectious organism in all cases. Computerized axial tomography best defined the cavitary nature of the lesions in 2 patients. All four patients underwent surgical resection, both to establish a diagnosis (three patients) and as part of therapy. There was no operative morbidity. The organisms involved were Aspergillus (2), Torulopsis (1), and Penicillium (1). Three patients were cured of their fungal infections. The fourth patient failed to enter remission and died of a cerebral fungal abscess that developed shortly after thoracotomy. We report these cases to encourage early surgical intervention in leukemics with a localized pulmonary process consistent with a fungal infection. Resection of the primary focus obviates the risk of life threatening pulmonary hemorrhage or dissemination of the fungus and allows for early reinstitution of chemotherapy which is vital to these patients' survival.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Comparison of cell-mediated lympholysis and mixed lymphocyte culture in the immunologic evaluation for renal transplantation.

We investigated the relationship between both pre-transplant cell-mediated lympholysis assay (CML) and mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) and transplant outcome (graft function and survival) in 33 living, related donor renal transplants performed during the past 5 yr. Both assays were excellent predictors of transplant outcome. A positive CML assay was correlated with the occurrence of early acute rejection episodes (p less than 0.005), shortened time to graft dysfunction (serum creatinine greater than 1.5 mg/dl) (p less than 0.001), and poor long-term graft survival (p = 0.07). Similarly, a positive MLC was correlated with acute rejection episodes (p less than 0.005), graft dysfunction (p = 0.001), and poor graft survival (p less than 0.01). To determine the relative prognostic significance of the CML and MLC assays, we compared the correlation of each of them with the occurrence of acute rejection episodes. Under a logistic model of probability, the CML and MLC assays were equally predictive of an early acute rejection episode (p less than 0.01); however, the combination of CML and MLC together improved the accuracy of the prediction of an acute rejection episode by 50%. These results indicate that the CML and MLC assays are independent predictors of transplant outcome and that both tests should be an integral part of the immunologic evaluation of prospective living, related donors for renal transplantation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Antihelper T cell autoantibody in acquired agammaglobulinemia.

A patient with acquired agammaglobulinemia had an antihelper T cell factor that was identified as an immunoglobulin of the IgG class. The factor specifically bound to the TH2- T cell subset and, in the presence of complement, abolished the helper effect of normal T cells. The antihelper T cell antibody preceded by several years the appearance of suppressor TH2+Ia+ T cells, at which time the clinical course rapidly deteriorated. Plasmapheresis resulted in lymphocytosis and reappearance of a functionally intact helper T cell population. It did not affect the suppressor cells. Conversely, total thymectomy resulted in a temporary disappearance of the TH2+Ia+ suppressor cells, but did not decrease the levels of the autoantibody to helper T cells. Neither of these treatments reversed the state of agammaglobulinemia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Successful bone marrow transplantation in sensitized recipients.

Fourteen patients with aplastic anemia and one with the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome who were specifically sensitized against their donors were successfully engrafted with bone marrow from those donors. Sensitivity was detected in antibody-independent and antibody-dependent cell-mediated lysis assays. In order to erase this immunity to non-MHR familial transplantation antigens, multiagent immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide, procarbazine, and whole rabbit antithymocyte serum (ATS) was used. The data suggest that ATS was largely responsible for abrogation of this sensitivity and indicate that immunity does not represent a barrier to successful transplantation.

Anemia, Aplastic↗
PubMed1978

Cholelithiasis and Wilson disease.

We have studied three children with Wilson disease who had clinical symptoms suggestive of cholecystitis as well as radiologic evidence of gallstones, subsequently proven at the time of laparotomy. The gallstones from the patients with Wilson disease had an appreciably higher content of cholesterol than gallstones from age-matched children with hemolytic disease. Since gallstones may be present for years before they produce clinical symptoms, young patients with Wilson disease should undergo routine investigation for the presence of stones; cholelithiasis should also be considered in the differential diagnosis of abdominal pain in such patients.

Child↗
PubMed1978

Successful use of multiagent immunosuppression in the bone marrow transplantation of sensitized patients.

Of 23 patients with severe aplastic anemia, 17 were sensitized to histocompatibility antigens of HLA-A, -B, and -D loci-identical potential sibling donors as determined by cell-mediated lysis (CML) assays in vitro. Antibody-dependent sensitization was detected in 3 patients, antibody-independent cellular sensitization in 11, and both in 3. Fourteen sensitized patients were transplanted after initial multiagent immunosuppression consisting of rabbit anti-human thymocyte serum, procarbazine, and cyclophosphamide, eleven with a CML-positive donor and three with a CML-negative donor. Engraftment was achieved in each of 13 patients who were evaluable, and only 2 ultimately rejected their marrow grafts, 1 with subsequent return of his own marrow function. Five patients without evidence in vitro of sensitization were transplanted after immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide alone; none of these rejected their grafts. These studies show that sensitized bone marrow transplant recipients can be successfully transplanted after optimal donor selection and multiagent immunosuppression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Warts in a pediatric renal transplant population.

18 of 49 pediatric renal transplant recipients, all of whom were on continual steroid and immunosuppressive treatment, were found to have warts. Although all 18 patients received treatment for this problem, only 5 had the warts successfully eradicated. The frequency of warts among transplant patients is three times that of the general childhood population and twice that of a group of nephrotic pediatric patients who received immunosuppressive therapy. We propose that drug-induced suppression of cell-mediated, and to a lesser extent, humoral immunity, may predispose people to develop warts.

Female↗