Anticoagulation therapy during pregnancy of patients with artificial heart valves: fetomaternal outcome.

OBJECTIVES: The major problem is the need for anticoagulant therapy in patient with mechanical heart valves. STUDY DESIGN: The aim of the study was to analyze the course and outcome of pregnancies of patients with artificial mechanical heart valves with anticoagulant therapy. Study included 43 pregnancies leaded and terminated at the Institute of Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinical Center of Serbia in 20 years. We divided the patients in two groups depending on the type of anticoagulation therapy. Group I included 21 patients who were under Ethylbiscumacetate (Pelenthan) during the first 36 weeks of gestation, and intravenous Heparin in the last 4 weeks and after the delivery. Group II included 22 patients who received oral anticoagulant therapy all the time. RESULTS: Worsening of the heart functional status happened in 6 patients (13.9%). The incidence of heart failure during the pregnancy was 13.9% and after the delivery 9.3%. The incidence of hemorrhagic complications was 11.6% during pregnancy and 14% after the delivery. Four patients had thromboembolic events before the pregnancy. The incidence of postpartal thromboembolic complications was 6.9% in group I. Two patients died due to the heart failure 3-7 days after the vaginal delivery. Maternal mortality was 4.6%. One neonatus died of hydrocephalus (2.5%) in group II. In our study there were no fetuses with congenital heart disease. CONCLUSIONS: Pregnancies of patients with mechanical heart valves should be planned. We suggest ethylbiscumacetate in combination with Heparin as anticoagulation therapy during the pregnancy.

[Our experiences in the treatment of acute leukemias]. / Nasa iskustva u lecenju akutnih leukemija

This paper deals with observations concerning treatment of acute leukemia in the Department of haematology of The Clinical hospital of Belgrade during the period from 1970 to 1975, and with results of the treatment itself. During the last five years, 27 patients with different types of acute leukemia were treated. The type of acute leukemia was determined using cytological criteria of Levy and Lortholary and cytochemical criteria as described by Hayhoe. One thrid of the patients died during the first days of hospitalisation, before any effect of cytostatic treatment could be evaluated. The cause of death in those patients was septic shock, intracranial haemorrhage or cardiovascular colapsus; initial signs of those complications of acute leukemia were allready present before diagnosis. Those data point to the fact that diagnosis of acute leukemia is often made too late, when irreversible ocmplications of the disease are allready established. Patients over sixty, often "fragile" to aggresive cytostatic therapy, may enter complete and relatively long lasting remission with induction therapy cosisting of 6-mercaptopurine and methotrexate only. Allthough the number of cases was rather limited, the authors had rather disappointing results with the 06-LA-66 protocole in adult lymphoblastic leukemia. The first with COAP treatment protocole seem encouraging. Adequate cytostatic therapy was in several cases impossible, duo to the lack of adequate substitution therapy; such inadequate cytostatic therapy resulted in partial remissions with a rather poor quality survival. A beeter cooperation is needed between hospital centers and institutions which provide matherial for the substitution theapy.

[Immune hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia after peroral therapy with a penicillin derivative (phenoxymethylpenicillin)]. / Imuna hemoliticka anemija i trombocitopenija u toku lecenja penicilinskim derivatom za peroralnu upotrebu (fenoksimetilpenicilin).

A previously apparently healthy male patient developed Coombs-positive haemolytic anaemia and thrombocytopenia during phenoxymethylpenicilline intake. A drug dependent IgG red cell antibody was demonstrated in patient's serum. In vitro tests with patient's serum suggested formation of complexes involving penicilline which by complement mediated mechanisms were able to agglutinate red cells in saline medium. Platelet agglutinins were demonstrated in patient's serum but their drug dependence has not been fully elucidated. The mechanism of drug mediated autoantibody synthesis might have been involved in the pathogenesis of thrombocytopenia.

Direct effects of cytostatic therapy on the functional state of the thyroid gland and TBG in serum of patients.

This study analysed the concentrations of thyroid binding globulin (TBG) in the serum as well as the level of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), thyreostimulating hormone (TSH), thyroglobulin (Tg) and T4/TBG coefficient, before therapy and on the fifth day of therapy in 27 patients of both sexes suffering from neoplasia. The patients were treated with cytostatic antibiotics, alkylating agents and podophyllines derivates, by protocol. Serum T3 gains in concentration already after 5 days since the beginning of treatment (from 1.65 +/- 0.20 to 1.73 +/- 0.18 nmol/l), but it is retained within physiological ranges as well as TSH, rT3 and Tg. Thyroxine remains within the permitted ranges, but slightly decreased after therapy (64.00 +/- 11.00 nmol/l, mean +/- SEM) in comparison to the value before (71.00 +/- 19.00), p(F) less than 0.1. A reduction of concentrations in total serum proteins at an average 7.88% was found. The level of inter-alpha globulin, TBG, in patients with proved malignancy is low before therapy (14.97 +/- 4.73 micrograms/l, mean +/- SEM, in males and 14.83 +/- 3.70 in females) but, with application of cytostatics it decreases considerably to the level of 11.68 +/- 4.46 (p less than 0.05) in males and to 13.68 +/- 3.89 in females (NS). In view of these facts, T4/TBG coefficient remains normal and contributes to the maintenance of euthyroid gland function.