Usefulness of plasma exchange plus continuous hemodiafiltration to reduce adverse effects associated with plasma exchange in patients with acute liver failure

OBJECTIVE

To efficiently remove middle-molecular-weight substances such as hepatic toxins and minimize adverse effects associated with plasma exchange implementation, we have performed plasma exchange slowly in combination with continuous hemodiafiltration. This study was designed to determine the usefulness of plasma exchange with continuous hemodiafiltration in reducing the adverse effects associated with implementation of plasma exchange alone.

DESIGN

A retrospective clinical study.

SETTING

University teaching hospital.

PATIENTS

The study involved 90 patients with liver failure who had been treated with plasma exchange in our department over the past 12 yrs. We examined these patients by dividing them into two groups (48 patients treated with plasma exchange alone and 42 patients treated with plasma exchange plus continuous hemodiafiltration at the time of plasma exchange implementation).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Baseline blood Na+ concentration, HCO3- concentration, and colloid osmotic pressure were followed after implementation of plasma exchange to compare the frequency of development of three adverse effects (hypernatremia, metabolic alkalosis, and sharp decrease in colloid osmotic pressure) in the two groups. Hypernatremia was found in 26.7% of treatments in the group with plasma exchange alone and 3.3% in the group of plasma exchange plus continuous hemodiafiltration, and metabolic alkalosis was found in 30.6% of treatments in the group with plasma exchange alone and 4.9% in the group of plasma exchange plus continuous hemodiafiltration; both percentages were significantly higher in the group with plasma exchange alone (p <.001). A sharp decrease in colloid osmotic pressure occurred in 13.3% of treatments in the group with plasma exchange alone but was not observed at all in the patients treated with plasma exchange plus continuous hemodiafiltration.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that adverse effects associated with plasma exchange for artificial liver support for liver failure can be alleviated with use of plasma exchange plus continuous hemodiafiltration instead of plasma exchange alone.

Comparison of Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score and CIS (cellular injury score) for scoring of severity for patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS)

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the usefulness of cellular injury score (CIS) and Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score for determination of the severity of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS).

DESIGN

A prospective observational study.

SETTING

A medical and surgical intensive care unit (ICU) of a teaching hospital.

PATIENTS

Forty-seven consecutive MODS patients.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS

SOFA score and CIS were measured every day for 12 months for 47 MODS patients. Comparison was made of the SOFA score and CIS for usefulness in the scoring of severity of MODS in 26 survivors and 21 non-survivors. In addition, receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis was used to determine the usefulness of these two indexes as predictors of prognosis. No significant differences were found on admission between the survivors and non-survivors, but significant differences between the two subgroups (p < 0.001) were found in maximum value within 1 week after admission and maximum value during the course of treatment for both indexes. Analysis of changes after admission indicated that significant differences between survivors and non-survivors began to appear on day 3 of admission for both indexes; at that time SOFA score began to deteriorate in the non-survivors while CIS began to improve in the survivors. ROC analysis demonstrated that the area under the ROC curve was 0.769 for SOFA scores and 0.760 for CIS.

CONCLUSIONS

Both SOFA score and CIS sequentially reflected the severity of MODS. Furthermore, they were comparable in diagnostic value as predictors of prognosis. These findings may indicate the possibility that MODS is a summation of effects of cellular injury. In addition, sequential evaluation of both SOFA score and CIS would provide a more accurate prediction of prognosis than conventional methods.

Low induction of varicella-zoster virus-specific secretory IgA antibody after vaccination

Breakthrough after varicella vaccination occurs in approximately 2. 6% approximately 18.6% of immunocompetent children, but the reason has not been demonstrated clearly. As a first defense, specific secretory IgA antibody on the mucosa plays an important role in preventing invasion of microorganisms. To examine induction of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) specific secretory IgA after natural infection and vaccination and its booster mechanisms, 143 salivary samples were tested by ELISA. The VZV-secretory IgA values were significantly higher in the matched children after natural chickenpox than in those after vaccination, although the total secretory IgA did not differ between them. Two (7%) of the vaccinees lacked the sIgA antibody. In the elderly and in immunocompromised children, the VZV-secretory IgA values were no lower than those in healthy children, and they did not lack VZV-secretory IgA. The doctors and nurses taking care of patients with chickenpox had higher values than the other groups as did individuals who had had herpes zoster recently. VZV-secretory IgA was thought to be stimulated by exogenous and reactivated endogenous VZV to neutralize VZV with weak activity. These results suggest that low or no induction of VZV-secretory IgA antibody after vaccination may be one of the possible explanations for a breakthrough.

Efficacy and limitation of apheresis therapy in critical care

Apheresis therapy such as plasma exchange and plasma adsorption has become therapeutic tools in critical care. The indications for apheresis therapy in ICU patients include fulminant hepatic failure, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), autoimmune disease, and sepsis. During the past 11 years, 150 patients with various kinds of critical illnesses were treated with apheresis therapy in our ICU, and the overall survival rate was 50%. Apheresis therapy is especially useful in the treatment of a patient with fulminant hepatic failure because liver transplantation is seldom performed in Japan; therefore, the patient should be treated with artificial liver support. When plasma exchange is performed on the critically ill, continuous hemodiafiltration should be performed simultaneously to overcome the adverse effects of plasma exchange such as hypernatremia, metabolic alkalosis, and abrupt changes in colloid osmotic pressure and to enhance the removal rate of the causative middle molecular weight substances of hepatic failure or hepatic coma.

[The adventitia wrapping technique in microvascular surgery]

The success of microvascular anastomosis on fine vessels is essential not only for expanding the possibility of surgical treatment in such cases as replanting severed fingers of children, and vascularized nerve and joint grafting, but also for diminishing the damage to donors as well. This report describes the details of our study on a adventitia wrapping technique in which the adventitia was utilized for wrapping anastomosis. This study demonstrates that the advantages of the adventitia wrapping technique are as follows; (1) Adventitia wrapping technique provides a higher patency rate in smaller microvascular anastomosis. (2) Adventitia wrapping technique aids in reducing operative time and stitches. (3) Adventitia wrapping technique increases tolerable pressure of the anastomosis site and prevents aneurysm. (4) Immediate postoperative hemorrhage at the anastomosis site is lesser than that of the standard suture technique. These results indicate that this technique utilizes the tissue in site, therefore, is simple and useful for microvascular anastomoses.

Continuous blood-letting for congestion in replantation of the amputated finger

Experimental and clinical studies have been made on the function of the venous system in the replantation of the contused severed finger. In experiments on rats replantation of severed limbs was more successful in a group treated by continuous blood-letting and anastomosis of the artery alone, compared with controls in which only the artery was anastomosed. Histologically, in the first group there was less congestion, thrombus-formation, oedema and exudative haemorrhage in the initial stage; in the reparative phase there was less granulation and the degree of muscular degeneration was very slight. Clinically, contused, severed fingers were successfully replanted when venous anastomosis was impossible or incomplete, by using the fish-mouth incision for continuous blood-letting. The resulting scar caused no problem aesthetically or functionally.