Article Abstract:
A 47 year old man with end-stage hepatitis B, cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer received a liver transplant, but did not survive. The patient was healthy until he developed painless liver jaundice. His condition declined suddenly and rapidly because of liver failure. Liver cancer may have caused the rapid decline in the patient's condition. The patient received a liver transplant six days after being admitted to the hospital. His doctors gave him a 50% chance of five-year survival with the transplanted liver. The patient rejected the transplanted organ, and was given drugs to suppress his immune system. The patient died 31 days after transplantation. An autopsy revealed that the patient had B-cell lymphoma of the liver, spleen, intestine and abdominal cavity that was caused by Epstein-Barr virus. The risk of transplant recipients developing lymphomas is approximately 350 times higher than in the general population.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
A 54-day-old girl was admitted to a hospital because of respiratory distress and failure to thrive. Shortly after birth, she developed a lung infection which did not improve despite antibiotic treatment. She also had severely low white blood cell counts. A diagnosis of AIDS was considered unlikely and the most likely diagnosis seemed to be severe combined immunodeficiency. Analysis of her T and B cells confirmed this diagnosis, as did the fact that she had no adenosine deaminase activity. This enzyme deficiency is a common cause of severe combined immunodeficiency.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Article Abstract:
The combination of peginterferon and ribavirin was significantly more effective in achieving a sustained virologic response than was the combination of interferon and ribavirin in subjects who were coinfected with HCV and HIV in a study. The marked discrepancy in the rates of sustained virologic response between HCV genotypes indicates that strategies are needed to improve the outcome in persons infected with HCV genotype 1.
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic: