Changes in nutritional status and associations with physical and clinical outcomes in acute myeloid leukemia patients during intensive chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) often receive medical nutrition therapy (MNT) during intensive remission-induction treatment. Since little is known about changes in nutritional status, specifically body composition, in this patient population, these changes and their associations with physical and clinical outcomes were assessed. SUBJECTS/METHODS: In this multicenter prospective observational study, newly diagnosed AML/MDS patients who received intensive remission-induction chemotherapy, routine dietary counseling by a dietician and MNT immediately upon inadequate nutritional intake, were included. At treatment initiation and discharge, nutritional status, including Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA)-scores and body composition, physical outcomes and fatigue were assessed. Associations of nutritional status/body composition with physical outcomes, fatigue, fever duration, number of complications, time to neutrophil engraftment and hospital length of stay (LOS) (collected from medical records) were examined using multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: In >91% of the 126 AML/MDS patients included, nutritional intake was adequate, with 61% receiving MNT. Nevertheless, body weight decreased significantly (p < 0.001) and mainly consisted of a loss of muscle/fat-free mass (FFM) (p < 0.001), while fat mass (FM) remained unchanged (p-value range = 0.71-0.77). Body weight and waist circumference showed significant negative associations with fever duration and/or number of complications. Significant positive associations were found between mid-upper arm muscle circumference (MUAMC) and physical functioning and between PG-SGA-scores and fatigue. Body weight and MUAMC were also negatively associated with LOS. CONCLUSION: Despite MNT in AML/MDS patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy, muscle/FFM decreased while FM remained unchanged. Maintenance of nutritional status was associated with improved physical and clinical outcomes.

Urinary Bladder Contractility Revisited. Correlation of Noninvasively and Invasively Measured Contractility Parameters in Patients Eligible for Transurethral Resection of the Prostate.

OBJECTIVE: To validate a noninvasively estimated measure of urinary bladder contractility by correlating it with 3 existing invasive contractility parameters and to compare and correlate those invasive parameters. METHODS: A group of 74 patients, recruited in 3 different hospitals, and eligible for transurethral resection of the prostate on clinical grounds, were noninvasively studied preoperatively using the condom catheter method. The maximum condom pressure pcond.max measured during a mechanical interruption of flow rate was considered an estimate of urinary bladder contractility and compared to conventional contractility parameters calculated from preoperative (invasive) pressure-flow studies. RESULTS: The highest correlations were found between the invasive parameters. The correlation between the noninvasive parameter on the one hand and the invasive parameters on the other hand was lower, but mostly significant. In a number of patients, pcond.max underestimated the isovolumetric bladder pressure. The underestimated patients were more obstructed than those who were not underestimated and had a higher (invasively measured) contractility. When the underestimated patients were deselected, the correlation between the noninvasive pcond.max and the invasive parameters in the remaining 52 patients was higher. CONCLUSION: The 4 tested contractility parameters represent different aspects of urinary bladder contractility. Nevertheless, there was a significant correlation among them supporting the concept of a common basis, that is, detrusor contractility. The invasive contractility parameter bladder contractility index overestimated contractility in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms and/or benign prostatic enlargement. A modified parameter is suggested.

Longitudinal changes in isovolumetric bladder pressure in response to age-related prostate growth in 1,020 healthy male volunteers.

AIM: To non-invasively study if compensation and decompensation occurs in the urinary bladder of healthy male volunteers in response to benign prostatic enlargement (BPE) using the condom catheter method. METHODS: Between 2001 and 2010, 1,020 healthy male volunteers were included in a longitudinal study based on three non-invasive urodynamic examinations during a 5-year follow-up. Inclusion criteria were an informed consent, the ability to void in a normal standing position and a minimum free flow rate of 5.4 ml/sec. Study parameters were prostate volume (PV), maximum free urinary flow rate (Q(max)) and bladder contractility, quantified by the maximum isovolumetric bladder pressure, measured in the condom (P(cond.max)). Volunteers also completed the International Prostate Symptom Score Form (IPSS). RESULTS: Within limitations, the included volunteers had a flat age distribution between 38 and 72 years. This made it possible to combine longitudinal analysis in a 5-year observation interval, with cross sectional analysis in a 35-year age range. Longitudinal analysis showed that with increasing age, PV increased with 1.9% per year, whereas Qmax decreased with 1.1% per year. IPSS increased with 1.1% per year when volunteers were older than 55 years. P(cond.max) increased during the 5-year longitudinal follow-up, but not in the cross sectional analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The difference between cross sectional and longitudinal results of the P(cond.max) may have been caused by compensation of the urinary bladder resulting in a selection effect. This would imply that compensation is a relatively fast process, taking approximately 5 years.

Myocardial blood supply by left ventricle-to-coronary artery channel: an old idea revisited.

