Serum procalcitonin concentrations in transplant patients with acute rejection and bacterial infections.

Procalcitonin (PCT) represents a new marker of systemic inflammatory reactions of the body to infections. PCT is selectively induced by severe bacterial infections leading to sepsis or multiorgan dysfunction syndrome. The aim of our study was to test PCT as a postoperative infection marker in heart and kidney transplant patients compared with healthy subjects and patients with localized lung-inflammatory processes without a manifest systemic response.

Flow cytometry cross-match before kidney transplantation in relation to early postransplant rejection.

The aim of this study was to compare flow cytometry cross match (FCXM) results in patients before first kidney transplantation with the incidence of rejection episodes and kidney graft survival after transplantation. Sera of 51 patients obtained immediately before transplantation were tested on spleen cells of respective kidney donors. We found no correlation between a positive FCXM result before transplantation and the occurrence of immunological complications after transplantation.

An overview of the Czech Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

The Czech Bone Marrow Donor registry (CBMD) was founded in 1991 in the National HLA centre at Prague's Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine. In the same year, the CBMD submitted its data to the Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW). Another line of CBMD's international cooperation is accomplished through computer linkup with the European Donor Secretariat (E.