Possible role of glial cells in the onset and progression of Lyme neuroborreliosis

Background  

Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) may present as meningitis, cranial neuropathy, acute radiculoneuropathy or, rarely, as encephalomyelitis. We hypothesized that glia, upon exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent, produce inflammatory mediators that promote the acute cellular infiltration of early LNB. This inflammatory context could potentiate glial and neuronal apoptosis.     

Electroanatomic mapping and ablation of ventricular tachycardia associated with systemic sclerosis.

Two cases of systemic sclerosis with sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) are presented. The first patient received hydroxychloroquine for skeletal muscle disease coexisting with cardiac involvement. In both cases, 3D-electroanatomic mapping showed low-voltage areas in the right ventricle. In the first patient the tachycardia was mapped and a protected isthmus suggesting reentry was delineated and ablated. Other substrate locations were indirectly identified by pacemapping on the right and left ventricular endocardium in the second patient. VT did not reoccur during follow-up. Radiofrequency catheter ablation is safe and effective and electroanatomic mapping may be helpful in patients with systemic sclerosis.     

Epstein-Barr virus-associated lymphoproliferative disease occurring in a patient with sarcoidosis treated by methotrexate and methylprednisolone

We describe the case of a 51-yr-old man with systemic sarcoidosis, complicated by the occurrence of a lymphoproliferative disease following a 36-month (duration) immunosuppressive treatment with methotrexate (MTX) and methylprednisolone. Four years after the onset of sarcoidosis, the patient presented a large necrotizing anal fistula. Pathological examination of this lesion showed a diffuse polymorphic infiltrate containing large Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-positive lymphoid cells associated with areas of necrosis, all features similar to classical B-cell lymphoproliferative disorders occurring in immunosuppressed solid-organ recipients. MTX has been recently implicated in the development of lymphoproliferative disease in connective tissue diseases. This case supports the hypothesis that immunosuppression therapy may contribute to an increased risk for the development of EBV-associated lymphoproliferative disorders in patients suffering from sarcoidosis.     

Acute renal failure in patients with cirrhosis: perspectives in the age of MELD

In patients with cirrhosis, acute renal failure is mainly due to prerenal failure (caused by renal hypoperfusion) and tubular necrosis. The main causes of prerenal failure are "true hypovolemia" (induced by hemorrhage or gastrointestinal or renal fluid losses), sepsis, or type 1 hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). The frequency of prerenal failure due to the administration of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or intravascular radiocontrast agents is unknown. Prerenal failure is rapidly reversible after restoration of renal blood flow. Treatment is directed to the cause of hypoperfusion, and fluid replacement is used to treat most cases of "non-HRS" prerenal failure. In patients with type 1 HRS with very low short-term survival rate, liver transplantation is the ideal treatment. Systemic vasoconstrictor therapy (with terlipressin, noradrenaline, or midodrine [combined with octreotide]) may improve renal function in patients with type 1 HRS waiting for liver transplantation. MARS (for molecular adsorbent recirculating system) and the transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt may also improve renal function in these patients. In patients with cirrhosis, acute tubular necrosis is mainly due to an ischemic insult to the renal tubules. The most common condition leading to ischemic acute tubular necrosis is severe and sustained prerenal failure. Little is known about the natural course and treatment (i.e., renal replacement therapy) of cirrhosis-associated acute tubular necrosis.