[Liver dysfunction in recipients of hematopoietic stem cells. Impact on mortality].

Liver disease is a well-known cause of early morbidity and mortality affecting 80% of patients receiving allogeneic bone-marrow transplantation (BMT). Drug toxicity, veno-occlusive disease (VOD), acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), and fungal, bacterial, and viral infections are the most frequent hepatic complications during this period. The aim of this retrospective study was to determine the prevalence and etiology of liver disease and its impact on mortality as well as to assess the predictive value of pre BMT hepatic biochemical tests on the subsequent occurrence of acute and/or chronic GVHD and patient mortality.

Renal functional reserve evolution in children with a previous episode of hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Introduction: Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is the most widely used indicator of kidney function in patients with renal disease, although it does not invariably reflect functional status after renal injury. The concept of renal functional reserve (RFR) as the ability of the kidney to increase GFR following a protein load was introduced in the 1980s. In this study we evaluated the RFR test in 26 children who had developed hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) at least 2 years before the first evaluation, then 8 years later.

Autologous stem cell transplantation for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. The Argentine Group of Bone Marrow Transplantation (GATMO) experience.

Background: The objective of this analysis was to evaluate the role of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in prolonging disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) who received autografts of Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) positive or Ph negative cell harvests.

Methods: Over a 4-year period (1994-1999), 53 patients who underwent ASCT for CML were reported to the Argentine Group of Bone Marrow Transplantation (GATMO) Registry.

Results: Ph negative cell products were harvested in only 18 patients (34%).

Acute renal failure in typical Kawasaki disease.

Few cases of Kawasaki disease with acute renal failure have been described and only three articles report histological findings. We present an 8-year-old boy with typical Kawasaki disease and acute renal failure who did not require dialysis and had a complete recovery. Pathological findings in percutaneous biopsy included tubulointerstitial nephropathy with mild mesangial expansion, without vessel involvement or deposits in basal membrane.