A disease-specific activity score for Thromboangiitis obliterans

Recent Updates and Advances in Winiwarter-Buerger Disease (Thromboangiitis Obliterans): Biomolecular Mechanisms, Diagnostics and Clinical Consequences

Thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) or Buerger’s disease is a segmental inflammatory, thrombotic occlusive peripheral vascular disease with unknown aetiology that usually involves the medium and small-sized vessels of young male smokers. Due to its unknown aetiology and similarities with atherosclerosis and vasculitis, TAO diagnosis is still challenging. We aimed to review the status of biomolecular and laboratory para-clinical markers in TAO compared to atherosclerosis and vasculitis. We reported that, although some biomarkers might be common in TAO, atherosclerosis, and vasculitis, each disease occurs through a different pathway and, to our knowledge, there is no specific and definitive marker for differentiating TAO from atherosclerosis or vasculitis. Our review highlighted that pro-inflammatory and cell-mediated immunity cytokines, IL-33, HMGB1, neopterin, MMPs, ICAM1, complement components, fibrinogen, oxidative stress, NO levels, eNOS polymorphism, adrenalin and noradrenalin, lead, cadmium, and homocysteine are common markers. Nitric oxide, MPV, TLRs, MDA, ox-LDL, sST2, antioxidant system, autoantibodies, and type of infection are differential markers, whereas platelet and leukocyte count, haemoglobin, lipid profile, CRP, ESR, FBS, creatinine, d-dimer, hypercoagulation activity, as well as protein C and S are controversial markers. Finally, our study proposed diagnostic panels for laboratory differential diagnosis to be considered at first and in more advanced stages.

Fibrinogen, Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Rate and Platelet-to-Neutrophil Rate as Novel Acute Phase Indicators in Patients with Thromboangiitis Obliterans

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The acute exacerbations and progressive deterioration seen in thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) have been related to poor clinical outcomes. Here, we have studied the association of laboratory biomarkers with the acute phase of TAO (AP-TAO).

METHODS/RESULTS

We conducted a retrospective case-control study on 112 patients with TAO and 98 healthy controls; comparing the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte rate (NLR), lymphocyte-to-monocyte rate (LMR), platelet-to-neutrophil rate (PNR), fibrinogen (FIB), and apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I). Significantly higher NLR level, as well as lower LMR, PNR, and ApoA-I levels were observed in patients with TAO, particularly the acute phase. Significantly increased FIB was only observed in AP-TAO. A positive correlation was found between NLR and with C-reactive protein (CRP) in the acute phase (r = 0.817, P < 0.001). Moreover, NLR, PNR, and FIB levels of 3.38, 45.12, and 3.69 were shown to be the predictive cut-off values for the AP-TAO (sensitivity 72.5, 82,4, and 66,7%, specificity 92.2, 78.4, and 96.1%; area under the curve [AUC] 0.875, 0.855, and 0.872), respectively. The FIB level was independently associated with the AP-TAO (OR = 11.420, P = 0.007).

CONCLUSIONS

NLR, PNR, and FIB may be useful markers for the identification of inflammation and the AP-TAO. FIB may be an independent risk factor for the acute phase.

Vaso-nervorumitis: responsible for pain in Buerger's disease?

Buerger's disease (BD) is an episodic, inflammatory, and occlusive peripheral vascular disease with unknown etiology, which can lead to tissue or limb loss. BD patients usually present neurological symptoms from the early stages of the disease including numbness, cold sensation, and allodynia as the disease progresses. Pain in the late stages of BD is very severe, almost resistant to opioid pain killers, and sometimes compels the patient to pursue major amputation. Therefore, pain management in BD patients is one of the most important and, at the same time, challenging issues since its main etiology is not well understood. Recently, a 39-year-old male smoker with a diagnosis of BD underwent a below-knee amputation in his left leg. Oddly, we found that the vasa-nervorum of the sural nerve had the pathological changes usually observed in BD, including inflammation and proliferation of endothelial cells. Notably, the inflammation was limited to the vasa-nervorum and did not extend to the nerve fascicles. Our findings could provide a clue to taking the approach of managing pain in BD as if it were vasculitis neuropathy; and the inflammation of the vasa-nervorum individually might be responsible for the pain characteristic of BD. In addition, our findings could indicate that BD is a systemic vasculitis of microcirculation and, hence, a different treatment approach for BD might be needed in addition to antithrombotic and vasodilator.

