Systemic sclerosis therapy with iloprost: a prospective observational study of 30 patients treated for a median of 3 years.

Iloprost is useful in the short-term treatment of severe Raynaud's phenomenon and ischaemic ulcers in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), but its long-term effects are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to report long-term outcome (median follow-up 36 months) in a prospective observational study of a cohort of 30 consecutive patients with SSc who received iloprost therapy with maintenance infusions every 3 weeks after an initial cycle of 5 consecutive days. At the end of the observation, compared to the pretreatment point, we observed complete healing of digital ulcers in 19/21 patients (90%), a decrease of the Raynaud's phenomenon visual analogue score from 10/10 (25th-75th percentile 7-10) to 5/10 (4-6.75) ( P <0.001) and, in patients with diffuse cutaneous involvement, of the modified Rodnan skin thickness score from 25.5 (16.5-31.5) to 16 (13.5-20) ( P = 0.02), minimal improvement of the Health Assessment Questionnaire from 0.87 (0.68-1.37) to 0.75 (0.62-1.25), which was neither statistically nor clinically significant. The forced vital capacity was not significantly changed, but the diffusion capacity corrected for the alveolar volume decreased from 71% (54-76.7) of the expected value to 62% (51.5-71) ( P = 0.02). In one patient with limited SSc a positive effect on pulmonary hypertension was observed. Six patients, after a median of 25 months of treatment and healing of digital ulcers, discontinued the therapy; after a median of 10 months ulcers did not recur in five of these six. Other reasons for discontinuation were: tolerability (1), disease progression (normotensive renal crisis: 1), and death due to intracranial haemorrhage (1). This same patient had previously suffered a central retinal vein thrombosis. In conclusion, long-term therapy with iloprost in patients with SSc has a durable effectiveness on ischaemic ulcers and Raynaud's phenomenon, but it is not possible to conclude that the natural history of the disease was modified.

Discrimination of type I from insulin-treated type II diabetic patients by C-peptide measurement.

Residual B-cell function was assessed in 61 type I and 17 type II insulin-treated diabetics by measuring plasma C-peptide concentration before and after i.v. injection of 1 mg glucagon to evaluate a possible difference in response to the test in the two groups. Fasting and post-stimulatory C-peptide levels were significantly higher in type II diabetics than in type I (0.45 +/- 0.25 vs 0.12 +/- 0.10 nmol/l for basal IRCP, 0.39 +/- 0.19 vs 0.06 +/- 0.11 nmol/l for delta IRCP, p less than 0.0001), but there was some overlap in individual values. Twenty-one percent of type I and 29% of type II diabetics had values in the overlap area. These percentages were reduced to 6% and 12%, respectively when only long-term (duration of diabetes more than five years) type I diabetics were considered. These data indicate that a glucagon test is useful to discriminate most type I diabetics from insulin-treated type II diabetics.

Synthetic salmon calcitonin is not diabetogenic in patients with normal or impaired glucose metabolism.

The effects of short term administration of 200 MRC U of synthetic salmon calcitonin (sCT) daily on carbohydrate metabolism were investigated in 10 patients with various bone diseases, 3 of whom had type II diabetes mellitus and 3 of whom had impaired glucose tolerance. Blood glucose levels during the nocturnal postabsorptive period, blood glucose and blood insulin (IRI) levels and the ratio of the area under the insulin curve to the area under the glucose curve (AI/AG) after a mixed meal were determined before and after 15 days of treatment. The values before and after sCT treatment were not significantly different, suggesting that high doses of sCT are not diabetogenic and can be given to patients with impaired glucose tolerance or to diabetics, without any risk of deteriorating metabolic control.

Outbreak of hepatitis C virus infection in patients with hematologic disorders treated with intravenous immunoglobulins: different prognosis according to the immune status.

