PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

V Pidrman

Publications and source records attributed to V Pidrman.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

[Extracorporeal elimination of LDL-cholesterol in the treatment of hypercholesterolemia: indications and methods].

Extracorporeal elimination of LDL-cholesterol is at present an important part of comprehensive treatment of patients with very high cholesterol levels. An absolute indication for their use are patients with the homozygous form of familial hypercholesterolaemia. Treatment is, after individual consideration, indicated also patient with severe heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia, with a positive family history of IHD, if it is not possible to reduce LDL-cholesterol by diet and hypolipidaemic agents below 5.2 mmol/l; also patients with severe IHD and severe hypercholesterolaemia, included in secondary prevention where it is not possible to reduce LDL-cholesterol by diet and pharmacotherapy below 3,4 mmol/l. Another indication for treatment by LDL apheresis are patients where cardiosurgery cannot be performed because of angiosclerosis. These are patients with severe hypercholesterolaemia which does not respond to drugs and with diffuse changes of the coronary circulation in young age, which cannot be treated by angioplasty or coronary bypass, and also patients after a coronary bypass with a refractory disorder of the lipid metabolism. LDL apheresis is furthermore indicated in patients with severe hyperlipidaemic crises which eventually develop into necrosis of the pancreas. Long-term LDL-apheresis leads to regression of manifestations of xanthomatosis of the skin and tendons, it prevents progression and starts regression of atherosclerosis in patients with severe hypercholesterolaemia. In homozygotes with familial hypercholesterolaemia treatment by LDL-apheresis leads to prolongation of life and improves the quality of life. In heterozygotes neither prolongation of the life span nor a lower incidence of IHD is observed, while the quality of life improves and regression of atherosclerosis occurs. A combination of LDL-apheresis, dietary provisions and hypolipidaemic treatment in heterozygotes is the most effective method to reduce the LDL-cholesterol level. Extracorporeal elimination of LDL-cholesterol can be done by non-selective centrifuging or membrane plasmapheresis. More recent methods of LDL-apheresis are more selective and effective. They use active columns or capsules to remove atherogenic particles from plasma. These methods include cascade filtration, immunoadsorption heparin-induced LDL precipitation, thermofiltration and dextran-induced LDL precipitation.

Blood Component Removal↗

[Diagnosis and therapy of disseminated intravascular coagulation].

The syndrome of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is an acquired coagulation disorder which is characterized by a significant activation of haemostasis and the formation of intravascular microthrombi, the consumption of coagulation factors and activation of fibrinolysis. DIC has similar clinical stages and a similar laboratory picture, regardless of the causal factor. The diagnosis of DIC should be based on anamnestic, clinical and laboratory data. The laboratory diagnosis of DIC is possible by using relatively simple tests, which have the character of statim examinations. DIC treatment is based on the principle of treatment of the cause, discontinued consumption of haemostatic material, substitution of lacking factors and restoration of the microcirculation. The possible development of DIC must be taken into account in a number of acute conditions, in particular the development of shock syndrome. The presented article summarizes some views on causes, diagnosis and possible treatment of DIC.

Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation↗

[The clinical picture of stenoses of the trunk of the left coronary artery].

In 1991-1993 the authors made at the Second Medical Clinic of the Faculty Hospital in Hradec Králové 651 coronarographic examinations: in 460 patients they detected ischaemic heart disease, of the latter 44 (9.6%) suffered from stenosis of the trunk of the left coronary. During the premorbid period the authors evaluated the grade of stenocardia according to the Canadian cardiovascular classification and also the incidence, number of coronary attacks and reason for indicating coronarography. In 29 patients (66%) the authors made an ergometric examination--in 82.8% the finding was positive and in 17.2 negative. The loading test was unequivocally positive only in complete obstruction of the left coronary, in case of multiarterial affection almost in all cases. Coronarography revealed only in 4 patients (9%) isolated stenosis of the trunk of the left coronary, most frequently the finding was also on two other (36.4%) or 3 (34.1%) arteries. Complete occlusion of the trunk of the left coronary was recorded in 6.8%. An ejection fraction of 50% or more was recorded in 75% of the patients. Surgical revascularization was performed in 35 patients. Twenty-nine patients are followed up after operation on a long-term basis (on average for 7.8 months), 23 of the patients report improvement of their complaints (65.7%). The investigation provided evidence that stenosis of the trunk of the left coronary is a relatively frequent finding in the patient population with ischaemic heart disease and that it is most frequently associated with affection of two and three arteries.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Coronary Angiography↗

[Thrombocytes as an indicator of activity in Crohn's disease treated with total parenteral and/or enteral nutrition].