How to Treat a Patient with Thromboangiitis Obliterans: A Systematic Review

To date, there is still no treatment protocol for patients with thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO) who are also afflicted with critical limb ischemia (CLI). Smoking cessation on its own cannot be considered a treatment for the purposes of salvaging a limb of a TAO patient with CLI. The aim of this review was to evaluate different studies of various treatment protocols for avoiding amputation in TAO patients. A systematic search for relevant studies dating from 1990 to the end of 2016 was performed on the PubMed, SCOPUS, and Science Direct databases. Only 24 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria, of which only one was a randomized controlled trial (RCT). The remaining studies were quasi-experimental with various treatments and follow-up durations. Therefore, meta-analysis was not performed. Judging from the major amputation rates after the suggested treatments were performed, no treatment was particularly effective. This review demonstrated that more standard RCTs are needed to resolve this treatment issue involved in TAO. In addition, because health insurance coverage for TAO patients differs by country, regional cost-benefit and cost-efficacy studies of the suggested treatments for TAO are highly recommended.

Systemic vasculitis is associated with a higher risk of lower extremity amputation in patients with severe peripheral arterial occlusive disease: a secondary analysis of a nationwide, population-based health claims database

Previous research has shown that diabetes mellitus increases the risk of lower extremity amputation in patients with peripheral arterial occlusive disease. However, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated whether systemic autoimmune disease, in particular systemic vasculitis is associated with a higher risk of lower extremity amputation in these patients. To investigate the association between systemic autoimmune disease and lower extremity amputation in patients with severe peripheral arterial occlusive disease based on a secondary analysis of a nationwide, population-based health claims database. Using the inpatient datafile of the Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), we identified 432 patients with severe peripheral arterial occlusive disease that required hospitalization between 2000 and 2012. We also identified patients who had undergone lower extremity amputation and their comorbidities using the same datafile. The risk of lower extremity amputation was assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis, adjusting for age, sex, insured amount, the urbanization level of residence, and the presence of comorbidities. Among patients with severe peripheral arterial occlusive disease, those with systemic vasculitis exhibited a significant higher risk of lower extremity amputation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 6.82, p < 0.001). Diabetes mellitus (aOR = 4.90, p < 0.001) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aOR = 2.87, p = 0.007) were also significantly associated with a higher risk of lower extremity amputation. Among patients with severe peripheral arterial occlusive disease, a significantly higher risk of lower extremity amputation was observed in those with systemic vasculitis.

Investigation of the Etiology of Anemia in Thromboangiitis Obliterans

During a review of patients admitted with thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO), there was evidence of normochromic normocytic anemia and abrupt changes in hemoglobin (Hgb) levels in patients with several hospital admissions. Therefore, the evidence of hemolytic anemia was evaluated based on 37 banked plasma samples taken from Caucasian male TAO patients during disease exacerbation between 2012 and 2014. The patients' hospital records, including clinical manifestations and complete blood count, were evaluated. The following tests were performed on all samples: indirect antiglobulin test (IAT), C-reactive protein (CRP), high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), haptoglobin, indirect bilirubin, d-aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and d-alanine aminotransferase (ALT). The mean age of the patients was 40 ± 7 years. Two patients underwent below-knee amputation. The mean hospital-documented Hgb of the patients was 12.9 ± 2.6 g/dL. CRP and IAT were positive in 75.6 and 70.2% of the samples, respectively. The tests and corresponding results were as follows: hsCRP, 14.07 ± 2.37 µg/mL; LDH, 2,552 ± 315 u/L; haptoglobin, 2.27 ± 1.1 g/L; indirect bilirubin, 0.09 ± 0.04 mg/dL; AST, 67 ± 7 u/L; and ALT, 26 ± 3 u/L. There was a significant inverse correlation between hsCRP and hospital-documented Hgb level (p = 0.03). Anemia with the positive IAT in most of the samples, high LDH and AST, and normal ALT are suggestive of hemolytic anemia. Normal indirect bilirubin is consistent with intravascular hemolysis. The positive CRP and elevated haptoglobin levels could be due to systemic inflammation in TAO. However, it is not known if an autoantigen or an infectious antigen is responsible for TAO systemic inflammation and induction hemolytic anemia. As such, the underlying mechanism of anemia in TAO could be part of the footprint of its main etiology.