The influence of immunodeficiency on the course of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is still debated, although a worsening effect has been suggested. We compared the characteristics of hepatitis C in two groups of hematologic patients with different levels of immunocompetence who acquired the same virus strain after treatment with contaminated intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG). Indications for IVIG therapy were idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) in six patients and hypogammaglobulinemia in 7 patients with various hematologic disorders, who were defined immunodeficient (ID). Infection rate was 100%. Five ID patients never developed HCV antibodies despite serum HCV-RNA positivity. The same HCV genotype was shown in 10 patients tested. Moreover, E1-E2 gene partial nucleotide sequencing, performed in four patients, showed identical or closely related amino acid sequences, thus strongly supporting the hypothesis of a common source of infection. Clinical acute infection did not differ significantly between the two groups, but subsequent liver failure developed in five of the seven ID patients and in none of the ITP patients (P = .04). Liver biopsy, performed in three cases, documented HCV as the only cause of liver damage. Six ID patients died, with liver disease being the primary cause of death in four cases and a contributory cause in two cases. Their median survival after IVIG was 12 months, significantly worse than that of ITP patients (P = .0028). We conclude that immunodeficiency markedly worsens the course of IVIG-acquired HCV infection in hematologic patients.

Kaposi's disease and sarcoidosis.

A human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody-negative 65 year old woman was treated with corticosteroids for 7 yrs because of bilateral uveitis. One year after the beginning of corticosteroid treatment, erythematous skin lesions appeared on the legs. Eight years after the diagnosis of uveitis, gastric and bronchial biopsies revealed noncaseating epithelioid cell granulomas, whilst a cutaneous biopsy showed Kaposi's disease. Sarcoidosis-associated alteration of immune regulation and corticosteroid therapy may have promoted the development of disease.

Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) in the management of diabetic lipodystrophy: a case report.

A case of diabetic lipodystrophy which showed an improvement after continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion into lipodystrophic areas is reported. The authors feel that this therapeutic regimen could be useful when conventional treatments (the injection of regular purified insulin or dexamethasone-insulin mixtures in the area of the lesion) have failed to obtain good results.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA determination after two weeks of induction interferon treatment is an accurate predictor of nonresponse: comparison of two treatment schedules.

The aim of this study was to analyze of HCV kinetics during interferon treatment administered daily or three times weekly. Seventy-seven naive patients were randomized to two treatment courses starting with four weeks of high-dose interferon administered daily or three times weekly. Twenty-two patients (28.6%) achieved end-of-treatment response and nine (11.7%, four of whom received daily induction) sustained response. The initial decline of viral load was sharper in patients receiving daily induction, but the rates of early RNA clearance were independent of treatment schedule, being higher in patients with genotype non-1. Detectable HCV RNA during treatment predicted nonresponse more significantly than high pretreatment viral load or genotype 1. HCV RNA at week 2 was the best predictor (100% sensitivity in patients receiving daily induction). In conclusion, daily induction increased the HCV decline slope, but not the rate of virological response. HCV RNA at week 2 reliably identified nonresponders.

Virological characterization and liver histology in HCV positive subjects with normal and elevated ALT levels.

We analyzed HCV genotype and RNA titer in 36 chronically infected subjects, 20 with persistently normal or near-normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and 16 with raised ALT activity. All subjects underwent liver biopsy and evaluation of the histological activity index (HAI) by both Knodell's and Ishak's scoring systems. Genotype 2 was detected in most subjects with normal ALT activity, whereas genotype 1 was more frequent among subjects with raised ALT activity. HCV-RNA titer was higher in subjects with increased ALT. Histological evidence of chronic hepatitis was documented in all cases, but higher scores for grading and for staging were associated with increased ALT activity. HCV genotype had no statistical relationship with RNA titer or with liver histology. In logistic regression analysis, viral genotype, RNA titer or with liver histological scores for grading and staging were correlated independently with the ALT profile. The evidence of chronic hepatitis in all subjects with persistently normal ALT activity suggests that healthy HCV carriage is a rare event.

