Acute myeloid leukemia induced by mitoxantrone treatment for aggressive multiple sclerosis.

Acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) is one of the worst adverse events of mitoxantrone treatment, but the exact risk in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients is not yet known. We describe a case wherein the patient developed t-AML 11 months after mitoxantrone had been discontinued. The patient was treated by polychemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation with complete recovery of t-AML and stabilization of the neurological disease.

Orthopnea and tidal expiratory flow limitation in chronic heart failure.

Background: Tidal expiratory flow limitation (FL) is common in patients with acute left heart failure and contributes significantly to orthopnea. Whether tidal FL exists in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) remains to be determined.

Purposes: To measure tidal FL and respiratory function in CHF patients and their relationships to orthopnea.

Doppler echocardiographic patterns in patients with acromegaly.

Cardiovascular problems have long been recognized as responsible for an increased morbidity and mortality in patients with acromegaly. The aim of the present study was to evaluate echocardiographically the prevalence of cardiomyopathy in a cohort of acromegalic patients and to analyze the results in relation to demographic, clinical and hormonal data. This study, a retrospective controlled clinical trial, was performed in 25 acromegalic patients, 12 men and 13 women aged 26-66 years (mean: 52.

[Progressive changes in the lymphocyte subpopulations and the clinical picture in 2 brothers with familial dilated cardiomyopathy].

We report two brothers, aged 22 and 34, affected by dilated cardiomyopathy. At the first examination both patients were in NYHA functional class I. Their echocardiograms showed dilated and hypokinetic ventricles.

[Lymphocyte subpopulations in idiopathic dilatational cardiomyopathy].

Lymphocyte subsets have been examined in 23 patients affected by idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM). Patients were divided according to their functional class showing that compromised subjects exhibited high T-lymphocyte helper/suppressor ratio whereas the contrary was observed in the other patients. It has therefore suggested that IDCM is characterized by 2 distinct phases, each of them with different helper/suppressor ratio.

[Aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva and late rupture of the interventricular septum due to infective endocarditis. Is the two-dimensional echocardiography of endocarditic extension into the interventricular septum possible?].

In a 54 year old woman affected by infective endocarditis, with bicuspid aortic valve and aneurysm of sinus of Valsalva protruding into the right atrium, two-dimensional echocardiography helped to identify altered myocardial echo patterns of the interventricular septum at basal level. Because of the proximity with valvular lesions due to endocarditis, we could interpret these appearances as produced by invasion of the infective process into the septum. The autopsy report of septum rupture in the same area further supports our interpretation of the echocardiographic finding.

[Change in ventricular repolarization associated with acute spontaneous pneumothorax].

Cases of acute pneumothorax admitted in the period 1975-1978 were examined to determine the presence of changes in ventricular repolarization. A significant elongation of the QT segment was noted in 23/126 cases. The series did not include subjects with chronic heart and /or bronchopulmonary disease, or other clinical features that might explain such elongation.