0000000000122108
AUTHOR
Anja Dahmen
Clinical and immunological efficacy of intradermal vaccine plus lamivudine with or without interleukin-2 in patients with chronic hepatitis B
To evaluate therapeutic immunostimulation nine chronic hepatitis B patients received six monthly intradermal vaccinations with HBsAg in combination with daily lamivudine. Another five patients received six doses of the vaccine and daily lamivudine together with daily Interleukin-2 (IL-2) s.c. within 3 months in an open-labeled trial. Clinical efficacy was assessed by alanine transaminase levels and HBV serology. The induction of specific T and B cell responses was analyzed serially by 3H-thymidine uptake, ELISA and ELISPOT assays. After the therapy was stopped, seven of nine vaccine/lamivudine and two of five vaccine/lamivudine/IL-2 recipients did not have detectable HBV DNA. Four complete …
Laparoscopic Anterior Semifundoplication in Patients with Intrathoracic Stomach
The laparoscopic management of the intrathoracic stomach is still controversial. Laparoscopic semifundoplication in gastroesophageal reflux disease results in effective long-term reflux control and is, as compared with 360° Nissen fundoplication, associated with less frequent side effects such as dysphagia and gas bloat syndrome. The aim of our study was to evaluate the results of laparoscopic anterior semifundoplication in patients with intrathoracic stomach. Enrolled in this study are 19 patients (67.1 years of age; range, 37.5–83.7 years) with intrathoracic stomach undergoing laparoscopic anterior semifundoplication and a minimal follow up of 5 months postoperatively. The study covers t…
Cellular and humoral immune responses induced by intradermal or intramuscular vaccination with the major hepatitis B surface antigen
The vaccination route may influence the success of immunization against pathogens. The conventional intramuscular (i.m.) application of a vaccine containing the hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen (HBsAg) led to protective anti-HBs antibody levels in the majority of vaccine recipients. In this study, we vaccinated healthy volunteers and a group of i.m. vaccine nonresponders via the intradermal (i.d.) route and analyzed the HBV-specific B-cell response as well as class-II- and class-I-restricted T-cell responses by 3 H-thymidine uptake, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT). The results were then compared with i.m. vaccinated controls. I.d…
Docetaxel as Salvage Therapy in Highly Pretreated and Drug Resistant Gastrointestinal Carcinomas
Introduction Despite many efforts to develop new chemotherapies for metastatic upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, overall prognosis continues to be fatal, particularly in gastric and pancreatic cancer. Many of these patients deserve second-or third-line treatment after failure of first-line chemotherapy. Therefore, we analysed toxicity and response rate of weekly docetaxel after failed upfront regimes in these upper GI cancer patients. Patients and Methods Between 2001 and 2006, 18 patients received docetaxel based regimes (35 mg/m2 weekly) after informed consent. Response rates were determined using RECIST criteria or tumor progression if clinically evident. Toxicities were graded based o…
Diffusion-weighted MRI of the lung with hyperpolarized helium-3: A study of reproducibility
Purpose To determine the reproducibility of several parameters of the ADC measurement by calculating the scan-to-scan intrasubject variability. Materials and Methods Measurements were performed using a gradient-echo sequence with a bipolar gradient for diffusion weighting (b = 3.89 sec/cm2). Five patients with pulmonary emphysema, and six healthy-lung volunteers were included in the study. Images were acquired after inspiration of 3He during a single inspiratory breath-hold. To assess the reproducibility, the measurement was performed twice (time between measurements = 20 minutes) without repositioning the subjects. Analysis was performed on the basis of region-of-interest (ROI) analysis an…
Mikrostruktur der Lunge: Untersuchung mittels Diffusionsmessung von hochpolarisiertem 3Helium
Imaging methods to study the lung are traditionally based on x-ray or on radioactive contrast agents. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has only limited applications for lung imaging because of the low tissue density of protons concentration of hydrogen atoms, which are usually the basis for the imaging. The introduction of hyperpolarized noble gases as a contrast agent in MRI has opened new possibilities for lung diagnosis. The present paper describes this new technique. Diffusion-weighted MRI for assessment of the lung microstructure is presented here as an example of the new possibilities of functional imaging. Studies to determine the sensitivity of the diffusion measurement…