Long-term follow-up of and infectivity in blood donors with hepatitis C antibodies and persistently normal alanine aminotransferase levels.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the prevalence of serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in blood donors with HCV antibodies and persistently normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Thirty-nine anti-HCV-positive donors with normal ALT on four determinations at 3-month intervals were further tested monthly for 6 months, and they had normal ALT values. The presence of HCV RNA was determined in these 39 donors. RESULTS: Serum HCV RNA was detected in 16 of 39 donors, 14 of 14 who reacted on second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-2) and 2 of 15 who were indeterminate. None of the 10 RIBA-2-nonreactive donors had evidence of viremia. The 15 RIBA-2-indeterminate samples were tested with third-generation RIBA (RIBA-3); the results showed reactivity in 5 (including the 2 HCV RNA positive), an indeterminate pattern in 7, and nonreactivity in 3 (all RNA negative). Among HCV RNA-positive subjects, mean age (p < 0.05), mean ALT (p < 0.001), signal-to-cutoff (S:CO) ratio on second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (p < 0.001), and gamma globulin levels (p < 0.05) were higher than those among HCV RNA-negative subjects. During 6 additional months of ALT monitoring, completed by 36 of 39 donors, increased values were detected in 6 (5 HCV RNA positive). In 4 of those 6, however, ALT levels were less than 1.5-fold the upper normal limit. HCV RNA results were unchanged at the end of 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSION: Forty-one percent of anti-HCV-positive donors with persistently normal ALT had active HCV infection. Long-term ALT monitoring allowed the detection of significantly increased enzyme values in only 2 of 16 viremic donors. Reactivity on RIBA-2 or -3, greater age, mean ALT levels in the upper range of normal, higher S:CO ratio on second-generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and higher gamma globulin levels were predictive of viremia.

Continuous basal insulin infusion without premeal boluses in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus therapy.

Six insulin-dependent diabetic patients, poorly controlled on conventional insulin therapy (CIT), underwent continuous basal insulin infusion (CBII) and continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) during 2 subsequent periods of 1 month each, employing a Betatron II insulin infusion pump (Lilly, CPI). During CSII, insulin was infused at a continuous basal rate with 3 premeal boluses. During CBII, from 22(00) to 06(00) a continuous basal nocturnal insulin infusion rate and from 06(00) to 22(00) a diurnal one, which was approximately twice the former, were maintained and total daily calorie intake was subdivided into 6 isoglycidic and isocaloric meals, taken at regular intervals. We obtained better blood glucose control both by CSII and CBII than by CIT, with significant reduction of HbA1 values. Mean blood glucose levels were lower during CBII than during CSII, while M-index, number of hypo- and hyperglycemic events and insulin requirement were not different. However, daily blood glucose excursions were narrower and percent blood glucose increment after the noon meal was reduced during CBII. CBII insulin profile was characterized by a plateau trend with lower levels at meals in comparison with CSII. Our data show that the subdivision of daily calorie intake into 6 isocaloric and isoglycidic meals allows to achieve good metabolic control by continuous basal insulin infusion without need for premeal boluses and could be especially useful in brittle diabetic patients, whose brittle condition may be caused by erratic absorption of subcutaneous boluses of insulin.

Virological response to interferon treatment in hepatitis C virus carriers with normal aminotransferase levels and chronic hepatitis.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) carriers with normal aminotransferase levels often show histological chronic hepatitis. This study was undertaken to determine the effect of interferon (IFN) in such patients. Nineteen HCV carriers with normal aminotransferase activities and chronic hepatitis were randomized to receive IFN-alpha2b (3 million units 3 times weekly for 12 months) or no treatment. Therapy was monitored by qualitative and quantitative determination of viral RNA. Patients who did not clear HCV RNA after 6 months discontinued therapy. In all, 9 patients constituted the control group, while 10 patients were treated. Five of these patients, still viremic after 6 months, stopped IFN. The remaining 5 patients, who cleared the viral RNA within 6 months, completed the 12-month course. Three of these patients relapsed off treatment, and 2 were still free of viremia 12 months after stopping therapy. A transient flare-up of aminotransferase activities was detected in 2 patients during treatment and in 3 patients after. None of the 9 control patients cleared the viral RNA during follow-up. A variable degree of sequence heterogeneity was detected in the hypervariable region before therapy, and IFN treatment decreased sequence diversity in all patients. These results indicate that IFN therapy can be effective in chronic HCV carriers with normal aminotransferase activities, inducing short-term virological response in 3 of 10 patients and sustained response in 2. The effects of treatment on viral load and quasispecies complexity were similar to those reported previously in patients with increased aminotransferase activities.