[Internal medicine in the last 40 years].

Internal medicine in the last 40 years has known many eminent teachers at universities, such as Hijmans van den Bergh, Van Buchem, Borst, Mulder, Lindeboom, De Langen, Hulst, Jordan, Formijne, Major, Snapper, Groen and Querido, and others outside universities such as Stuyt, Van Hees, Eindhoven, Pannekoek, Schalm, Bruins Slot, Heeres, Stolte and Pompen. The main scientific platform on which the bequeathors assembled in the first few decades after World War II was the Algemene Ziektekundige Vereniging ('General Medical Association'), which met in Utrecht. Important medical steps forward in that period were the virtually complete eradication of tuberculosis in the Netherlands, the developing of vaccines against smallpox and polio, but also against the various types of virus hepatitis, and the progress in intensive care, transplantation and molecular biology.

Soft-tissue uptake of 99mTc-diphosphonate and 99mTc-pyrophosphate in amyloidosis.

This study describes the results of scintigraphy with 99mTc-labeled methylene-diphosphonate (99mTc-MDP) and pyrophosphate (99mTc-PYP) as a noninvasive test for the distribution of organ involvement in five different types of amyloidosis. Scintigraphy with 99mTc-labeled phosphates appeared to be a sensitive noninvasive screening test for the extent and the distribution of organ involvement in systemic AA and systemic AL amyloidosis as well as in local bronchial amyloid, local dermal amyloid, and familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy. Echocardiography, however, was more sensitive for demonstrating cardiac involvement in systemic amyloidosis than 99mTc-MDP or 99mTc-PYP scintigraphy.

Classification of amyloidosis: immunohistochemistry versus the potassium permanganate method in differentiating AA from AL amyloidosis.

As systemic AA and Al amyloidosis differ considerably with regard to prognosis and therapeutic approach, it is of importance to make an accurate histochemical classification with regard to the amyloid protein involved. In the present study the results of the potassium permanganate (KMnO4) method, an indirect histochemical procedure based on differences in cross-beta-potential of different amyloid fibril proteins, were compared with the results of an immunohistochemical method utilizing anti-AA and anti-AP antibodies. Renal biopsy sections of patients with systemic amyloidosis related to inflammatory conditions, systemic amyloidosis associated with plasma cell dyscrasia, idiopathic systemic amyloidosis, and nonamyloidotic controls were studied.

Some effects of combination chemotherapy with cis-platinum on renal function in patients with nonseminomatous testicular carcinoma.

Renal function in 24 patients with disseminated nonseminomatous testicular carcinoma treated with combination chemotherapy including cis-platinum was examined prospectively. Renal function was monitored by several determinations of glomerular filtration rate (GFR), effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) and serum creatinine, and beta-2-microglobulin. A reduction in GFR and ERPF was found at the end of the induction chemotherapy and at six weeks thereafter.