Related Experiment Videos
Extracorporeal photochemotherapy treatment for acute lung rejection episode
G Andreu1, A Achkar, J P Couetil
1Blood Bank, Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Broussais, France.
Background And Methods:
We investigated extracorporeal photochemotherapy--which consists of the collection of blood mononuclear cells by means of a cell separator, their exposure to ultraviolet A light in the presence of a photoactivatable molecule such as 8-methoxypsoralen, and their intravenous reinjection into the patient--for the treatment of an acute lung rejection episode in a severely infected patient, assuming that its mechanism of action is an immunomodulation rather than an actual immunosuppression.
Results:
Three weeks after the simultaneous beginning of antiinfectious and extracorporeal photochemotherapy treatments, the patient improved clinically. Acute lung rejection was no longer detectable histologically 4 weeks after the beginning of extracorporeal photochemotherapy. Twenty-two months after the beginning of extracorporeal photochemotherapy (47 months after transplantation), the patient was living a normal life.
Conclusions:
We believe this treatment may be considered for further studies not only in acute lung rejection therapy when intensive immunosuppression is contraindicated but also as a means of rejection prevention.