UNLABELLED: Inflammatory bowel disease can be associated with increased platelet count. Aim of our study was focused on assessing thrombocyte count in evaluation of the activity in Crohn's disease (CD). The study included a total of 19 patients [6 men, 13 women (aged 18-57 years, mean 33, median 28]. All patients were malnourished in active stage of the disease on total parenteral and/or enteral nutrition (TP/EN). Thrombocytes were estimated at the beginning and after 3 weeks of TP/EN in venous blood sample using automatic analyser Coulter Counter JT3 (normal range: 130-380.10(9)/l). Serum prealbumin, transferrin, haptoglobin, alpha 1-orosomucoid and C-reactive protein were measured simultaneously. Thrombocytes count below 400.10(9)/l was found only in 1/19 at the beginning and in 7/19 patients in the end of the study. After 3 weeks of TP/EN a significant platelet count fall was found (mean +/- sd: 472 +/- 98 vs. 354 +/- 110, p < 0.01). A correlation was found between thrombocytes and serum prealbumin (r = -0.3871, p < 0.05), haptoglobin (r = 0.5247, p < 0.001), alpha 1-orosomucoid (r = 0.4857, p < 0.01) a C-reactive protein (r = 0.4354, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Thrombocyte count helped in the assessing of disease activity in CD on 3-week-TP/EN. Improvement of clinical status, increase of nutritional parameters and decrease of positive acute phase reactants were associated with a fall of platelet count in 15/19 patients.

Adolescent↗

[Microbiological study of patients with enterocutaneous fistulae treated with long-term total parenteral nutrition].

The authors followed up 12 patients with dehiscences of surgical wounds and postoperative enterocutaneous fistulas treated by on a long-term basis by complete parenteral nutrition. Previous operations were performed on account of different non-tumorous (11/12) and tumourous (1/12) diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Microbiological examinations were made in every patient on admission and during total parenteral nutrition, always once a week for a total period of 2-8 weeks (mean 4.4; median 4.5). The authors examined aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria in smears from the fistulas, stomies, dehiscent surgical wounds and from the rectum. The findings did not confirm the suspicion of local nosocomial infection. Strikingly often bacteria producing indole were found (in 8/12 examined subjects) and/or bacteria with positive urease (12/12) and lecithinase activity (9/12 patients). In the detected strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (in 8/12 examined patients) lecithinase activity was confirmed in all. It cannot be ruled out that the above described enzymatic bacterial activities may have contributed to the failure of conservative therapy in the majority of patients (10/12).

Adult↗

Immunoglobulin G subclasses in Crohn's disease with and without bowel resection.

Increased immunoglobulin G2 [IgG2] in Crohn's disease in contrast with increased IgG1 in ulcerative colitis was reported in literature data. The aim of our study has been focused on serum IgG subclasses in Crohn's disease with resected bowel (11 patients) and without previous surgery for Crohn's disease (12 patients). All patients were in active stage of the disease on total parenteral nutrition. Serum IgG subclasses were estimated by means of radial immunodiffusion. There was no significant differences between in IgG subclasses in Crohn's disease with and without bowel resection. IgG2 over 4.5 g/l was found only in 2/12 with resected bowel and 1/11 without previous surgery for Crohn's disease. Surprisingly, IgG1/IgG2 ratio below 1.5 was found only in 5/23 persons. In 3/23 patients IgG1 was over 10.5 g/l although there was no doubt about the diagnosis of Crohn's disease. IgG subclasses failed to help in confirmation of the diagnosis of Crohn's disease. Serum IgG subclasses alterations probably are not influenced by bowel resection and/or nutritional status.

Adolescent↗

Skin side-effects of amiodarone therapy.

Amiodarone is a antiarrhythmic drug with many side-effects which include also the induction of photosensitivity and the development of greyish-blue pigmentations on the skin exposed to light. The authors examined 64 patients treated with amiodarone and 32 controls by means of a phototest using a xenon lamp. In 9.4% photosensitivity was recorded, in 9.4% there were greyish-blue hyperpigmentations in the face and on the back of the hands. Histological identification of these hyperpigmentations including electron microscopy was also performed.

Adult↗

[Multicenter study of isradipine in the treatment of hypertension].

MIS is a one-year Multicentre Isradipine Study of the treatment of essential hypertension, in which participated seven centres in Czechoslovakia. The study comprised 144 patients with mild or medium severe hypertension. Isradipine belongs into the group of dihydropyridine derivatives with a high specific and low non-specific affinity to dihydropyridine binding sites of the L-type of calcium channels. After a four-week placebo period isradipine treatment (2.5 mg (1/2 tablet twice a day/was started. This dose increased to 5 mg (1 tablet twice a day) unless normalization of the diastolic pressure was achieved by a smaller dose. Monotherapy with isradipine normalized the diastolic pressure (less than 90 mmHg) in 44% of the hypertonic patients. 56% hypertonics where monotherapy with isradipine did not reduce the diastolic pressure below 90 mmHg were treated by a combination of isradipine and bopindolol. This group of patients had a significantly higher systolic and diastolic pressure, a higher number of erythrocytes and thrombocytes at the onset of the investigation. Addition of bopindolol to isradipine proved very effective. At the end of the one-year study 87% of the patients had a normal diastolic pressure. Isradipine as monotherapy and combined with bopindolol did not influence the metabolic risk factors of IHD and drug tolerance was very good.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

MIS (Multicentric Isradipine Study of antihypertensive therapy).

