Hepatitis E in blood donors: investigation of the natural course of asymptomatic infection, Germany, 2011.

Asymptomatic hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections have been found in blood donors from various European countries, but the natural course is rarely specified. Here, we compared the progression of HEV viraemia, serostatus and liver-specific enzymes in 10 blood donors with clinically asymptomatic genotype 3 HEV infection, measuring HEV RNA concentrations, plasma concentrations of alanine/aspartate aminotransferase, glutamate dehydrogenase and bilirubin and anti-HEV IgA, IgM and IgG antibodies. RNA concentrations ranged from 77.

Monitoring of Anti-Hepatitis E Virus Antibody Seroconversion in Asymptomatically Infected Blood Donors: Systematic Comparison of Nine Commercial Anti-HEV IgM and IgG Assays.

Diagnosis of hepatitis E virus (HEV) is usually determined serologically by detection of the presence of immunoglobulin (Ig)M antibodies or rising anti-HEV IgG titers. However, serological assays have demonstrated a significant variation in their sensitivities and specificities. In this study, we present the systematic comparison of different immunological anti-HEV assays using complete seroconversion panels of 10 virologically confirmed HEV genotype 3 infected individuals.

Fulminate heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and surgery with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest using bivalirudin.

After on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery, a patient had acute heparin-induced thrombocytopenia with thoracic arterial and venous thrombus formations. Complex emergency surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and deep hypothermic circulatory arrest using bivalirudin anticoagulation was performed.

Novel approach for detection of hepatitis E virus infection in German blood donors.

The risk of transfusion-transmitted hepatitis E virus (HEV) infections by contaminated blood products remains unknown. In the present study, we evaluated and compared different nucleic acid amplification technique (NAT) methods for the detection of HEV in blood components. Minipools of a total of 16,125 individual blood donors were screened for the presence of HEV RNA using the highly sensitive RealStar HEV RT-PCR kit, revealing a minimum detection limit of 4.

Stratification for noninvasive coronary angiography: patient preselection considering atypical angina pectoris, conventional cardiovascular risk assessment, and calcium scoring.

Background: Noninvasive coronary angiography (NCA) is recommended to be applied as a filter before invasive coronary angiography in patients with intermediate cardiovascular risk.

Design: In this prospective single-center study, we validated multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based NCA by primarily selecting patients with atypical angina pectoris (AAP).

Methods: In 68 patients (63.