The effectiveness of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccination in HIV-infected adults: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: The effectiveness of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV-23) in preventing pneumococcal disease in HIV-infected people is a subject of debate. We reviewed the clinical evidence for recommending PPV-23 for use in HIV-infected patients. METHODS: A systematic search of peer-reviewed publications (EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and PubMed/BioMed Central), the Internet and grey literature was conducted. Three hundred and eighteen documents were reviewed. Studies reporting risk estimates for all-cause pneumonia, all-pneumococcal disease, and/or invasive pneumococcal disease after PPV-23 immunization in HIV-infected adults were included. RESULTS: We identified one randomized trial and 15 observational studies. While the randomized trial found a 60% increased risk of all-cause pneumonia among vaccinees, 11 of the 15 observational studies found various degrees of disease protection associated with PPV-23 immunization. However, most studies suffered from limited confounder control in their multivariate analyses, despite study data suggesting substantial differences between the characteristics of exposed and unexposed individuals. CONCLUSIONS: The current clinical evidence provides only moderate support for PPV-23 immunization of HIV-infected adults. More data are needed on the efficacy of newer conjugated pneumococcal vaccines, which may be more immunogenic and could potentially replace PPV-23 in the future.

A prospective double-blind clinically controlled multicenter trial of sodium pentosanpolysulfate in the treatment of interstitial cystitis and related painful bladder disease.

Painful bladder disease, sensory bladder disease, chronic abacterial cystitis and interstitial cystitis are ill-defined conditions of unknown etiology and pathogenesis, and, therefore, they are without any rational therapy. Pathogenetic theories concerning defects in the epithelium and/or mucous surface coat (including glycosaminoglycans) of the bladder, and theories concerning immunological disturbances predominate. Sodium pentosanpolysulfate (Elmiron) acts by substituting a defective glycosaminoglycan layer and inhibits complement reactions in inflammatory processes. We compared sodium pentosanpolysulfate versus placebo in a prospective double-blind, clinically controlled multicenter trial of 115 patients with painful bladder disease. Two protocols were used. Protocol A included 43 patients with clinically and pathologically anatomically verified interstitial cystitis (28 or more mast cells per mm.2), and protocol B included 72 patients with a painful bladder and unspecific histological findings. The patients were randomized to receive either sodium pentosanpolysulfate (200 mg. twice daily) or placebo capsules for 4 months. Before and after the trial the patients were evaluated with symptom grading, urodynamics and cystoscopy with distension and deep bladder biopsies. The results showed no difference between the pre-trial and post-trial values in the sodium pentosanpolysulfate and placebo groups in both protocols in regard to symptoms, urodynamic parameters, cystoscopic appearance and mast cell counts. A significant increase in the cystoscopically determined bladder capacity in the sodium pentosanpolysulfate group in protocol A was found. We conclude that no statistically or clinically significant effect of sodium pentosanpolysulfate was found compared to placebo in patients with painful bladder disease.

Painful bladder disease: clinical and pathoanatomical differences in 115 patients.

The diagnostic criteria for interstitial cystitis considered as a subgroup of painful bladder disease (that is sensory bladder disease and chronic abacterial cystitis) are not well established. Some urologists rely on symptoms, while others rely on cystoscopic appearance or pathological findings. Among 115 patients with painful bladder disease we compared symptoms, and cystoscopic and urodynamic findings in those with and without detrusor mastocytosis (28 or more mast cells per mm.2) and attempted to elucidate possible differences between the groups. We chose the pathological anatomical criterion of detrusor mastocytosis to be diagnostic for interstitial cystitis. A total of 43 patients had detrusor mastocytosis and other pathological anatomical signs of interstitial cystitis, and 72 had no mastocytosis but the pathological diagnoses of chronic unspecific cystitis, fibrosis of the bladder, detrusor myopathy, intestinal metaplasia and normal findings. When the 2 groups of patients were compared we found no differences in regard to symptoms (pain, dysuria, frequency, nocturia and urgency), frequency of allergy and hysterectomy, duration of symptoms, petechial bleeding during cystoscopy with bladder distension and cystometric findings. The patients with mastocytosis differed from those without mastocytosis in that they were older, and had a higher frequency of hematuria, a higher frequency of a red, scarred and richly vascularized bladder at cystoscopy before distension, and a smaller cystoscopic bladder capacity. We conclude that by dividing patients with painful bladder into 2 groups according to the mast cell counts in the detrusor, certain differences in the clinical findings in the groups can be ruled out. However, in individual patients one cannot note with certainty to which pathological anatomical group the patient belongs, since great overlapping between the groups exists. Whether only patients with detrusor mastocytosis have interstitial cystitis depends on definitions and still remains an open question.