One-year open Multicentric Isradipine Study (MIS) performed in 7 centres in Czechoslovakia included 144 patients with mild and moderate hypertension. Isradipine was given at a dose of 2.5 mg daily. If normalization of diastolic blood pressure (BP) had not been reached, the dosage was increased to 5 mg. Monotherapy with isradipine normalized diastolic BP in 44% of patients. Isradipine (5 mg daily) was combined with bopindolol in patients in whom isradipine alone failed to normalize diastolic BP. These had higher mean systolic and diastolic BP, body weight, erythrocyte and platelet counts at the beginning of the study. The combination of isradipine with bopindolol normalized diastolic BP in 87% of the group at the end of 48 weeks' treatment. Tolerance was excellent in 82% of patients. Treatment was discontinued in 8% patients, undesirable effects being the reason in 2%, ineffective therapy in 2% and poor adherence to therapy in 4%. Isradipine in monotherapy or in combination with bopindolol did not exert an adverse effect on the metabolic risk factors of ischaemic heart disease (cholesterol, glycaemia).

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

[Side effects of amitriptyline in relation to its plasma levels].

In a 21-day investigation in 15 patients with depression the authors investigated the incidence of undesirable side-effects in relation to plasma amitriptyline levels. The authors found the upper range of plasma concentrations when the patient's risk is minimal as regards serious undesirable complications. This upper limit is 350 micrograms/l; as compared with previous work, they consider amitriptyline levels from 150 to 350 350 micrograms/l safe and therapeutically effective. The authors consider investigation of plasma levels indicated in risk patients and in patients with an inadequate response to treatment.

Adult↗

[Late ventricular potentials--relation to the results of programmed ventricular stimulation, the incidence of ventricular ectopic arrhythmias and left ventricular function].

The authors evaluated the incidence of late ventricular potentials (LVP) in 84 patients (63 men and 21 women) with programmed stimulation of the ventricles. At the same time they described the relationship of the mentioned potentials to the finding of ventricular ectopic arrhythmias during ECG monitoring and left ventricular function (ultrasonographic examination). Non-invasive recording of late ventricular potentials is due to the assessed sensitivity, i.e. 73%, and specificity i.e. 67% (in relation to the results of programmed ventricular stimulation) a useful method for evaluation of the arrhythmogenic substrate of the heart muscle. The authors detected LVP in 35% of 37 subjects without arrhythmias, in 58% of 31 subjects with premature ventricular contractions class 3 to 5 according to Lown and in 60% of 15 subjects with relapsing ventricular tachycardias. LVP are more frequent in patients with impaired left ventricular function. They were recorded during the ejection fraction of the left ventricle beneath 50% in 69% of 16 subjects and in the left ventricular ejection fraction above 50% in 44% of 68 subjects.

Action Potentials↗

[Chronopharmacokinetics of digoxin in compensated cardiac patients].

The authors provided evidence that the pharmacokinetics of digoxin are influenced by daily rhythms. Using doses of 0.125 mg digoxin by the oral route, after 12 hours they found a statistically higher serum digoxin concentration in the minimum before administration of the morning dose and in the maximum concentration after this dose, as compared with the minimal and maximal concentration before and after administration of the same dose in the evening. The other pharmacokinetic parameters--the area beneath the curve of serum concentrations, the time before the maximum concentration was attained and the total plasma clearance of digoxin did not differ. This chrono-pharmacokinetic relationship in compensated cardiac patients was comparable with data in the literature pertaining to healthy volunteers. To conclude it may be said that on administration of major does in the morning there is a greater risk of serum concentrations beyond the therapeutic range than during the administration of the same amount of digoxin in the evening.

Aged↗

[Significance of invasive electrophysiologic examination in the diagnosis of ventricular tachyarrhythmia in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome].

The authors assessed basic clinical and electrophysiological indicators (using invasive electrophysiological examination) in 15 patients (11 men and 4 women) with symptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. In 47% of the examined patients they detected artificial ventricular tachyarrhythmias during programmed ventricular stimulation. They found that there is a risk of the development of spontaneous ventricular tachyarrhythmias under the following conditions: 1. transfer of impulses from the atria with an increased excitability (in two patients), 2. in the ventricular heart muscle (in one patient). In general they proved a high risk (in 20%) in patients with ventricular fibrillations and ventricular tachycardias leading to sudden death.

