A rare case of central post-gravid diabetes insipidus.

Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) arising in the puerperal period has been attributed mainly to Sheehan's syndrome or to lymphocytic infundibulo-neurohypophysitis. We report the case of a 24-year-old woman who came to our observation for the appearance, 3 weeks after a normal delivery, of a polyuric-polydipsic syndrome. Measurements of urinary volumes, plasma osmolality and urinary osmolality, in conditions of free water intake, water deprivation and a water deprivation-vasopressin administration test, demonstrated CDI. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a normal morphology of the adenohypophysis and total absence of the neurohypophysis. Assays of the pituitary hormones were found to be within normal limits. These results, incompatible with a diagnosis of Sheehan's syndrome and lymphocytic infundibulo-neurohypophysis, excluded all the other known causes of acquired CDI. Our diagnosis was therefore of post-gravid idiopathic CDI. Thus, it is possible that in the puerperal period other diseases of the posterior hypophysis may develop, of unknown etiopathogenesis but equally responsible for CDI.

Nitrendipine and amlodipine mimic the acute effects of enalapril on renal haemodynamics and reduce glomerular hyperfiltration in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Antihypertensive drugs may have an important effect on glomerular haemodynamics. In chronic nephropathy patients, we compared the effect on glomerular haemodynamics of two second-generation dihydropyridinic agents, nitrendipine and amlodipine, with a first generation dihydropyridinic agent and an ACE-inhibitor, enalapril. In all, 32 patients (pts), divided into four groups, received the different drugs: ENA (enalapril, eight pts), NIF (nifedipine, eight pts), NIT (nitrendipine, eight pts) AML (amlodipine, eight pts). The study assessed the effect on glomerular haemodynamics of a single administration of the test drug in baseline conditions and in glomerular hyperfiltration experimentally induced by amino-acid infusion. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR, measured by inulin clearance), effective renal plasma flow (ERPF, measured by p-aminohippurate clearance), renal vascular resistances (RVR) and filtration fraction (FF) were assessed. Administration of AML and NIT test dose reduced FF, as did ENA, but not NIF, in both baseline (AML: P=0.005; NIT: P=0.02; ENA: P=0.007) and glomerular hyperfiltration conditions (AML: P=0.0003; NIT: P=0.03; ENA: P=0.00006). In baseline conditions, only ENA resulted in a significant drop in the GFR (P=0.008), while NIF, NIT and AML induced a significant increase (P=0.003, 0.03, 0.0001, respectively). However, in hyperfiltration conditions, NIT (0.08) and AML (0.00003) caused a decrease in the GFR, as did ENA (0.0003) but not NIF. In all the experimental conditions, a RVR reduction and an ERPF increase were observed. Single dose of NIT and AML were effective in attenuating the effect of amino-acid infusion on glomerular filtration, similar to ENA; this effect of NIT and AML on the glomerular filtration rate is not observed under basal conditions.

Effectiveness of long-term heparin-induced extracorporeal LDL precipitation (HELP) in improving coronary calcifications.

There is clear clinical evidence that a drastic lowering of plasma LDL-Cholesterol (LDL) concentrations significantly reduces the rate of total and coronary mortality as well as the incidence of cardiovascular events in high risk hypercholesterolemic patients. We describe the case of a 51-year-old woman with coronary heart disease (CHD) who presented with increasing angina on exertion in 1995, at the age of 45. She suffered from a heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia and in 1985 her total cholesterol (TCHO) was 328 +/- 62 mg/dl (mean value of ten analysis). After ten years of statins her mean values (20 analysis, 2 per year) were: TCHO 259 +/- 71, LDL 209 +/- 47, HDL 35 +/- 7 mg/dl. Coronary angiography (CA) performed in 1995 disclosed three vessel coronary heart disease with significant stenoses of the distal right coronary artery, multiple calcifications of the interventricularis artery and multiple plaques with significant stenoses in the ramus circumflexus. The woman underwent coronary by-pass surgery. Thereafter the patient was treated for six years with HELP in biweekly intervals, in combination with statins. TCHO, LDL, HDL and fibrinogen (fb) levels were measured before and after each treatment. Their mean values for an amount of 120 sessions were: TCHO pre 216 +/- 23, post 111 +/- 18 LDL pre 152 +/- 16 post 67 +/- 18, HDL pre 42 +/- 5 post 35 +/- 4 fb pre 306 +/- 48 post 125 +/- 31. In 2001 a new CA was performed. Calcifications disappeared and stenoses were identical to the previous CA or reduced. There were no further clinical manifestations of CHD. We trust that the clinical benefit of the HELP procedure will be substantial for those patients who have problems in clearing LDL from their plasma pool and who are at the same time sensitive to elevated LDL levels by the development of premature coronary sclerosis.

[Herpetic viruses and renal transplantation]. / Virus erpetici e trapianto renale.

