To investigate the etiology and differential diagnoses of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and fever of unknown origin (FUO).From January 2012 to December 2014,a total of 928 SLE patients were admitted to Peking Union Medical College Hospital.Only 50 patients were combined with FUO (5.4％).The most common reason of fever was caused by infections (33 cases,66.0％),including bacterial infection in 17 cases with 5 tuberculosis,viral infection in 11 cases,and fungal infection in 5 cases.The second reason offever was due to poor disease control or recurrence in 17 patients (34.0％).No fever was caused by malignant tumor.When clinical data was compared between 17 non-infected patients versus 33 infected patients,C reactive protein and procalcitonin in the infected group were significantly higher than those in the non-infected group.In SLE patients combined with FUO,infection is the most common etiology which is necessary to be paid attention to.

Objective To discuss the clinical value of D-dimer(DD) testing in diagnosis of patients with deep vein thrombosis(DVT) of the lower extremity.Methods An analysis retrospectively was made on the changes of DD testing in 106 cases of DVT at different periods after onset and different clinical stages of DVT,and DD testing in 99 patients with primary deep venous insufficiency(PDVI) as control group.(Results) DD was higher in the acute stage of DVT,and gradually decreased with time in chronic DVT,and was negative in the patients with PDVI;the positive rate was up to 85.7% in the distal DVT.Conclusions The DD testing can be used as one of the methods for diagnosis,prediction and prognosis of acute DVT,especially for diagnosis of distal DVT.

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics and prognosis of ANCA associated microvasculitis patients with gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted in 8 ANCA associated microvasculitis patients with gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage admitted to our hospital from May 1987 to May 2007. The statistical treatment is Kaplan-Meier. Results This group contained 4 male and 4 female patients. The average age was (39±20) years. The time from the onset of their disease to gastrointestinal bleeding was (8 ±8) months. Wegener's granulomatosis was the most common disease.Hematochezia(7/8 ) was the most common clinical manifestation and the distal small bowel (5/8) was the most common involved site. After the diagnosis was confirmed, methylprednisolone bolus therapy was used in 2 patients and 1～2 mg·kg-1·d-1 prednisone in 6 patients. Surgical operations were performed for 3 patients.However, 5 patients died. The prognosis was poor with the average survival time of (373±108) days. The mean survival time was (46 ±10) days after bleeding. Conclusion ANCA associated microvasculitis with gastrointestinal tract hemorrhage is rare. Early diagnosis and treatment could improve the prognosis.

Objective To study the use of laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) and laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) in patients with cholecystocholedocholithiasis.Methods From July 2006 to June 2010,127 patients with cholecystocholedocholithiasis were treated either by LC+LCBDE (n=78) or LC+endoscopic sphincterotomy (EST,n=49).The treatment success rate,complications,retained bile duct stones rate,recovery of gastrointestinal function and hospital-stay were retrospectively analyzed.Results The LCBDE+ LC group:The operative success rate was 94.87 ％.The incidence of postoperative complications was 5.41 ％.The EST+ LC group:Complete removal of bile duct stones was achieved in 46 of 48 patients (95.92％).The incidence of postoperative complications was 12.77％.There was a significant difference in the incidences of postoperative complications between the EST+ LC group and the LCBDE+ LC group (P＜0.05).The operative time and the cost for hospital stay between the two groups were significantly different (P＜0.05).After a follow-up of 3.2 years (mean,range 1-5 years),there was no significant difference in long-term complications such as bile duct recurrent stones,duodenal papilla stenosis and cholangitis between the two groups (P＜0.05).ConclusionsLCBDE was a safe,efficacious and feasible minimal invasiveness treatment for cholecystocholedocholithiasis.Primary closure of common bile duct in selected cases brought additional benefits to the minimal invasive technique.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of Takayasu's arteritis (TA) with pulmonary hypertension (PAH) in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment earlier. Methods Twelve out of 191 patients with TA registered in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from 1987 to 2007 were diagnosed as PAH, the clinical data of 12 patients were analyzed. Results Ten patients were females. The range of age were from 14 to 47 years old, the average age was (27±10) years old. Eleven patients had the clinical manifestations or/and signs of pulmonary artery involvement. Seven patients presented with short breath after exercise or hemoptysis as the first manifestation, four patients with fatigue, four patients with intermittent claudication or pain or numbness of extremities, three patients with dizziness. Seven patients belonged to type Ⅰ+Ⅳ, one patient to type Ⅱ+Ⅳ, three patients to type Ⅲ+Ⅳ, one patient to type Ⅴ. Elevated ESR/CRP was found in ten patients. All patients took the glucocorticoid and DMARDs, stent implantation in pulmonary artery was done in one patient, Bentall was operated in another patient.The symptoms of all patients improved except one patient died for low cardiac output after operation. Conclusion PAH is one of the severe complications in late stage of TA, and other arteries are usually involved too. Because it is difficult to observe PAH in TA patients in early stage, CTA or pulmonary angiography and UCG should be taken in early stage. The stent implantation or dilating the artery should be considered aa a treatment, but at on the same time, glucocorticoid and DMARDs should be taken to avoid the relapse.

