Treatment of patients with Eisenmenger's syndrome with Bosentan

We treated prospectively 14 patients with Eisenmenger's syndrome, with a mean age of 10 years, ranging from 3 to 18 years. Treatment continued for 12 months, and demonstrated a lasting symptomatic improvement, but no improvement in terms of mean saturation of oxygen over 24 hours. Exercise capacity, as judged by peak uptake of oxygen, worsened in the six patients able to perform a treadmill test. The symptomatic benefit from dual blockage of endothelin receptors in these patients may be due to mechanisms other than selective pulmonary vasodilatation alone.     

Satisfaction with ambulatory care of persons with AIDS

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relation of patient characteristics and site of care to the perception of ambulatory care quality by persons with AIDS (PWAs). DESIGN: Patient surveys and medical record review were used to determine PWAs’ perceptions of their ambulatory care, self-perceived health status, primary care relationships, sociodemographic characteristics, and severity of illness. SETTING: A public-hospital HIV clinic, an academic group practice, and a staff-model health maintenance organization (HMO) that together care for 20% of all Massachusetts PWAs. PATIENTS: All active patients as of February 12, 1990, and all new AIDS patients at each of the three sites during the subsequent 13 months. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN BESULTS: The primary outcome measure was a six-item scale of patient-rated quality of care (PRQC), a newly developed measure that combined patients’ ratings of their physician care, nursing care, involvement in medical decisions, and overall quality of care. Multiple logistic regression was carried out with low PRQC (lowest quart He) as the dependent variable, to identify correlates of patient perceptions of poor quality. Patients who had a primary nurse were significantly less likely to have low PRQC scores (OR=0.50, 95% CI=0.26 to 0.97). Black patients and patients who used injection drugs were significantly more likely to rate their care in the lowest quartile (OR=2.22, 95% CI=1.04 to 4.78; and OR=2.43, 95% CI=1.13 to 5.23, respectively), as were those who had lower self-perceived health status, after controlling for confounders; no association was found by site or severity. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that primary nursing may be an important determinant of how PWAs rate the quality of their ambulatory care. Furthermore, PWAs who are black or who are injection drug users are less satisfied than are others with the quality of their ambulatory AIDS care. Presented in part at the annual meeting of the Society of General Internal Medicine, April 30, 1993, Arlington, Virginia. Supported by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, grant number HS06239.     

Experience with the treatment of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with obsidan and isoptin

Forty-five patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were examined clinically and echocardiographically. The results of their treatment with obsidan and isoptin in relation to various types of central hemodynamic disorders are presented. The data have been obtained making it possible to treat patients differentially with regard to the form of the disease. The treatment of this category of patients requires the echocardiographic monitoring of the parameters of the central hemodynamics and myocardial contractility.     

分析老年糖尿病患者应用甘精胰岛素联合阿卡波糖治疗的效果

目的探讨甘精胰岛素联合阿卡波糖在老年糖尿病患者中的临床疗效。方法选取该院2018年7月—2019年7月收治的113例老年糖尿病患者作为研究对象,经随机数字表法,划分A组(n=56,阿卡波糖)和B组(n=57,甘精胰岛素+阿卡波糖),比较两组临床疗效、血糖指标。结果B组患者临床治疗总有效率显著高于A组;经治疗,B组患者空腹血糖(FBG)、餐后2 h血糖(2 hPG)、糖化血红蛋白(HbAlc)水平明显低于A组。两组之间比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论在老年糖尿病患者中应用甘精胰岛素+阿卡波糖,临床疗效显著,使患者的空腹血糖、餐后2 h血糖、糖化血红蛋白等指标得到了明显改善,安全性强。     

Evaluation of atrial vulnerability with transoesophageal stimulation in patients with atrioventricular junctional: Comparison with patients with ventricular pre-excitation and with normal subjects

The aim of our work was to evaluate the inducibility of atrialfibrillation in a group of patients with atrioventricular junctionalreentrant tachycardia and to compare it with that of patientswith a Kent-type ventricular pre-excitation (Wolff-Parkinson-Whitesyndrome) and a control group. One hundred and twenty-five subjects were separated into groups.Group 1 comprised 49 Wolff-Parkinson-White patients, with amean age of 26.4, range 10.66 years; group 2, 51 patients withatrioventricular junctional reentrant tachycardia inducibleby transoesophageal atrial stimulation andlor clinically documented,with a mean age of 43.4, range 16–78 years; group 3, 25control subjects with a mean age of2.64, range 13–76 years. Each subject underwent atrial transoesophageal stimulation withthe following protocol: programmed atrial stimulation with 1and 2 stimuli during atrial pacing of 100. min^–1 and 150.min^–1; atrial stimulation for 10 s at a rate of 200–300–400–500–600.min^–1 with intervals of 10 s between stimulations, fivesuccessive ‘ramp-up’ atrial stimulations for 9 swith the rate increasing from 100 to 800. min^–1 with intervalsof 10 s between stimulations. The end point was the completionof the protocol or induction of sustained atrial fibrillation(>1 min). The chi-square test was used for statistical analysis. Our resultsshowed that in group 1 atrial fibrillation was induced in 27149patients (55.1%); this was sustained in 13149 (26.5%) and non-sustainedin 14149 (28.5%); in group 2, atrial fibrillation was inducedin 22151 patients (43.0%); it was sustained in 7151 (13.7%)and non-sustained in 15151 (29.4%); in group 3, sustained atrialfibrillation was not induced in any subject and in only onesubject was a non-sustained atrial fibrillation (4 s) induced. The chi-square test showed that group 2 vs group 1 were non-significant,while group 2 vs group 3 and group 1 vs group 3 were significant(P<0.003 and P<0.0007, respectively). Therefore group 2 patients showed a greater atrial vulnerabilityin comparison to the control subjects and a similar vulnerabilityto group 1 patients. It is possible that the greater atrialvulnerability in the patients of group 2 was due to the doublenodal pathway.     