Adolescent↗

[Programmed ventricular stimulation in the evaluation of the clinical significance of premature ventricular contractions].

The authors subjected 34 patients (27 men and 7 women) to invasive electrophysiological examination. All patients had early ventricular contractions class 3-5 according to Lown which were recorded during ECG monitoring in bed or by Holter's system. A pathological excitability of the ventricular myocardium was found during programmed stimulation in 29% of the subjects. The excitability of the heart muscle was substantially enhanced by the incidence of ischaemic heart disease and reduced left ventricular function. The decreased frequency and severity of early ventricular contractions during bicycle ergometry, the absence of palpitations and syncopes increases the probability of normal excitability of the ventricular myocardium.

Adolescent↗

[Colicinogeny in nonspecific intestinal inflammations and colorectal cancer].

Colicins are proteinaceous substances produced by Escherichia coli strains and related bacteria of Enterobacteriaceae family. They are considered to be an important factor in preserving the balance of the intestinal microflora. Their antibiotic action on susceptible bacteria is supplemented with cytotoxicity for several pro- and eukaryotic cells. The large bowel is a natural site of their action. Besides of enhancing oxidoreductive activity of leukocytes in vitro, colicins are also believed to influence inflammatory reaction in vivo. For these reasons, the first part of the present work was concerned with studying colicinogeny in nonspecific inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). No significant difference has been found out in colicinogeny between a total of 93 IBD-related and 160 healthy controls. In testing leukocyte migration inhibition, colicins of autologous E. coli were used as antigens. The migration index out of normal range showed 36% patients with ulcerative colitis (5/14), 80% patients with Crohn's disease (12/15), and only one clinically healthy control subject (1/16; 6%). The obtained results are considered to be proof of cellular hypersensitivity of IBD patients to colicins of their own E. coli strains. In several colicins the antitumorous effect has been reported in both the in vitro and in vivo experimentation. The second part of this work was concerned with colicinogeny in colorectal cancer. Colicinogenic E. coli were evidenced in 42 subjects (40%) from 105 patients with colorectal carcinoma. Controls showed colicinogenic E. coli in 102/160 clinically healthy subjects (64%), and the difference was as significant as p less than 0.05. In colorectal cancer group, the subjects with proved colicinogeny showed lesser amounts of colicinogenic E. coli strains in contrast with non-colicinogenic ones. In colorectal cancer patients with colicinogenic E. coli strains, B and M colicins were of most frequent occurrence in them no antitumorous effect has been experimentally stated. If changes of colicinogeny were only either the manifestation or consequence of tumor disease, so both the presence or absence of colicinogenic E. coli would have been dependent of clinical patients's condition, stage of disease (in accord with Dukes) or correlated with the tumor markers. For these accounts, a total of 28 colorectal cancer patients underwent a colicinogenic study. However, no colicinogeny dependence was evidenced of either clinical condition or Dukes stage, showing no correlation with any of cancer markers investigated (carcinoembryonic antigen, CA 19-9, alfa-1-fetoprotein, alfa-1-orosomucoid, Cancer serum index, sialic acid, lysozyme).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

[Levels of amitriptyline and its metabolites in the treatment of depression].

The authors assessed in a 21-day investigation the levels of amitriptyline and its metabolites in plasma and saliva, using the RIA method, in an attempt to reveal the relationship between the therapeutic effect and the assessed concentrations. They did not find a clear relationship between the therapeutic effect and plasma levels; when eliminating extreme maximal and minimal values, we may speak of concentrations where clinical improvement is recorded: from 150 to 450 micrograms/l. The concentration in saliva correlated at higher levels with the plasma concentration; this gives a theoretical chance of screening by this method. From the clinical aspect it is essential to express an opinion on the development of side-effects in relation to plasma levels. This problem will be discussed in a subsequent paper.

Adult↗

[Arrhythmic syncope and invasive electrophysiologic heart function tests].

The authors submitted to electrophysiological examination a total of 100 patients (66 men and 34 women) with brief disorders of consciousness where they ruled out extracardiac causes of unconsciousness, impaired blood flow through the heart and the syndrome of s-a node dysfunction. Forty-three subjects had severe arrhythmias during ECG monitoring in bed or by Holter's system (20 subjects paroxysms of ventricular tachycardia, 14 subjects ventricular extrasystoles according to Lown class 3-5, six subjects had transient high-grade a-v blocks, three subjects had symptomatic paroxysms of supraventricular tachycardia). In 57 patients ECG monitoring did not reveal ectopic arrhythmias and high-grade a-v blocks. Invasive examination confirmed or diagnosed arrhythmic syncopes in 49% of the entire group of 100 patients. It assessed the arrhythmic cause of syncopes in 33% of 57 subjects without severe arrhythmias and in 70% of 43 subjects with severe arrhythmias detected during ECG monitoring.

Adolescent↗