An important goal in transplantation is to tailor immuno­ suppression to the individual needs of the patient, avoiding both rejection and over­immunosuppression. Opportunistic infections and malignancies remain a significant cause of death after transplantation and are obvious consequences of over­immunosuppression. Currently, monitoring of immunosuppression is conducted mainly on the basis of ...

Metastasis accounts for most of the prostate cancer-related deaths, and the presence of more than two metastatic lymph nodes at radical prostatectomy and extended pelvic lymph node (PLN) dissection is an independent predictor of prostate cancer specific mortality [1], thus suggesting that PLN invasion is an important event in the history of the disease. However, despite its clinical significanc...

Chemotherapeutic agents are used widely in clinical medicine for the treatment of conditions where diminution of the host immune response is a goal. The clinical use of immunosuppression is indicated for immunologically mediated disease, lymphoproliferative diseases, and prevention of graft rejection. Five categories of agents are useful for these purposes; they are ionizing irradiation, cortic...

A series of 32 recipients of liver, kidney, or pancreas transplants who were treated with sirolimus and low-dose tacrolimus experienced a low rate of rejection and excellent graft function without drug-related toxic effects.

Vascular allografts in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients represent a particular immunological challenge. A broad HLA immunization led us to study in depth the history of two patients with vascular allografts. In Case 1 the allograft was added to a Gore-Tex graft used for haemodialysis access and no immunosuppression was administered. In Case 2 the allograft was used to prolong a renal art...

Paraquat poisoning resulted in multiorgan failure and is associated with high mortality. We audited 83 historical cases of paraquat poisoning in past 2 years treated with conventional decontamination and supportive treatment, followed by enrolling 85 patients over a 2 year period into additional immunosuppression with intravenous (i.v.) methylprednisolone and i.v. cyclophosphamide. Our results ...

Abstract Aim Immunosuppressive medication might increase the likelihood of wound morbidity, with possible higher rate surgical site infections (SSIs). We aim to identify short-term outcomes and hospital stay after incisional hernia repair transversus abdominis release (TAR) in patients versus without immunosuppression. Material & Methods All undergoing open abdominal wall uni-or bilateral T...

The immunological barrier remains the major obstacle to the widespread use of transplantation as a replacement therapy for terminal organ failure. Since the first successful renal transplant, performed by Hume et al. (1952), there has been an elusive search for agents that can render the immune mechanism unresponsive to the specific alloantigen stimulus of the engrafted organ, while sparing non...

The increasing use over the past decade of powerful immunosuppressive drugs provides an opportunity for testing the validity of the theory that cancer results from a breakdown of the body's "immunological surveillance." This concept, first proposed by L. Thomas' and since developed by Sir Macfarlane Burnet,2 holds that such a breakdown allows the proliferation of abnormal cells, with the eventu...