Ali Rahman

Bio: Ali Rahman is an academic researcher from Fırat University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Transplantation & Heart transplantation. The author has an hindex of 19, co-authored 76 publications receiving 1534 citations. Previous affiliations of Ali Rahman include University of Manchester.

Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) and obliterative bronchiolitis following pulmonary transplantation.

Abstract: Background: Obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) characterised by small-airway fibrosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation. TGF-β has been implicated in the pathogenesis of fibrosis. Methods We immunohistochemically examined 380 transbronchial biopsies (from 91 pulmonary transplants) using TGF-β polyclonal antibodies. OB and interstitial fibrosis were diagnosed and graded in all biopsies. Other potential histologic and clinical risk factors for OB were analysed. Results Procedures were heart and lung ( n = 32), bilateral sequential lung ( n = 18), and single lung transplantation ( n = 41). The incidence of OB in this group was 28.5%. In all patients with OB, TGF-β was immunolocalized in the airways and lung parenchyma. TGF-β expression was greater in OB patients (median score 8, range 5–12) in comparison to patients without OB (median score 4, range 1–13), p p = .02); recurrent acute rejection episodes ( p p = .0001); and tissue eosinophilia, regardless of the rejection grade ( p Conclusions Increased expression of TGF-β is a risk factor for the development of OB. Other risk factors are recurrent acute rejection, lymphocytic bronchiolitis, tissue eosinophilia, and two mismatches at the HLA-A locus. This suggests that the pathogenesis of progressive small airway fibrosis characteristic of OB may be inflammatory damage, followed by an aberrant repair process due to excessive TGF-β production following allograft injury. Hence, modulation of TGF-β levels or function by antagonists may represent an important approach to control OB.

An alternative surgical technique in orthotopic cardiac transplantation

Abstract: Forty patients underwent orthotopic cardiac transplantation at Wythenshawe Hospital between May 1991 and November 1992. Twenty patients had transplantation using an alternative technique that preserves the shape of the left atrium and leaves the right atrium intact (group A). The remaining twenty had conventional transplantation using the technique described by Lower and Shumway (group B). The patients were randomized to either the new or the conventional technique on an alternate basis. There was no mortality in group A, but two patients in group B developed right ventricular failure and died. Two patients in each group developed nodal rhythm and all four recovered sinus rhythm. Echocardiography and Doppler velocimetry at the transvalvular level confirmed normal atrial function in group A with erratic atrial contraction wave in group B. There was also slightly lower incidence of mitral and tricuspid valve regurgitation in group A than in group B. The improved atrial function in group A may play a part in the prevention of right sided failure following cardiac transplantation.

The International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation Guidelines for the care of heart transplant recipients

Abstract: Institutional Affiliations Chair Costanzo MR: Midwest Heart Foundation, Lombard Illinois, USA Task Force 1 Dipchand A: Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Ontario, Canada; Starling R: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Anderson A: University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chan M: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Desai S: Inova Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax, Virginia, USA; Fedson S: University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA; Fisher P: Ochsner Clinic, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Gonzales-Stawinski G: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Martinelli L: Ospedale Niguarda, Milano, Italy; McGiffin D: University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, USA; Parisi F: Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu, Rome, Italy; Smith J: Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Task Force 2 Taylor D: Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Meiser B: University of Munich/Grosshaden, Munich, Germany; Baran D: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA; Carboni M: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Dengler T: University of Hidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Feldman D: Minneapolis Heart Institute, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Frigerio M: Ospedale Niguarda, Milano, Italy; Kfoury A: Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah, USA; Kim D: University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Kobashigawa J: Cedar-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA; Shullo M: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Stehlik J: University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Teuteberg J: University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Uber P: University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Zuckermann A: University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Task Force 3 Hunt S: Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA; Burch M: Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK; Bhat G: Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, Illinois, USA; Canter C: St. Louis Children Hospital, St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Chinnock R: Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, Loma Linda, California, USA; Crespo-Leiro M: Hospital Universitario A Coruna, La Coruna, Spain; Delgado R: Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA; Dobbels F: Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Grady K: Northwestern University, Chicago, Illlinois, USA; Kao W: University of Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin, USA; Lamour J: Montefiore Medical Center, New York, New York, USA; Parry G: Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Patel J: Cedar-Sinai Heart Institute, Los Angeles, California, USA; Pini D: Istituto Clinico Humanitas, Rozzano, Italy; Pinney S: Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, New York, USA; Towbin J: Cincinnati Children's Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Wolfel G: University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA Independent Reviewers Delgado D: University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Eisen H: Drexler University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Goldberg L: University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Hosenpud J: Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, Florida, USA; Johnson M: University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Keogh A: St Vincent Hospital, Sidney, New South Wales, Australia; Lewis C: Papworth Hospital Cambridge, UK; O'Connell J: St. Joseph Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Rogers J: Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA; Ross H: University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Russell S: Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Vanhaecke J: University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium.

Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome 2001: an update of the diagnostic criteria.

Abstract: Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is a major cause of allograft dysfunction in lung and heart lung transplant recipients. Clinically, progressive airflow limitation develops because of small airway obstruction. The disease has a variable course. Some patients experience rapid loss of lung function and respiratory failure. Others experience either slow progression or intermittent loss of function with long plateaus during which pulmonary function is stable. Histologic confirmation is difficult because transbronchial biopsy specimens often are not sufficiently sensitive for diagnosis. Because BO is difficult to document histologically, in 1993 a committee sponsored by the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) proposed a clinical description of BO, termed bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) and defined by pulmonary function changes rather than histology. Although this system does not require histologic diagnosis, it does recognize it. Transplant centers worldwide have adopted the BOS system as a descriptor of lung allograft dysfunction. This allows centers to use a common language to compare program results. In the years since publication of the BOS system, transplant scientists have studied basic and clinical aspects of lung transplant BO. In this document, we update and summarize new information obtained from this research and incorporate, where appropriate, the results into the BOS criteria. The document will include the following topics: (1) criteria for BOS, (2) BOS considerations in pediatric patients, (3) risk factors for BOS, (4) pathology of BO, (5) surrogate markers for BOS, (6) confounding factors in making a BOS diagnosis, and (7) assessment of response to treatment of BOS.

Aortocoronary Saphenous Vein Graft Disease Pathogenesis, Predisposition, and Prevention

Abstract: Aortocoronary saphenous vein graft disease, with its increasing clinical sequelae, presents an important and unresolved dilemma in cardiological practice. During the 1st month after bypass surgery, vein graft attrition results from thrombotic occlusion, while later the dominant process is atherosclerotic obstruction occurring on a foundation of neointimal hyperplasia. Although the risk factors predisposing to vein graft atherosclerosis are broadly similar to those recognized for native coronary disease, the pathogenic effects of these risk factors are amplified by inherent deficiencies of the vein as a conduit when transposed into the coronary arterial circulation. A multifaceted strategy aimed at prevention of vein graft disease is emerging, elements of which include: continued improvements in surgical technique; more effective antiplatelet drugs; increasingly intensive risk factor modification, in particular early and aggressive lipid-lowering drug therapy; and a number of evolving therapies, such as gene transfer and nitric oxide donor administration, which target vein graft disease at an early and fundamental level. At present, a key measure is to circumvent the problem of vein graft disease by preferential selection of arterial conduits, in particular the internal mammary arteries, for coronary bypass surgery whenever possible.