No abstract available.
Adult* ; Fetal Blood* ; Humans ; Neprilysin* ; Neutrophils* ; Respiratory Burst*

No abstract available.
Exons* ; Gene Rearrangement* ; Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains* ; Immunoglobulins* ; Leukemia, Lymphoid*

BACKGROUND: The recent advances in flow cytometric technology and the development of monoclonal antibodies have led to the important insights into the cell lineage and maturation stage of leukemia. The increased use of immunophenotyping in acute leukemia revealed the unusual anigen expression and biclonal or biphenotypic acute mixed lineage leukemia (AMLL). However, the data on their frequency and prognostic significance are still conflicting. METHODS: The immunophenotyping of leukemic cells (HLA-DR, CD10, CD19, CD20, CD22, CD3, CD5, CD7, CD13, CD33, CD61, TdT, cytoplasmic Ig, surface Ig) was performed by flow cytometry in 115 cases of acute leukemia between January 1994 and August 1996. Double-color immunofluorescent staining was performed in the cases expressing unusual antigens. RESULTS: 51 cases (44.3%) of 115 acute leukemias showed unusual antigens expression. These included 27 cases (38.6%) of 70 AML, 13 cases (43.3%) of 30 B-lineage ALL, 4 cases (50%) of 8 T-LL and 7 AMLL cases (6.1%) of 115 acute leukemias. CD7 (28.6%) and CD19 (11.4%) are expressed in AML, and CD13 (36.7%) and CD33 (26.7%) are expressed in ALL. Among 7 cases of AMLL, we could obtain the clinical data of 5 cases. The 4 cases of 5 AMLL failed to respond to induction chemotherapy or died before or during induction chemotherapy, and only one case showed partial remission. CONCLUSION: The unusual antigen expressions of acute leukemic cells are frequently observed, and the identification of relatively rare AMLL is very important, because AMLL showed poor response to the chemotherapy.
Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Cell Lineage ; Cytoplasm ; Drug Therapy ; Flow Cytometry ; Immunophenotyping ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Leukemia*

No abstract available.
Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute*

No abstract available.
Bone Marrow* ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Gelatin*

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of the quantitation of D-dimer, thrombin-antithrombin III complex (TAT) and prothrombin fragment 1 2 (F1 2) in patients with DIC or venous thrombosis. METHODS: The quantitation of D-dimer, TAT and F1 2 by ELISA (Behring, Germany) were done with the specimens from eighty eight patient plasma. The patients were classified as DIC, probable DIC and non-DIC based on the DIC criteria by reserach committee in Japan, and the patients with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or pulmonary embolism (PE) were included. RESULTS: All eighteen DIC patients showed the increased D-dimer ELISA and fourteen patients showed the increased TAT and F1 2. According to the results of quantitative D-dimer, TAT and F1 2 tests, probable DIC and the group with increased results of above three tests among non-DIC were considered as DIC. Two patients with PE showed increased results of above three tests. Among nine DVT patients, eight patients showed increased results of D-dimer ELISA and F1 2, but TAT was increased in only six patients. Among forty six patients with negative results of D-dimer semiquantitation (latex agglutination), twenty seven patients (59%) revealed increased results of D-dimer quantitation (ELISA). CONCLUSIONS: D-dimer quantitation by ELISA is the most sensitive test in the diagnosis of DIC and venous thrombosis. The quantitation of D-dimer, TAT and F1 2 can increase the diagnostic rate of DIC and venous thrombosis, and the developement of the new quatitating reagents with more rapid and individual procedures will contribute to the accurate and rapid diagnoses of them.
Dacarbazine ; Diagnosis ; Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Indicators and Reagents ; Japan ; Plasma ; Prothrombin* ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Venous Thrombosis*

BACKGROUND: Survival time of patients with multiple myeloma has been reported to be closely related to the cytology of bone marrow smears and the histologic features of bone marrow biopsies. However, there have been many differences in morphological criteria applied by various authors. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic relevance of bone marrow features in patients with multple myeloma by investigation of the cytologic feature and the histologic patterns. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and seven previously untreated patients with multiple myeloma, admitted to Asan Medical Center, between 1989 and 1997, were studied. Bone marrow aspirations and biopsies were analyzed according to the criteria such as cytologic differentiation, volume of infiltration, pattern of infiltration, degree of hematopoiesis, and presence of fibrosis. RESULTS: 64 cases (59.8%) of 107 patients with multiple myeloma were plasmacytic type and 43 cases (40.2%) were plasmablastic type. Each median survival time was 35.0 months and 18.0 months (P<0.05). The patients with more than 25% of plasmablasts showed shorter median survival time than those with 1ess than 25% (18 months vs 38.9 months, P<0.05). The patients with nodular or packed marrow pattern revealed poorer prognosis than those with interstitial or interstitial/nodular pattern (P<0.05). The patients of plasmablastic type disclosed larger volume of myeloma cell infiltration and more packed marow pattern than those of plasmacytic type. CONCLUSIONS: The cytologic differentiation, the volume of infiltration and the patterns of infiltration were reliable predictors of survival in myeloma patients. Thus, for the prognostic evaluation and therapeutic plans, the descriptions for cytologic differentiation (especially percentage of plasmablasts), volume of infiltration and pattern of infiltration should be included in the bone marrow interpretation of multiple myeloma.
Aspirations (Psychology) ; Biopsy ; Bone Marrow* ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Fibrosis ; Hematopoiesis ; Humans ; Multiple Myeloma* ; Prognosis

No abstract available.
Osteomalacia* ; Primary Myelofibrosis* ; Vitamin D Deficiency*

No abstract available.
Bone Marrow* ; Hodgkin Disease* ; Sclerosis*

The authors conducted an investigation focusing mainly on the activities of the inhibitory factors of the coagulation and fibrinolysis processes in 35 normal adults and 72 liver cirrhosis and/or hepatoma patients. The activities of antithrombin III, protein C, and alpha 2-plasmin inhibitor were reduced to less than 50% in patients with decreased hepatic synthetic function while lupus anticoagulant was detected in more than 50% of patients with decreased hepatic synthetic function. Hemostatic abnormalities in advanced lived diseases may be caused partly by a decrease of coagulation and fibrinolysis inhibitors and the presence of lupus anticoagulant.
Adult ; Antifibrinolytic Agents/blood ; Blood Coagulation Factors/antagonists & inhibitors/immunology/metabolism ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/*blood ; Hemostasis ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/*blood ; Liver Neoplasms/*blood ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor