Iohexol-Induced Neutrophil Myeloperoxidase Release and Activation Upon Contact With Vascular Stent-Graft Material: A Mechanism Contributing to the Postimplantation Syndrome?

Postimplantation syndrome in a kidney trasplant patient: fever is not always synonimous with infection

Fever in an immunocompromised patient like the transplanted subject is usually due to an overt or occult infection. Clinicians must make important decisions to find the cause of fever, and also concerning the timing and adequacy of empiric antibiotic therapy. However, occasionally, fever is not due to an infectious cause. A correct identification of its causes may avoid a needlessly prolonged course of antibiotics. Herein we have reported a kidney transplant patient with a febrile syndrome, which appeared after endovascular aortoiliac stent-graft placement, that was finally attributed to a noninfectious cause like postimplantation syndrome.

Targets for immunomodulation in cardiovascular disease – where are we now?

The recognition that inflammation plays an important role in most cardiovascular pathologies offers the potential for the development of new therapeutic targets. Heart failure and in-stent restenosis are two areas in which there have been very recent developments in identifying and targeting potential inflammatory mediators. The development of both broad anti-inflammatory strategies and more targeted approaches have confirmed that immunomodulation may have a beneficial effect on disease progression of restenosis and heart failure in experimental animals, while the results from clinical studies highlight the need to consider the inflammatory processes as a whole, rather than some aspects in isolation. This review briefly summarizes the key stimuli for initiating inflammation in cardiovascular disease, recent clinical and experimental developments in the search for appropriate anti-inflammatory strategies and considers the possible pitfalls and future challenges for developing this area.