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Biomedical subjects

S Kohler

Publications and source records attributed to S Kohler.

63 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Management of penetrating pneumatic nailgun injuries of the knee.

Of 36 patients who presented over a 3-year period with nailgun injuries, nine of these injuries were found to have penetrated into the knee joint. Six of these injuries were treated by operative nail removal, curettage of the nail tract, and examination of the joint. The remaining three patients had nail removal, followed by irrigation of the joint in the emergency room. All nine injuries had antibiotic prophylaxis before and after nail removal. In three of six patients treated by operative irrigation and debridement, a piece of clothing or nailgun resin was discovered in the nail tract or floating within the knee joint. None of the patients in the group treated by operative nail removal, joint visualization, irrigation, and nail tract curettage experienced any complications, whereas one patient treated nonoperatively developed a septic knee. Due to the unique nature of these nailgun puncture wounds, we strongly advocate operative nail removal, curettage of the nail tract, visualization of the joint, and use of prophylactic antibiotics in the treatment of nailgun arthrotomies.

Adolescent↗

Expression of bcr-abl fusion transcripts following bone marrow transplantation for Philadelphia chromosome-positive leukemia.

A modified polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure was used to study the expression of bcr-abl fusion transcripts following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for Philadelphia chromosome (Ph1) positive acute and chronic leukemias. The technique was applied to RNA preparations of peripheral blood and bone marrow cells from 10 patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and one patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), all of whom had undergone allogenic BMT and were in clinical and cytogenetic remission. Pre-BMT samples available for eight of 11 patients contained detectable bcr-abl fusion products serving as a baseline for comparison to post-BMT studies. Six patients showed no PCR-detectable bcr-abl transcripts in each of several serial analyses post-BMT (1-36 months post-BMT). The remaining five patients demonstrated various patterns of bcr-abl transcript expression after transplantation. In three patients, bcr-abl transcripts persisted for up to 3 months post-BMT but subsequently were undetectable. Molecular relapse was observed 3 and 6 months post-BMT in the remaining two patients whose earlier post-BMT samples showed no bcr-abl fusion transcripts. No bcr-abl transcripts were detected in subsequent samples from both of these patients 6 months and 1 year post-BMT, respectively. These data confirm that Ph1 carrying cells expressing the bcr-abl fusion mRNA may persist or recur for several months following BMT in the absence of clinical and cytogenetic relapse. The significance of these observations is discussed with respect to results reported recently by others using similar techniques.

Bone Marrow Transplantation↗

[Pancytopenia during low-dose oral methotrexate therapy of psoriatic arthritis].

Pancytopenia and interstitial pneumonia occurred in a 70-year-old woman with psoriatic arthritis and compensated renal insufficiency while she was being treated with low doses of the folic-acid antagonist methotrexate (5 mg weekly). Despite the administration of platelets, red blood cells, antibiotics, acyclovir and folinic acid (100 mg daily), the pneumonia progressed, and the patient died of global respiratory failure.

Administration, Oral↗

Anticoagulation-related intracranial extracerebral haemorrhage.

From January 1981 to June 1986 116 patients with anticoagulation-related intracranial haemorrhage were referred to hospital. Seventy six of these haemorrhages were extracerebral, 69 were in the subdural and seven in the subarachnoid space. No epidural haemorrhages were identified. Compared with non-anticoagulation-related haematomas, the risk of haemorrhage was calculated to be increased fourfold in men and thirteenfold in women. An acute subdural haematoma, mostly due to contusion, was more frequently accompanied by an additional intracerebral haematoma than a chronic subdural haematoma. Trauma was a more important factor in acute subdural haematomas than in chronic. Almost half of the patients (48%) had a history of hypertension, more than a third (35%) had heart disease and about one fifth (18%) were diabetic. Headache was the most frequent initial symptom. Later decreased level of consciousness and focal neurological signs exceeded the frequency of headache. Three patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage and nine patients with acute subdural haematomas died, while those with chronic subdural haematomas all survived and had at the most mild, non-disabling sequelae. Myocardial infarction (22%), pulmonary embolism (20%), and arterial disease (20%) were the most frequent reasons for anticoagulant treatment. Critical review based on established criteria for anticoagulation treatment suggests there was no medical reason to treat a third of these patients. The single most useful measure that could be taken to reduce the risk of anticoagulation-induced intracranial haemorrhage would be to identify patients who are being unnecessarily treated and to discontinue anticoagulants.

Aged↗

[Successful treatment of stress-induced therapy refractory ventricular tachycardia with verapamil].

A 51-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital for further elucidation of a syncope of unknown origin and exercise-induced tachycardias with broad QRS-complex. The tachycardia was induced by bicycle exercise stress testing, had a frequency of 165/min, showed an inferior axis and left bundle branch block. Organic heart disease was excluded by right and left heart catheterization and selective coronary angiography. A nodoventricular bundle or an atrio-ventricular bundle was excluded by an extensive electrophysiologic study, therefore the documented tachycardia was probably of ventricular origin. However, it was not possible to induce a ventricular tachycardia by programmed ventricular stimulation with up to three extrastimuli even after the infusion of isoprenaline. Sotalol (2 x 160 mg/die) and the combined treatment with mexiletine (2 x 360 mg/die) and disopyramide (2 x 250 mg/die) did not prevent the induction of the tachycardia by exercise testing. The combination of sotalol and flecainide (2 x 100 mg/die) evoked complex ventricular arrhythmias at rest not noted before, and it was therefore withdrawn as well. After all antiarrhythmic drugs were withdrawn verapamil was given in a dose of 3 x 120 mg and this therapy reproduceably prevented the induction of ventricular tachycardia by exercise testing.

Anti-Arrhythmia Agents↗

CD27+ memory and CD27- effector CD8+ T cells are responsible for a decreased production of proinflammatory cytokines in HLA B27-positive subjects.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: AS and other spondyloarthritides (SpA) are mostly chronic inflammatory rheumatic diseases characterised by a strong association with HLA B27. Recent data from our group have suggested that AS patients have a diminished secretion capacity of inflammatory cytokines, possibly associated with HLA B27. The aim of this study was to identify CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets responsible for the observed lower cytokine secretion capacity in HLA B27-positives. METHODS: Highly purified (> 98%) CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of HLA B27-positive AS patients (n = 13), healthy HLA B27-positive (n = 7) and -negative controls (n = 9) were stimulated for 6h with PMA/ Ionomycin and, after fixation, stained for surface markers CD45RA and CD27 and cytokines TNFalpha, IFNgamma, IL-4 and IL-10. RESULTS: CD27+ CD45RA- memory CD8+ T cells of HLA B27-positive subjects showed a significantly lower percentage of TNFalpha (median 71.4%) and IFNgamma production (median 69.7%) than HLA B27-negative controls (TNFalpha 85.1%; p < or = 0.027; IFNgamma 82.7%, p < or = 0.026). A similar result was also detected in CD27- CD45RA+ effector CD8+ T cells of which 43.2% produced TNFalpha and 66.3% IFNgamma in HLA B27-positive subjects, respectively, compared to 75.6% TNFalpha and 84.4% IFNgamma producing T cells in HLA B27-negatives (p < or = 0.045 and p < or = 0.062, respectively). For all CD4+ T cell subsets no significant differences between HLA B27-positive and HLA B27-negative donors were observed, regarding neither the frequency of IFNgamma, TNFalpha, IL-4 or IL-10 producers nor the coexpression of IFNgamma and IL-4 in memory subsets. CONCLUSIONS: HLA B27-positive subjects are characterized by a low proinflammatory cytokine production in CD8+ effector and memory T cell subsets. This suggests an influence of HLA B27 on cytokine production in antigen-experienced CD8+ T cells.

Adult↗