Over the last few years emerging evidence indicate the involvement of herpes viruses in the pathogenesis of several medical complications in transplanted patients. Herpes viruses are transmitted via inter-human contact and cause a primary infection, which commonly fails to give clinical signs and may persist even for years in a latent state in healthy subjects. In transplanted patients, herpes viruses may be transmitted through the transplanted organ or may be reactivated because of the use of powerful immunosuppressive drugs. Moreover, the persistence of immunosuppression greatly favours the clinical expression and severity of virus infection. Thus, herpes viruses seem to be involved in both acute and chronic deterioration of graft function, in the pathogenesis of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders and Kaposi sarcoma, and even in vessel atherosclerosis. This review will focus on relevant clinical aspects of herpes-virus infection, namely cytomegalovirus, EBV, herpes simplex 1 and 2, varicella zoster virus, HHV-6, HHV-7 and HHV-8, in kidney transplanted patients.

Maxillary brown tumor in secondary hyperparathyroidism requiring urgent parathyroidectomy.

Brown tumors are unusual but serious complications of renal osteodystrophy, and can be successfully treated by parathyroidectomy or by pharmacological treatment of hyperparathyroidism. Brown tumors in patients with severe hyperparathyroidism (HPT) secondary to renal failure have been increasingly reported. We describe an unusual case of brown tumors at the maxillary bone and the seventh right rib, in a 57-year old man with a long history of hemodialysis. The maxillary lesion caused serious local discomfort due to its rapid growth. In this setting, surgical total parathyroidectomy was chosen as the most adequate therapeutic approach, given the previous unsatisfactory response to calcitriol. After successful parathyroidectomy, rapid healing was achieved with sclerosis of both brown tumors, as documented by serial computerized tomograms. In conclusion, although vitamin D therapy has been beneficial in several cases of secondary hyperparathyroidism complicated by brown tumors, we propose that whenever regression of the tumor bulk is urgently needed, as in our case, parathyroidectomy should be the first treatment choice.

[Tumor markers in some chronic inflammatory diseases in rheumatology: a statistical evaluation]. / Markers neoplastici in alcune malattie infiammatorie croniche in reumatologia: Valutazioni statistiche.

BACKGROUND: Since tumor markers can be high in the course of many inflammatory diseases, the aim of this study is to verify if it also occurs in the course of rheumathologic chronic inflammatory diseases, and if there is any statistical correlation between tumor markers and inflammatory indices. METHODS: Seventy-nine patients (51 females and 28 males) with rheumatologic chronic inflammatory diseases, aged 17-92 years, were studied, all of them took 4 mg of prednisone. alphaFP, CEA, TPA, CA19.9, CA15.3, CA72.4, CA125, ferritina, beta2 microglobuling, betaHCG, and free and total PSA in males, were evaluated as tumor markers; and VES, PCR and Fibrinogen, as inflammatory indices. RESULTS: The results obtained showed that there is a significative correlation between ferritin, beta2 microglobulin, TPA and PCR, and between free and total PSA and Fibrinogen. CONCLUSIONS: PCR is a very good index of an active disease and it can be helpful, along with tumor markers, in the monitoring of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Interference of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors on erythropoiesis in kidney transplant recipients: role of growth factors and cytokines.

BACKGROUND: Recent data indicate that factors other than erythropoietin (EPO), such as insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), can promote erythropoiesis in vitro and correct the anemia of chronic renal failure in vivo. IGF-1 is produced by the liver under growth hormone control, as well as by other sources, including the kidney. The erythropoietic role of growth factors and cytokines and their possible modulation by angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) has never been explored. METHODS: This study evaluated the serum levels of EPO, IGF-1, interleukin (IL)-2, IL-3, and granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor in 40 kidney transplanted patients with or without posttransplant erythrocytosis (PTE) and in 10 living kidney donors. Then, the effect of ACEI therapy on the above pattern was examined in patients with PTE. RESULTS: EPO and IGF-1 serum levels were significantly higher in patients with PTE than in patients without PTE and in living kidney donor subjects. ACEI therapy significantly reduced hematocrit (Hct) as well as circulating IGF-1 and EPO levels. Of note, the decrease in IGF-1 was prominent mainly in those patients whose EPO levels were not significantly modified by ACEI therapy. In all of the patients Hct levels displayed a direct relationship with circulating IGF-1 levels, but not with EPO concentration. Growth hormone did not significantly differ among the groups examined, whereas it steeply increased under ACEI. Finally, no significant difference in IL-2, IL-3, and granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor serum levels was detected. CONCLUSIONS: IGF-1 seems to play a role in the ACEI-related decrease of Hct in patients with PTE, chiefly in patients without any modification of EPO serum levels.

[Endomyocardial fibrosis with massive biventricular endocardial calcification]. / Endomiocardiofibrose com Calcificação endocárdica maciça biventricular.

Endomyocardial fibrosis is an endemic cardiac disease, characterized by the presence of fibrous tissue in the endocardium, eventually extending to the myocardium. Massive endocardial calcification of the left ventricle is a rare finding, with only a few cases reported in the literature. We reported a first case of biventricular massive endocardial calcification associated with endomyocardial fibrosis in a 22 year old woman.