Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0020538 (hypertension)
 170,190 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Sixteen patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS), including 3 with the "CREST" (calcinosis, Raynaud's, esophageal dysfunction, sclerodactyly, and/or telangiectasias) variant, were evaluated with resting M-mode echocardiography and noninvasive measurements of cardiac output at rest and during submaximal exercise to determine the nature and extent of any cardiovascular impairment. No patient had arterial hypertension, significant renal impairment, clinical evidence of large vessel coronary artery disease, or severe pulmonary dysfunction. The duration of disease was 1 to 12 years (9 to 30 for patients with the CREST variant). Echocardiographic abnormalities included increased right ventricular dimension (3 patients), reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (3 patients), and pericardial effusion (3 patients). Cardiac index (CI) and stroke volume index (SVI) at rest were similar for patients and controls. Patients and controls were exercised to similar heart rates (130 +/- 3 vs 124 +/- 4; p, NS). Total peripheral resistance (TPR) was higher for patients (1123 +/- 81 vs 810 +/- 44 dyn X s X cm-5) and their mean SVI failed to increase significantly compared with sitting rest values (30 +/- 2 vs 35 +/- 3 ml/m2). The control subjects had the expected increase in SVI (36 +/- 2 vs 51 +/- 5; p less than 0.01). Ten patients with an abnormal hemodynamic response to exercise had a normal echocardiographic circumferential fiber shortening (VCF) or ejection fraction (EF) at rest. The data indicate that PSS patients have a greater degree of cardiovascular dysfunction than would be predicted from clinical data and laboratory evaluation of cardiovascular and pulmonary function at rest. Multiple mechanisms, including right and left ventricular dysfunction and abnormal vasoconstrictor activity, are likely to contribute to the reduction in exercise capacity seen in patients with PSS.
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PMID:Cardiovascular function in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). 621 13

This paper reports the experiences of our group with 68 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) admitted to hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh Health Center between 1955 and 1981 with scleroderma renal crisis (SRC). The onset of SRC was characterized by four features, namely, onset or aggravation, usually abrupt, of arterial hypertension; appearance of Grade III or IV retinopathy; elevations of peripheral renin activity to at least twice the upper limit of normal; and rapid deterioration of renal function within a period of less than one month. Over 90% of our patients in whom these criteria could be determined had at least three of them present with the onset of SRC. Management of these patients during the first 15 years of this period was uniformly ineffective. Before 1971, no patients lived longer than a year; usual survival ranged from 1 to 3 months. With the advent of renal dialysis and the more effective treatment of severe hypertension, along with the utilization of bilateral nephrectomy in selected anuric patients, some improvement in longevity was achieved. However, only in the past few years have we accumulated a group of 11 patients who have survived for longer than one year. The clinical characteristics of the onset and progression of SRC suggest the sudden imposition of severe stress such as cold or an autoimmune insult affecting vulnerable arteries and arterioles. The renal damage becomes self-perpetuating with extremely high renin activity causing further rise in blood pressure and additional renal and systemic vascular damage. Progress in the last few years seems to have been achieved primarily by the advent of pharmacologic agents that specifically block the effect of angiotensin II by inhibiting the angiotensin I converting enzyme. When diagnosis is prompt and the condition is treated as an emergency with these compounds, we and others have found that normal renal function can be restored in a number of patients. The result is a considerably brighter outlook for patients with this previously rapidly fatal complication of progressive systemic sclerosis.
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PMID:Hypertension and renal failure (scleroderma renal crisis) in progressive systemic sclerosis. Review of a 25-year experience with 68 cases. 635 55

The orally active angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril was administered for up to 11 weeks to three patients with progressive systemic sclerosis presenting with hypertension and plasma creatinine levels of 3.1, 7.2 and 10.4 mg/100 ml. Only one patient had malignant phase hypertension. In this patient a diuretic had to be added to captopril in order to keep blood pressure under control. Despite sustained blood pressure control during captopril administration, renal function deteriorated and hemodialysis treatment had to be started in all patients. Up to that time no substantial improvement in skin lesions was observed. During the period of dialysis, blood pressure was normal in all patients even though administration of captopril was discontinued. All three patients died of respiratory failure while on chronic hemodialysis for 3 to 4 weeks. These observations confirm that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition may be helpful in controlling blood pressure of patients with scleroderma. However, in contrast to some earlier reports, they also indicate that converting enzyme inhibition does not always prevent the multivisceral vascular lesions of scleroderma.
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PMID:Deterioration of renal function in hypertensive patients with scleroderma despite blood pressure normalization with captopril. 638 62

