Michael.Scroccaro@f201.n221.z1.fidonet.org (Michael Scroccaro) (06/03/90)
I saw a little snippet on CNN yesterday in which they showed a man who once
had AIDS and now does not. Part of the treatment they used on him was, I
believe, increasing his blood temperature to around 105 degrees for 4 hours.
There's a name for this, but I forget it. Coming from CNN, one might be a
little distrusting of the facts, but it's not the first time I've heard it in
the past 36 hours. Does anyone out there have any hard facts on what's
happening here?
...Mikey
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Uucp: ...{gatech,ames,rutgers}!ncar!asuvax!stjhmc!221!201!Michael.Scroccaro
Internet: Michael.Scroccaro@f201.n221.z1.fidonet.orgdarrell@uunet.UU.NET (Darrell Tangman) (06/05/90)
A friend of mine is a nurse at the hospital where this procedure was performed. I have not seen the CNN reports, but the descriptions I have seen in sci.med.aids match my friend's descriptions of the procedure reasonably well. As I understand it, the procedure was to elevate the patient's body temperature to an extreme degree while maintaining _very_ careful monitoring of blood chemistry and vital signs and replacing some blood chemicals that are rapidly depleted during high fevers. My friend had met the patient prior to the procedure and has seen him since. The patient had Kaposi's with alimentary involvement and possibly pulmonary involvement as well, and now shows apparently complete remission. My friend reports that the patient's blood no longer shows any signs of HIV infection -- I don't know whether my friend was referring to HIV antibody tests or direct tests for presence of the virus. There is concern that HIV infection may remain; there was specific mention of possible infection in the megablasts in the brain (and I hope that means more to some of you than it does to me). To me this all sounds extremely hopeful -- even if it's not a cure, this procedure seems to offer a reasonable hope of prolonging life while the search for a better treatment continues. Certainly the people at the hospital are quite excited about it. (Hospital policy requires that all contacts with the press go through their public relations office. Since the hospital is having problems [unrelated to this case] at present, association of my friend's name with public discussion of the case could be problematical, even in a setting that is not formally "press." I would suggest that someone in Atlanta contact the hospital directly. I think it's Georgia General, but I wasn't paying close enough attention to be certain. I imagine you could find out by contacting CNN.) Darrell Tangman -- darrell@dogwood.atl.ga.us
kwmc@cbnewsj.att.com (Kenneth G Cochran) (06/05/90)
Hyperthermia, which I believe is the technical term for elevated body temperatures was used during World War II before the advent of penicillin as a treatment for syphillis. The idea is that if the organism dies at temperature X and the patient dies at temperature Z, then elevating the patients temperature to Y where X < Y < Z can potentially eliminate the organism. There is some evidence that HIV can hide in the brain out of contact with the blood, so I would doubt if just heating the blood would effect a permanent cure. Thus techniques for raising the whole body temperature are desired. During WWII two techniques were used that I know of 1) dripping modified typhoid "bugs" into the patient in a saline drip inducing high fever, and carefully controlling the rate of infusion to maintain temperature at Y. 2) imersing the patient in in a special 'bath'. (Kettering Hypertherm) this latter technique I believe was so uncomfortable that anethesia was required. How do I know alll this ? ... My father was a doctor who used these techniques during WWII and is researching possible refinements of the process for AIDS treatment in Britain. Of course I have probably missed a few salient points and used amateur terminology, but the underlying principles should be clear. Ken Cochran att!mtdca!kwmc