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Bicalutamide is a selective androgen receptor antagonist. To date, it has been used orally with good efficacy results, but not in mesotherapy. In our center, we assessed whether patients undergoing bicalutamide mesotherapy showed positive responses and tolerated the local administration of bicalutamide. Six premenopausal women, with a mean age of 35.7 years and clinical diagnosis of Olsen Grade II or III female androgenetic alopecia accompanied by significant seborrhea were treated with 1 ml bicalutamide 0.5% mesotherapy. Three monthly sessions were performed. A subtle improvement in hair density was described after the third session. The overall satisfaction of the patients with the treatment was 6.3, on a scale of 1--10. Premenopausal women require several therapeutic approaches to combat severe androgenetic alopecia. Our data showed that bicalutamide mesotherapy was well tolerated and welcomed by the patients; we, therefore, provide a new tool for the management of this pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherothrombotic events are significant factors of mortality and morbidity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The extent that rheological factors may be involved in these events in these patients has not been established. We measured the following rheological parameters in 86 patients with SLE, of whom 16 had suffered venous and/or arterial thrombotic events, and in 86 healthy controls: fibrinogen (Fbg), plasma viscosity (PV), blood viscosity at 230 s-1 both at native haematocrit (BVn 230 s-1) and corrected to 45% (BVc 230 s-1), erythrocyte aggregation at stasis (AE0) and at 3 s-1 (AE1), aggregation time (Ta), aggregation index at 10 s (AI10), disaggregation threshold (γD), and erythrocyte deformability (ED). In addition glucose, total cholesterol (T-Chol), triglycerides (TG), haematocrit (Hct) and Body Mass Index (BMI) were determined. SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) was also assessed. The patients showed a significant increase in BMI (P=0.030), TG (P<0.001), PV (P=0.007), AE0 (P=0.005), AE1 (P=0.006), AI10 (P=0.024), γD (P=0.001), Fbg (P=0.050); and a significant decrease in Ta (P<0.001), Hct (P<0.001) and BVn 230 s-1 (P=0.003). When patients with SLEDAI10 were compared, the latter had lower Hct (P=0.041) and lower BVn 230 s-1 (P=0.017) than those with less SLEDAI. No significant differences were found in any of the parameters analysed on comparing patients who had suffered a thrombotic event with those who had not. Our results suggest that, although patients with SLE have moderate rheological changes, these do not seem to be responsible for the increase in the thrombotic tendency in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behçet's disease (BD) is associated with an increased thrombotic risk, although the prothrombotic mechanisms are not clearly defined. Alterations in blood rheology, specially increased erythrocyte aggregation has been suggested to play an important role in the development of thrombotic events in patients with Behçet's disease. In order to ascertain whether any rheological parameter could be involved in the pathogenesis of thrombotic events in Behçet's disease we have determined plasmatic lipids, fibrinogen, hematocrit, erythrocyte aggregation (Myrenne aggregometer), erythrocyte deformability (Rheodyn SSD), blood viscosity (Brookfield viscosimeter), plasma viscosity (Fresenius capillary viscosimeter) and erythrocyte indexes in Behçet's patients with a non‐active disease when sampling, and a well matched control group. The patient group was made up of 40 Behçet's patients (20 male, 20 female aged 43±12 years) and the control group comprised 70 healthy volunteers (24 male, 46 female aged 45±13 years). Twelve of the 40 Behçet's patients have had a previous documented history of deep vein thrombosis at least six months before entering the study, and the other 28 did not. When patients and controls were compared, patients showed a statistically higher fibrinogen level (p=0.002), plasma viscosity (p=0.003), blood viscosity (p=0.021) and erythrocyte aggregation (p=0.049), the other rheological parameters not being statistically significant. No differences were observed in the rheological parameters when patients with and without a previous thrombotic episode were compared. Our results suggest that rheological alterations do not seem to play any role in the development of thrombotic events in patients with Behçet's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]