Echocardiography was used to determine the incidence and severity of cardiac lesions in 20 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis. Abnormal findings were recorded in 14 (70%) patients. These included pericardial effusion in five, increased right ventricular diameter in five, increased left ventricular posterior wall thickness in four with no systemic hypertension, decreased diastolic closure of anterior mitral leaflet in five, and abnormal septal features in four patients. Dilatation of aortic root was found in two patients and moderated thickening of the anterior mitral valve in one patient. Clinical evidence of scleroderma heart was found in one of the 20 patients. Abnormal ECG changes were found in 12 (60%) of the patients. These included LVH, simulating MI pattern, conduction disturbances and P wave changes. Echocardiography proved to be an important non-invasive diagnostic tool which decreases the discrepancy between the relatively few clinical findings and rich cardiac pathology. Furthermore, this study confirms the usefulness of the method in the evaluation of the "asymptomatic" cardiac patient.
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PMID:Cardiac involvement in progressive systemic sclerosis (P.S.S.)--an echocardiographic study. 644 63

Anticentromere antibody (ACA) was found in the serum of 4 (3%) of 120 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis with diffuse scleroderma and in 69 (49%) of 141 with progressive systemic sclerosis with the CREST syndrome variant. The 69 CREST syndrome patients with ACA were compared with the 72 CREST syndrome patients without ACA. The former were older at the onset of symptoms and significantly more frequently female (97% versus 78%, P less than 0.01). Those with ACA more often had telangiectasiae of the digits (93% versus 75%) and calcinosis (55% versus 22%). These differences were also present after the groups were stratified according to duration of disease. Cutaneous involvement was similar in both degree and extent in the 2 groups; 20% of CREST patients both with and without ACA had forearm skin thickening. Pulmonary interstitial fibrosis on chest roentgenogram and restrictive disease on pulmonary function testing were significantly less frequent in the ACA patients. Gastrointestinal involvement, pulmonary arterial hypertension, and cardiac abnormalities were similar in both groups, and there has been no difference in survival between CREST syndrome patients with and without ACA. Tissue typing studies revealed a significant association between ACA and HLA-DR1.
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PMID:Clinical and laboratory associations of anticentromere antibody in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis. 660 34

In a plant producing vinyl chloride by the emulsion method 200 workers who were exposed to vinyl chloride for 1 to 25 yr (mean 14), 58 (i.e. 29%) were free of complaints and nervous disturbances. An astheno-autonomic syndrome was found in 54 (i.e. 27%) and in 88 (i.e. 44%) in combination with positive neurological findings, i.e. pyramidal syndromes (in 52), cerebellar disturbances (in 38), trigeminal neuropathy (in 24) and extrapyramidal symptoms (in 3), in various combinations - pyramidal + cerebellar in 12, trigeminal + pyramidal in 7, trigeminal + cerebellar in 5. Headaches (48%), nervousness (26%), decrease in physical strength (16%), loss of memory (14%), sleeping disturbances and somnolence were the most frequent complaints. Scleroderma-like skin changes were found in ten subjects, but only six of them had any neurological disturbances. Occupational exposure to vinyl chloride was lower in workers without neurological findings. Frequency of the arterial hypertension was the same in both groups, whereas acroparesthesias, Raynaud's syndrome, and increased gamma GTP serum activity were significantly more frequent in workers with neurological disturbances. Sixty-two per cent of the neurologically positive group and only 24% of the negative group reported euphoric or narcotic states after exposure. This probably indicates episodic exposures to high concentrations of vinyl chloride. This difference points to a possibility that neurological disturbances may be related to short exposures to peak concentrations. The neurological injury may be both a direct neurotoxic effect of vinyl chloride and secondary to vascular disorders.
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PMID:Vinyl chloride disease-neurological disturbances. 662 5

