[Heart transplantation and follow-up treatment with AL-amyloidosis in 5 patients]. / Transplantace srdce a následující lécba AL-amyloidózy u 5 pacientu.

The prognosis for patients with cardiac impairment due to AL-amyloid deposition and severe cardiac insufficiency is poor, with a survival median in the order of months. The classical treatment of AL-amyloidosis in combination with cardiac insufficiency is very poorly tolerated and the treatment of such patients is associated with considerably higher mortality than among other patients with AL-amyloidosis. If, however, patients with an isolated or another dominating cardiac impairment, without severe damage to other organs and tissues, have a heart transplant performed, their cardiovascular condition will significantly improve as a result, along with their ability to tolerate any kind of treatment for AL-amyloidosis including that using high-dose chemotherapy with a transplant of autologous hematopoietic stem cells. The achievement of complete remission of AL-amyloidosis is a precondition for long-term survival, since when not achieved, amyloid deposition also arises in the transplanted heart. At the Centre for Cardiovascular and Transplantation Surgery, Brno, the first heart transplant due to its impairment by AL-amyloidosis was performed in 2010. By the year 2017 the number of patients with AL-amyloidosis, who had first undergone a heart transplant with subsequent treatment for AL-amyloidosis, increased to 5. The median age at which a heart transplant was performed is 60 (48-65) years. Four patients were men, one was a woman. The median monitoring equals 65 (88-15) months. Complete remission of AL-amyloidosis was achieved in all the patients. There were 5 lines of treatment needed for the first patient to attain it, of that twice high-dose melphalan with autologous stem cell transplantation, for the second patient a second-line treatment, high-dose melphalan and bortezomib-based therapy. No specific therapy was needed for the third patient, as immunosuppressive therapy following the heart transplant containing prednison led to complete remission of AL-amyloidosis. In the fourth case, sustainable complete remission was reached by high-dose melphalan and in the fifth case by one line of bortezomib-based therapy. The aforementioned data illustrate that a heart transplant is the first step which makes the patients with a severe heart failure, not tolerating any efficient therapy of AL-amyloidosis, capable of undergoing intense treatment of AL-amyloidosis. Sometimes one high-dose chemotherapy is sufficient, while at other times multiple treatment lines are needed to reach complete remission of AL-amyloidosis.Key words: AL-amyloidosis - autologous hematopoietic stem cells transplantation - bortezomib - cardiomyopathy - lenalidomide - thalidomide - heart transplantation.

[Infectious complications related to liver transplants]. / Infekcní komplikace u transplantací jater.

Infection is a feared complication in the process of transplantation. The study discusses sources of infection, screening of infection and risk factors for infection, time occurrence of individual infections during the peritransplantation and posttransplantation course. It describes the most frequent forms of bacterial, viral and mycotic infections. It specifies efficient prophylactic measures that considerably reduce the risk of infection following liver transplantation.Key words: bacterial infection - cytomegalovirus (CMV) - EB virus (EBV) - hepatitis B (HBV) - hepatitis C (HCV) - liver transplantation - mycotic infection prophylaxis - risk factors - viral infection.

Successful renal transplantation in a patient with a Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) gene mutation.

Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome (WAS) is a rare primary immunodeficiency disorder caused by mutations in the WAS protein (WASP) gene. Renal disease progressing to renal failure is a well-recognized complication in patients with WAS. Only a few case reports of renal transplantation have been reported to date. Here, we present a patient with a WASP mutation who suffered from severe atopic eczema, mild thrombocytopenia and only a slightly increased frequency of infections, who then developed IgA nephropathy and consequently underwent renal transplantation, which was successful. This study demonstrates that renal transplantation is possible in patients with WAS, regardless of conceivable complications.

[Solid organ transplantation in the Czech Republic]. / Transplantace solidních orgánu v Ceské republice.

Solid organ transplantation (heart, lung, liver, kidney, pancreas, small interesting and their combinations) are standard therapy of terminal organ failure. Czech Republic belongs to the states with developed transplantation program. The results correspond with current knowledge and results of leading centers in the world, as demostrated in this article. Organ donor shortage is major factor limiting development of organ transplantations as elsewhere in the Europe or in the world.

[Tumours and liver transplants]. / Tumory a transplantace jater.

Liver transplantation as a curative treatment method can be used for selected primary liver tumours, in particular for hepatocellular carcinoma and rather rare semi-malignant tumours such as epithelioid hemangioendothelioma, further for infiltration of liver by metastatic neuroendocrine tumours (provided that metastases are only located in the liver and the primary tumour was removed) and for benign tumours (hemangiomas and adenomas) with oppression symptoms and size progression. Cholangiocarcinoma is not indicated for liver transplantation at the CKTCH Brno. In recent years liver transplants for hepatocellular carcinoma have increased and hepatocellular carcinoma has also been more frequently found ex post, in the explanted livers. Liver transplantation is indicated in selected patients with a good chance of long-term survival after liver transplantation (a generally accepted limit is 5 year survival of 50 % after transplantation). By 20 March 2015 there were liver transplants carried out on 38 patients - in 25 of them was hepatocellular carcinoma diagnosed before transplantation and in 13 it was found in the liver explants. 5 year survival following transplantation is reached by 53 % of this cohort. 32 % patients suffered from chronic hepatitis C. The longest surviving (32 years) patient at CKTCH Brno had liver transplanted for a big fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, which points to the prognostic significance of tumour histology: the criterion only considered in some indication schemes for practical reasons. Benign liver tumours (adenomatosis, cystadenoma, hemangioma with oppression symptoms) are rather rare indications and the transplantation results are favourable. 4 patients underwent transplantation for infiltration of liver by carcinoid, tumour recurrence occurred in one.

