Abstract: Purpose: Cardiac involvement is not a common feature of the scleroderma, but may be important. The aim of this study was to find the frequency and the characteristics of cardiac involvement in sclroderma. Methods: Our cases were selected consecutively from 1997 to 1999, according to the American College of Rheumatology criteria. A complete cardiac examination (clinical, electrocardiography, chest X-ray, echocardiography, exercise test) was performed for all patients. These data were ...
Abstract: Purpose: To use clinical and laboratory tests instead of kidney biopsy for the diagnosis of type IV WHO renal involvement in SLE. Methods: Patients with SLE were divided in two groups according to their kidney biopsy: type IV WHO (110 patients) and other forms (98 patients). Each group was further divided in two groups: the learning sample and the validation ample. The classification and regression tree method was used for the ...
Abstract: Introduction: The ocular lesions of Behcet's disease (BD) progress usually toward severe loss of vision or blindness, and therefore need aggressive treatment. However, even such a treatment is not always successful. We used classification and regression tree (cart) method to see if some factors could predict the result of the future treatment. Methods: Eight hundreds and thirty patients who fulfilled the Iran criteria for BD were selected for this study. They ...
Abstract: The etiology and pathogenesis of Behcet's disease (BD) are still unknown. As for other autoimmune disorders, in a special genetic background an exogenous or endogenous antigen acts as trigger in up-regulating and presenting the pathogenic epitope. The immune system reacts in an abnormal way, in the presence of a probable neuro-endocrine dysfunction(hyperprolactinemia?), by an exaggerated inflammatory response leading to the lesions of the disease. Genetic background: On the basis of chromosomal ...
Abstract: Purpose: Ocular lesions are the major cause of morbidity in Behcet's Disease. Cytotoxic drugs are the main therapeutic agents. We present here a comparative study of 8 methods in 1056 treated cases. Materials & Methods: In an open, nonrandomized control study, Pulse Cyclophosphamide (PCP), low dose PCP (LDP), oral Cyclophosphamide (OCP), weakly methotrexate (MTX), chlorambucil (CHL), cyclosporine A (CYA), azathioprine (AZA), and combination therapy with LDP and MTX (COM) were used ...