Pregnancy has been reported infrequently in patients with systemic sclerosis. Consequently, the outcome and appropriate management of such patients is uncertain. We review the obstetric experience of 19 female patients with systemic sclerosis, and report 2 women in whom 3 pregnancies occurred during the course of disease. Maternal complications included hypertension during 2 of these pregnancies and congestive heart failure during 1. There were 2 premature deliveries, although all 3 infants survived. Our experience with these patients and a review of the available literature suggest that, in patients with systemic sclerosis, fertility may be reduced and complications of pregnancy may be more frequent.
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PMID:Pregnancy and systemic sclerosis. 670 93

Forty-nine patients with progressive systemic sclerosis who had undergone extensive studies including pulmonary artery catheterization as part of an ongoing prospective study of the natural course of progressive systemic sclerosis were evaluated. The overall prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension in this population of patients with progressive systemic sclerosis was 33 percent, and among 10 subjects with the CREST syndrome the prevalence of pulmonary hypertension was 50 percent. The relation between pulmonary arterial hypertension documented at catheterization and abnormal results of noninvasive studies suggesting pulmonary hypertension, including physical examination, chest x-ray, electrocardiography, echocardiography, single-breath diffusing capacity, and vital capacity, was studied. Diffusing capacity was significantly lower in those patients with definite pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary artery pressure of 22 mg Hg or more) compared with those with a normal mean pulmonary artery pressure, and a diffusing capacity below 43 percent of predicted showed the greatest sensitivity (67 percent) of any single diagnostic test in detecting definite pulmonary hypertension. Chest x-ray suggesting pulmonary hypertension was the least sensitive of the tests evaluated, but showed the greatest specificity (100 percent) in identifying patients with pulmonary hypertension. A classification matrix based on discriminant function analysis utilizing the combination of diffusing capacity below 43 percent of predicted and chest x-ray and electrocardiographic findings correctly identified 75 percent of patients with definite pulmonary hypertension and 97 percent of patients with a normal pulmonary artery pressure, but failed to identify correctly patients with mild pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary artery pressure of 20 mm Hg). These findings indicate that specific noninvasive studies are helpful in assessing the likelihood of normal or definitely elevated pulmonary artery pressures in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis, but patients with mild pulmonary hypertension are not likely to be identified by these noninvasive studies.
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PMID:Prevalence and clinical correlates of pulmonary arterial hypertension in progressive systemic sclerosis. 685 87

An intravenous infusion of 2,000 ml isotonic saline was performed in 8 normotensive, normoreninemic patients with progressive systemic sclerosis. None of them had clinical evidence of renal disease. Total and proximal fractional excretion of sodium was reduced when compared with that of 8 normal subjects. No correlation was found with para-aminohippurate (PAH) clearance values. Two years after this study was done, 4 patients developed arterial hypertension; interestingly, plasma renin activity remained within the normal range. Reduced sodium excretion is suggested as having a pathogenetic role in the hypertension of progressive systemic sclerosis.
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PMID:Functional renal involvement in normotensive patients with progressive systemic sclerosis: impaired sodium excretion during isotonic saline infusion. 700 2

Renal involvement is a common cause of death in patients with systemic sclerosis (diffuse scleroderma). The poor prognosis is due to malignant hypertension and rapid deterioration of renal function. Therefore bilateral nephrectomy followed by hemodialysis and transplantation are proposed to avoid fatal outcome. The authors describe the case of a 37 year-old male suffering from diffuse scleroderma, and who developed malignant hypertension and renal failure. The renal biopsy and biological investigations showed thrombotic microangiopathy. The plasma renin activity was in a very high range. Control of hypertension and improvement of renal function were obtained by major antihypertensive drugs, i.e. intra-muscular clonidine, propranolol and dihydralazine. 14 months later, plasma creatinine is 2 mg/100 ml and blood pressure is 140/80 mm Hg. This case and similar ones reviewed in the literature demonstrate that bilateral nephrectomy should be performed in "scleroderma renal crisis" only after failure of very potent antihypertensive therapy.
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PMID:[Resolution of scleroderma renal crisis with thrombotic microangiopathy. Case report (author's transl)]. 702 64


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