[Metabolic syndrome after kidney transplantation]. / Metabolický syndrom po transplantaci ledviny.

INTRODUCTION: Metabolic syndrome is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Higher risk of the metabolic syndrome and its components in patients after kidney transplantation is caused by immunosuppressive therapy. THE AIM OF OUR STUDY was to evaluate the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and its components in kidney transplant recipients and to analyse their influence on allograft function and albuminuria. PATIENTS, METHOD AND RESULTS: In the study we monitored 69 patients after cadaveric kidney transplantation. The prevalence of the meta-bolic syndrome was 61.3 % 3 years after kidney transplantation. The prevalence of new onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation was 27 % and that of abdominal obesity 59.7 % of patients. The age of kidney transplant recipients with the metabolic syndrome was higher than of these without it, but not statistically significant. The age of kidney transplant recipients with new onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation was significantly higher, 54.0 (35.0; 69.0) years, than in patients without it, 45.5 (27.0; 60.0) years, OR (95% IS) 1.116 (1.031; 1.207), p = 0.006.The number of components of the metabolic syndrome was negatively correlated with the graft function (rs -0,275, p = 0,031). In patients with impaired renal function with estimated glomerular filtration (using MDRD equation) < 1 ml/s 3 years after kidney transplantation the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome and hypertriglyceridaemia was significantly higher. Chronic allograft dysfunction was predicted by donor age, delayed allograft function, rejection, low level of HDL-cholesterol, hypertriglyceridaemia and hyperuricaemia. Hyperuricaemia was the only significant predictor of allograft dysfunction independently of the presence of delayed allograft function, rejection episodes and donor age. The metabolic syndrome, elevation of apolipoprotein B and nonHDL-cholesterol and increased systolic blood pressure were associated with albuminuria. Higher levels of apolipoprotein B and total cholesterol were independent predictors of increased albumin-creatinine ratio. Obesity had no impact on graft function nor on albuminuria, the influence of the new onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation was not significant independently on other factors. We confirmed the correlation of the presence of the metabolic syndrome with increased levels of AFABP (adipocyte fatty acid-binding protein) and leptin. Increased level of AFABP predicted allograft dysfunction 3 years after kidney transplantation. CONCLUSION: The influence of imunosuppressive treatment on new onset diabetes mellitus after transplantation is well documented. However, we conclude that age is an important additional risk factor for the development of diabetes mellitus in kidney transplant recipients group and it is recommended to follow mainly older patients. Early detection of metabolic abnormalities and dietary and therapeutic intervention in kidney transplant recipients may help to prevent chronic allograft dysfunction.

Monitoring of CD38high expression in peripheral blood CD8+ lymphocytes in patients after kidney transplantation as a marker of cytomegalovirus infection.

BACKGROUND: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a life-threatening complication after solid organ transplantation. It usually appears in the first months after transplantation as a consequence of immunosuppression. The goal of this study was to evaluate the clinical significance of CD38(high)/CD3(+)8(+) percentages in the detection of CMV infection in patients after kidney transplantation. METHODS: In this retrospective study, 269 patients were monitored 2-3 months after renal transplantation for the percentage of CD38(high)/CD3(+)8(+) lymphocytes estimated by flow cytometry and for the number of CMV DNA copies in peripheral blood using a real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: CMV infection was diagnosed in 12 (4.5%) patients between the 31st and 63rd days after transplantation, and all of them had percentages of CD38(high)/CD3(+)8(+) T lymphocytes above 20%. In 4 of them, CMV DNAemia in peripheral blood was not detected, and 2 of these suffered from tissue-invasive CMV disease. In 7 patients with CMV DNAemia, the CD38(high)/CD3(+)8(+) T lymphocyte percentage did not exceed 20%, and these patients did not develop CMV infection requiring antiviral treatment. In 23 additional patients, a CD38(high)/CD3(+)CD8(+) percentage above 20% was recorded without CMV DNAemia. All of the remaining 234 patients never exceeded the arbitrary limit of 20%. The estimated sensitivity and specificity were 100% and 91% using clinical decision on the presence of CMV infection as a reference value, respectively. The estimated negative predictive value was 100%; however, the estimated positive predictive value was quite low (34%). CONCLUSIONS: The CD38(high)/CD3(+)8(+) lymphocyte percentage seems to be a useful additional diagnostic marker for CMV infection in patients after kidney transplantation, especially when patients are in the risk of a tissue-invasive disease when CMV DNA copies may not be detectable in peripheral blood.