Objective To investigate the effect of fructose-1,6-diphosphate (FDP) pretreatment on myocardial connexin43 (Cx43) in a rat model of acute myocardial ischemia.Methods Thirty-six male 8-12 week old SD rata weighing 220-280 g were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=12 each):group Ⅰ sham operation (group S);group Ⅱ ischemia(group Ⅰ)and group Ⅲ FDP+ischemia(group F).The animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal 10%chloral hydrate 40 mg/100 g,tracheostomized and mechanically ventilated.Acute myocardial ischemia was induced by occlusion of left anterior descending coronary artery for 30 min.Myocardial ischemia was;verified by elevation of S-T segment on ECG.In group F FDP 100 mg/kg was injected iv at 10 min before ischemia.Arrhythmia was recorded within 30 min after occlusion and the severity of arrbythmia was aggesged.The hearts were removed after 30 min myocardial ischemia.The Left ventricle area (LVA),myocardial infarct area (IA) and area at risk (AAR) were measured and AAR/LVA and IA/AAR ratios were calculated.The expression of myocardial Cx43 protein was determined by immuno-histochemestry and analysis of mean optical density.Results The severity of arrhythmia was significantly higher in group F and I than in gropu S.while lower in group F than in group I(P<0.05).The IA,IA/AAR ratio was significantly lower in group F than in group I.The myocardial Cx43 protein expression was down-regulated in group I and F as compared with group S.and was significantly lower in group I than in group F.Conclusion FDP pretreatment can protect myocardium against acute ischemia by up-regulation of myocardial Cx43 expression.

Objective To estimate the characteristics of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and its clinical association with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients.Methods Two hundred and five patients with SSc,who fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology criteria were consecutively recruited.GER was recognized in patients with symptom of heartburn or regurgitation.Demographic,clinical,and laboratory data were analyzed.A six minute walk test,pulmonary function test and modified Rodnan's skin score (mRSS) were also calculated for GER and non-GER groups.x2 test,Fisher's exact test and t-test were used for statistical analysis.Logistic regression test was used for the analysis of risk factors.Results There were 90 patients with GER among 205 patients,the prevalence of GER was 43.9％.The presence of PAH (23.3％ vs 9.6％),Raynaud's phenomenon (98.9％ vs 92.2％ ) and fingertip ulcers (56.7％vs 51.3％) were significantly higher in patients with GER than those without GER.There was no difference in autoantibody profile between GER patients and non-GER patients (P＞0.05).The New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class of SSc-related GER was worse than patients without GER (P=0.015).Pulmonary function test showed that diffuse capacity (DLCO)％,forced vital capacity (FVC)％,and forced expiratory volume (FEV1)％ were lower and the FVC％/DLCO％ ratio was higher in patients with GER than non-GER (P＜0.05).GER was an independent risk factor of PAH in SSc patients (P=0.047,OR=3.41 ).Conclusion GER frequently occurs in SSc patients,SSc patients presenting with GER should be screened for PAH.Targeting the underlying vascular dysfunction might prevent not only PAH,but also GER in SSc patients.

ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with digital ulcer(DU) in China.MethodThe data of 166 consecutive SSc patients in EUSTAR DATABASE in Peking Union Medical Colloge Hospital from February 2009 to August 2010 were prospectively collected,and patients with DU were compared with those without DU.All patients fulfilled the ACR classification criteria for SSc in 1980.Results① Forty-nine patients (29.5％) had DU in 166 SSc patients.The disease onset age was(36±12) years(8.1-61.7 years) for those patients with DU.All had Raynaud's phenomenon(RP).② Demographic data:there were significant differences between patients with and without DU in sex (F/M 40/9 vs 112/5,P=0.005),age [(40±12) years old vs(46±12) years old,P=0.005],the onset age of RP [(33±12) years vs(39±13) years,P=0.005] and the duration from RP to the first non-RP presentaion[ (18±15) months vs(115±307) months,P=0.002 ].③ Clinical manifestations and laboratory findings:there were more diffuse SSc patients and more esophageal involvement in patients with DU (P＜0.05).ConclusionsDU in SSc patients is common,especially in man and patients with diffuse SSc.SSc patients with DU usually are younger when RP onsets and the non-RP manifestations usually present earlier when compared with those patients without DU.