Treatment of patients with destructive pulmonary tuberculosis with chemotherapeutic preparations combined with sodium nucleinate

The treatment efficacy was studied in 90 patients with destructive tuberculosis of the lungs. 50 of them were subjected to combined chemotherapy with inclusion of sodium nucleinate and 40 were treated with the tuberculostatics alone. It was shown that sodium nucleinate improved the host metabolism and in particular increased nucleonemia. As compared to the controls in the patients treated with sodium nucleinate there was a decrease in the periods of the host disintoxication, discontinuation of tubercle bacilli isolation and closing of destructive cavities. Sodium nucleinate was satisfactorily tolerated by the patients, it induced no adverse reactions and had a favourable effect on the patients immunity.     

以肥厚性硬脑膜炎为主要表现的肉芽肿性多血管炎临床病例分析

目的探讨肉芽肿性多血管炎(GPA)继发肥厚性硬脑膜炎(HCP)的临床特点。方法回顾性分析北京协和医院2004—2018年收治的GPA继发HCP病例资料的特点。结果①GPA患者315例,19例继发HCP,占6.0%;②男性12例,女性7例;年龄19~64岁,中位年龄57岁。③神经系统表现:19例均有头痛,16例颅神经受累。受累部位:额部8例,颞部8例,颅底8例(鞍旁4例,其中海绵窦3例,眶尖2例),小脑幕6例,大脑镰2例,顶部1例,枕部1例,1例合并硬脊膜炎。④系统表现:发热10例,体质量下降8例,肺部受累4例,肾脏受累3例,16例鼻窦炎,10例中耳炎,16例局限型GPA。⑤15例ANCA抗体阳性,8例蛋白酶3(PR3)-ANCA阳性,6例髓过氧化物酶(MPO)-ANCA阳性。⑥16例行腰椎穿刺检查:脑脊液压力9例升高、5例正常、2例降低;脑脊液蛋白升高10例。⑦15例(78.9%)伯明翰系统性血管炎评分(BVAS)>15分。⑧19例均使用糖皮质激素、免疫抑制剂治疗,其中12例行甲泼尼龙冲击治疗,12例鞘内注射地塞米松(或+甲氨蝶呤),19例病情均缓解。结论HCP是GPA少见且严重的表现,主要表现为颅高压和颅神经受累,多见于局限型GPA患者,常伴有全身疾病的活动,需积极治疗。     

Treatment of cachexia with ghrelin in patients with COPD

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Ghrelin is a novel growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide that also induces a positive energy balance by decreasing fat utility and stimulating feeding through GH-independent mechanisms. We investigated whether ghrelin improves cachexia and functional capacity in patients with COPD. METHODS: This is an open-label pilot study. Human ghrelin (2 microg/kg bid) was IV administered to seven cachectic patients with COPD for 3 weeks. Food intake, body composition, muscle strength, exercise capacity, pulmonary function, and sympathetic nerve activity were examined before and after ghrelin therapy. RESULTS: A single administration of ghrelin markedly increased serum GH (21-fold). Three-week treatment with ghrelin resulted in a significant increase in mean (+/- SEM) body weight (49.3 +/- 3.6 to 50.3 +/- 3.8 kg; p < 0.05). Food intake was significantly increased during ghrelin therapy. Ghrelin increased lean body mass and peripheral and respiratory muscle strength. Ghrelin significantly increased Karnofsky performance status score and the distance walked in 6 min (370 +/- 30 to 432 +/- 35 m; p < 0.05), although it did not significantly alter pulmonary function. Ghrelin attenuated the exaggerated sympathetic nerve activity, as indicated by a marked decrease in plasma norepinephrine level (889 +/- 123 to 597 +/- 116 pg/mL; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary results suggest that repeated administration of ghrelin improves body composition, muscle wasting, functional capacity, and sympathetic augmentation in cachectic patients with COPD.     

Treatment of patients with thromboangiitis obliterans with cyclophosphamide.

This report describes a small, nonrandomized trial of cyclophosphamide in the treatment of patients with advanced thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) with modest results. The rationale of the treatment was based on the immunopathogenesis of the disease, ie, autoimmune vasculitis of peripheral arteries. Twelve male patient volunteers with TAO were included for the trial. Diagnosis was based on the history of chronic smoking or tobacco chewing, clinical features of ischemia of peripheral vessels, radioarteriography showing arterial block, and characteristic histopathologic changes of affected arteries. Cyclophosphamide (400 mg) was given intravenously daily to the patients for 7 days followed by daily oral administration of 100 mg cyclophosphamide for another 7 weeks. Clinical conditions of the patients started to improve during the third week of the treatment and maximum benefit was noticed at the end of the treatment. There was significant decrease of intermittent claudication and twentyfold increase of claudication distance as well as relief of rest pain. Before starting treatment 6 patients had developed ulcers on their affected limbs; these healed completely in 2, partially healed in another 2, and showed no improvement in the remaining 2, who never stopped smoking. However, immunosuppressive therapy failed to show any improvement of arterial block, as evidenced by radioarteriography and any significant increase of skin temperature over the affected limbs. Nevertheless, histopathologic studies of biopsies taken from the diseased arteries after completion of therapy showed decreased influx of lymphocytes and plasma cells in the thrombi as well as in the arterial walls in comparison to the biopsies taken before the start of treatment. During the treatment the degree of immunosuppression was monitored by blood leukocyte and lymphocyte counts, which were kept between 4,000/mm3 and above 3,000/mm3 and not less than 500/mm3, respectively, indicating modest immunosuppression and no serious complications. All patients were followed up for 1 year. Only 2 patients, who resumed smoking, had relapse.     

Staging with computed tomography of patients with colon cancer

Purpose

Accurate staging of colonic cancer is important for patient stratification. We aimed to correlate the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative computed tomography (CT) with final histopathology as reference standard.

Methods

Data was collected retrospectively on 615 consecutive patients operated for colonic cancer. Evaluation was based upon T-stage. Patients were stratified into high-risk and low-risk groups, based on the extent of tumor invasion beyond the proper muscle layer of more or less than 5 mm. The Kendall tau correlation coefficient was used to calculate concordance between radiological (r)T-stage obtained at CT imaging and pathological (p)T-stage from the final pathology.

Results

In total, 501 patients were included. We found no significant differences in the Kendall tau values for diagnostic measures between the groups at the 95% confidence interval (CI) level: 49% (95% CI, 43–55) for all individuals, 48% (95% CI, 40–56) for screened individuals, and 47% (95% CI, 37-56) for non-screened individuals. The overall sensitivity and specificity for all individuals in identifying high-risk tumors on CT was 65% (95% CI, 56–73) and 89% (95% CI, 85–92). The risk of ending up in the high-risk group due to overstaging among all individuals was calculated as the number needed to harm 11.7 (95% CI, 9–16).

Conclusions

There is basis for improvement of CT-based preoperative staging of patients with colorectal cancer. Supplementary modalities may be needed for correct staging of patients preoperatively, especially in relation to stratification of patients into neoadjuvant treatments or tailored therapy in patients with early cancers.

     

Treatment of Patients with Microangiopathic Haemolytic Anaemia with Heparin

The response of three children and four adult women with microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia to treatment with heparin is described. The one child and three adults treated within 10 days of the onset of the illness recovered rapidly and completely from their anaemia, thrombocytopenia and uraemia. The two children and one adult treated between 18 and 31 days after the onset of the illness responded less well. The two children who were given small doses of heparin died from complications of the renal microangiopathy despite improvement in the haemolysis and thrombocytopenia. The adult woman made a slow and partial recovery; the haemolysis and thrombocytopenia improved, but renal function did not return to normal.
The importance of recognizing and treating the low grade intravascular coagulation which may accompany microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia is stressed. It is suggested that the variable response to treatment with heparin of patients with microangiopathic haemolytic anaemia observed by ourselves and others may be due to relative roles of intravascular coagulation and primary vascular disease in the pathogenesis of the microangiopathy, and to the development of irreversible vascular damage if treatment is delayed.     

辛伐他汀对血脂异常人群缺血性脑卒中的预防

目的研究辛伐他汀对血脂异常人群缺血性脑卒中的预防作用。方法将2853例血脂异常人群分为预防组(693例)和对照组(2160例),预防组给予辛伐他汀20mg/d,睡前口服。分析2组血脂变化、心脑血管事件、脑卒中等差异。结果预防组受试者糖尿病患病率比对照组高,预防组随访率98．7%,对照组随访率96．2%。预防组低密度脂蛋白胆固醇较对照组低[(2．54±1．01)mmol/L vs(4．12±1．29)mmol/L,P＜0．05],5年生存率高(94．13% vs 83．47%,P＜0．01),缺血性脑卒中和心脑血管事件发生率低。2组死亡的主要原因是:心脑血管疾病、肿瘤和感染。吸烟、高血压、肥胖和糖尿病是脑卒中和心脑血管事件的高危因素。结论辛伐他汀能有效降低血脂异常人群的心脑血管事件。