Coronary artery disease is one of the most important causes of death in Western society. Attempts to revascularize the coronary artery by myocardial retroperfusion, direct revascularization from the left ventricle, and bypass surgery have finally led to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) as standard treatment for coronary artery disease. Direct revascularization from the left ventricle has already been studied in the late 1960s, but the idea was rejected because of a decrease in flow in combination with a failure of myocardial function. Recently, a left ventricle-to-coronary artery (LV-CA) stent has renewed interest as an alternative procedure when PTCA and CABG are no option. Animal studies showed a change in flow pattern from diastolic coronary inflow at baseline to systolic coronary inflow followed by diastolic regurgitive flow during direct ventricular sourcing, resulting in a coronary flow of 50-75% of baseline flow. Global myocardial function decreased in the same extent as the coronary flow suggesting perfusion-contraction matching. In a recent pilot study in the anaesthetized pig, direct revascularization after acute proximal coronary ligation resulted in sufficient blood supply to the outer layers of the myocardium, however, in the inner layers a metabolic disbalance occurred. Incorporation of a valve-like mechanism to minimize the diastolic regurgitive flow may be necessary to improve the performance of the LV-CA stent. In addition, further research should be done in chronic ischemic animal models in which the effect of the collateral circulation on myocardial perfusion and performance is an important issue.

Transmural differences in myocardial function and metabolism during direct left ventricular to coronary artery sourcing.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the hypothesis that in the absence of collateral circulation, a left ventricle-coronary artery (LV-CA) bypass will maintain normal LV wall function and metabolism transmurally, both at rest and during stress, when the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) is acutely occluded proximally. METHODS: In 18 anesthetized pigs (74 +/- 7 kg, mean +/- standard deviation), a covered stent was placed transmurally in the lateral wall of the beating LV and connected to the proximal LAD via an arterial graft. Subepicardial and subendocardial segmental shortening as well as interstitial lactate and glucose concentrations were measured regionally by sonomicrometry and microdialysis, respectively. RESULTS: When the LAD was occluded proximally, direct left ventricular sourcing decreased the net LAD flow to 64 +/- 25% of the native flow (n = 18, all animals). In the subepicardium, systolic shortening (SS) decreased to 87 +/- 18% of baseline (p = 0.124), with the appearance of minor postsystolic shortening (PSS), and minor changes in interstitial lactate and glucose levels. In the subendocardium, in contrast, SS decreased to 54 +/- 20% (p = 0.001). Marked PSS concurred with a sixfold increase in lactate (p = 0.008), and a 65 +/- 31% decrease in glucose (p = 0.003), indicating subendocardial anaerobic metabolism. Stress induced by infusion of dobutamine increased lactate and decreased glucose concentration in the subepicardium to subendocardial levels, indicating transmural anaerobic metabolism. CONCLUSIONS: In the anesthetized pig, direct sourcing by a LV-CA bypass distal to an acute coronary occlusion resulted in a 36% decrease in net forward coronary flow, subendocardial anaerobic metabolism, and loss of subendocardial contractile function at rest. These adverse effects extended into the subepicardium when the heart was stressed.

Myocardial blood supply through a direct left ventricle-coronary artery shunt is not aided by augmented coronary capacitance.

OBJECTIVES: Left ventricle-coronary artery shunting is proposed as an alternative means of myocardial revascularization when standard methods are not an option. During diastole, however, regurgitant coronary flow to the left ventricle decreases the efficacy of the left ventricle-coronary artery shunt. We investigated whether augmented coronary compliance would improve net forward shunt flow. METHODS: In 11 anesthetized pigs a specially designed stent was placed through the lateral wall of the left ventricle. Through an arterial graft, it was connected to the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery. A blind stump of the right internal thoracic artery (15 cm) was anastomosed to the distal left anterior descending coronary artery to serve as added coronary compliance chamber. Blood flow was measured in the coronary artery just distal from the left ventricle-coronary artery shunt, as well as in the shunt and in the compliance chamber entrance-exit. RESULTS: The left ventricle-coronary artery shunt decreased the net forward midcoronary flow to 53% +/- 18% (mean +/- SD) of native flow (8 +/- 4 vs 16 +/- 5 mL/min at baseline, P <.01). The augmented compliance did not significantly increase net forward coronary flow (61% +/- 25% of native flow, P <.01 vs baseline and P =.21 vs left ventricle-coronary artery shunt with normal compliance). The increase in systolic forward flow (53 +/- 23 vs 37 +/- 19 mL/min with normal compliance) was accompanied by a similar increase in diastolic regurgitant flow (-26 +/- 20 vs -16 +/- 16 mL/min). CONCLUSION: In healthy pigs a left ventricle-coronary artery shunt decreased net forward coronary flow to 53% +/- 18% of native flow. Augmentation of coronary artery compliance did not improve shunt performance.