Objective To detect the expression of scleroderma-related autoantibodies, such as anti-Scl-70, anli-centromere antibody ( ACA)and anti-RNA polymerase Ⅲ ( ARA) , and their relationship with clinical features in Chinese systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients. Methods One hundred and thirty-five Chinese SSc patients from the clinical database of the Scleroderma Trials and Research Group proposed by European League Against Rheumatism's Scheroderma Trial and Research Group( EUSTAR) were consecutively enrolled. The expression of ARA, anti-Scl-70 and ACA were detected through linear immunoblotting, double immunodiffusion and indirect irnmunofluorescence, respectively. The relevance between the existing of autoantibodies and clinical manifestations was analyzed statistically. Results Among the 135 Chinese SSc patients, the prevalence of anti-Scl-70, ACA, ARA were 49. 6% , 13.3 % and 8.9% respectively. Patients with anti-Scl-70 antibody had significantly shorter disease course [(71 ±59) month vs (90 ± 103) month, P = 0.041] , higher proportion of interstitial lung disease ( P = 0. 031) but lower of pulmonary arterial hypertension (P =0.042). Modified Rodnan's skin score (P=0.008) and prevalence of facial and cervical cutaneous sclerosis (P = 0. 002) , distal (to elbow/knee ) cutaneous sclerosis ( P = 0. 004 ) and digital pitting scarring/disappear of digital pad were all significantly higher in anti-Scl-70 positive group. Patients with AC A had longer disease course ( P = 0. 036) , lower IgM level ( P = 0. 045) and were less prevalent of interstitial lung disease ( P =0. 045). Patients with ARA had higher serum creatinine and urea nitrogen level ( P ＜ 0.001) although otherwise features had unremarkable differences. Conclusion Scleroderma-related autoantibodies have relevance with different clinical manifestation and detection of these autoantibodies may be helpful to the diagnosis of SSc, organ involvement evaluation and predicting outcomes. The clinical relevances of autoantibodies in Chinese SSc patients may differ from other areas or races.

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics in patients with primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS) and to identify potential predictors of thrombotic events.Methods A total of 107 patients with PAPS were enrolled in our study, who were admitted in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 2004 to December 2014.Demographic data, age at onset, disease duration, past history of hypertension and regular cigarette smoking, clinical manifestations, imaging characteristics, management and prognosis were retrospectively collected.Bivariate statistical analysis and logistical regression test were performed to compare the discrepancy between patients with or without thromboembolic events.Results In 107 patients, there were 65 female and 42 male patients, with mean age (39.8 ± 15.8) years old, median disease duration 10.5 (2.0, 48.0) months.A total of 72(67.3％) patients reported episodes of thromboembolic events, including 72 venous thromboses and 29 arterial thromboses.The most frequent venous thromboses were deep vein thromboses (35.5％), pulmonary embolism the second common (29.9％), with cranial venous sinus thromboses the following (8.4％).In arterial thromboembolic events, the incidence of transient ischemic attack (TIA) and ischemic stoke was the highest (14.0％), embolism of lower extremities the second (6.5％) ,and 4 patients (3.7％) with acute myocardial infarction.Sixty seven patients (62.6％)had positive lupus anticoagulant, 60 patients (56.1％)with positive anticardiolipin antibody,32 patients (29.9％, 32/74) with positive β2 glycoprotein Ⅰ (β2GP I).Forty patients(37.4％)had double positive antibodies, while 19 cases (17.8％)with triple positive.In logistical regression, aging (per 10 years) and hypocomplementemia were significantly related to venous thrombosis (OR =1.421, 95％ CI 1.066-1.894, P ＜ 0.05, and OR =6.435, 95％ CI 1.374-30.130, P ＜ 0.05, respectively).Cigarette smoking and triple positive antibodies were independent risk factors of arterial thrombosis (OR =3.996, 95％ CI 1.079-14.795, P ＜ 0.05 and OR =3.166, 95％ CI 1.102-9.097, P ＜ 0.05, respectively).Conclusion Alas is an autoimmune disorder characterized by recurrent arterial and venous thromboembolic events.Venous thromboembolism is more common than the arterial.Age and hypocomplementemia are predictors of venous thromboembolism;while smoking and triple positive antibodies are independent risk factors of arterial thromboembolism.