[Immunoreactive urinary thromboxane B2 in experimental mesenteric thrombosis in dogs]. / Tromboxano B2 urinario inmunorreactivo en trombosis mesentérica experimental en perros.

Thromboxane B2 (TxB2) the stable metabolite of thromboxane A2 may be released as a response to ischemia. With the aim of investigating its role as an early diagnostic test in mesenteric thrombosis, immunoreactive TxB2 was measured in urine aliquotes in six sham operated dogs, nine dogs subjected to superior mesenteric artery ligation, and twelve dogs with superior mesenteric vein ligation. One hour urine volumes were collected before surgery and during the eight hours after the experimental procedures, and urinary osmolarities were also determined in each sample. Basal TxB2 levels were comparable in all groups. Although all groups showed a significant and rapid (one hour) increase in TxB2 as a response to surgery, in the controls it returned to normal after six hours, whereas in the rest a continuously increased production persisted throughout the study period. There was no difference in t-test comparisons depending on the sort of thrombosis. In spite of the urinary dilution induced during the study, a persistent increase in TxB2 excretion was found. We conclude that urinary TxB2 levels could prove useful in the early diagnosis of mesenteric ischemia.

[Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis. Clinical entity or pathologic curiosity]. / Colecistitis xantogranulomatosa. Entidad clínica o curiosidad patológica.

Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is an uncommon variety of gallbladder inflammation. Its histologic appearance is quite specific but its clinical characteristics, prognostic and physiopathologic implications are unknown. The present study has the aim of analyzing a group of 40 patients with xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis and another of 80 patients with non-xanthogranulomatous inflammation. The clinical characteristics, risk factors, morphologic expression, complications and mortality of both groups were compared. Diffuse xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis comprised 1.8% of all cholecystectomies done between January 1976 and July 1987. This variety was more frequent in males (p less than .05) without any specific risk factors. There was a higher frequency of acute pyogenic inflammation sometimes associated to extrinsic compression of the biliary duct and fistulization, but without any difference in the overall complication rate or mortality. We conclude that xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is a specific entity which occurs with a higher frequency in males and that has a different clinical behavior than that of other types of gallbladder inflammation.

Urinary thromboxane B2 as an indicator of acute rejection in lung allotransplantation.

The behavior of urinary thromboxane B2 (TXB2) during acute rejection of lung allotransplants was evaluated. Unmatched mongrel dogs were submitted to a left lung orthotopic allotransplantation (groups I and II), or a sham operation (group III). All animals had an initial significant elevation of TXB2 excretion due to surgical trauma; however, in sham-operated animals (group III) this elevation returned to basal levels after 3 days. All transplanted animals (groups I and II) had persistent TXB2 elevation with 2 important peaks on postop days 5 and 9. The elevated TXB2 excretion persisted in spite of immunosuppressive treatment with azathioprine and prednisone (group II). Rejection was followed by means of an objective grading system applied to chest roentgenograms taken on all animals. It was found that TXB2 levels correlated directly with the grade of radiographic changes seen, thus indicating degree of rejection. TXB2 can be useful as a noninvasive indicator for surveillance of lung allograft rejection.