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Cryoglobulinemia

Hello everyone,
I'm new to your group, and my mother has HCV with Vasculitis. About six months ago she started to get a very painful rash (or so she thought). After crying for a bout a week, see went to the hospital and was admitted. She spent about 35 days in there with this rash getting worse, and no end in sight. Than one day a visiting Doctor walked in and said I know what this is, it's Cryogobline. From that day forward she has been in complete pain. Is there anyone out there that has had a run in with Cryogbline? and if so how are you being treated? They tell her that she need to take care of the HCV and the Cyro will go away, but she can't take the treatment because it causes the Cryo to flare up. If your wondering what the Cryo does to her, well think of the wore case of hives and add sore joint and swelling. Please help me if you can, I don't know what to do for her. Thank you
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Cryoglobulinemic Vasculitis

The name literally means “cold antibody in the blood”, which refers to the chemical properties of the antibodies that cause this disease: cryoglobulins are antibodies that precipitate under cold conditions. Drug use is a prime risk factor for cryoglobulinemia because more than 90% of cases of cryoglobulinemic vasculitis are associated with hepatitis C infections. Hepatitis C is acquired by injection drug use (needle–sharing), tainted blood products, and (probably rarely), sexual transmission. Treatment of the underlying hepatitis may be an effective therapy for this type of vasculitis.

Cryoglobulins are immunoglobulins that precipitate in the cold and disolve on rewarming. Three types of cryoglobulins are distinguished based on whether the cryoglboulin is monoclonal and has rheumatoid factor activity. Knowing the type usually allows the physician to predict the clinical features; alternatively knowing the clinical features allows one to deduce the type of cryoglobulin. Type I is a monoclonal antibody that does not have rheumatoid factor activity. Most commonly, type I is associated with lymphoma, Waldenström's macroglobulinemia, and multiple myeloma. Because type I cryoglobulins do not easily activate complement, patients with type I are asymptomatic until the level of cryoglobulinemia is sufficiently high to cause hyperviscosity syndrome. Both types II and III are rheumatoid factors — antibodies that bind to the Fc fragment of IgG. Therefore, both types are called mixed cryoglobulins. In type II, the rheumatoid factor is monoclonal, whereas in type III it is polyclonal. Type II is associated with lymphoproliferative diseases, and both types can occur in patients with rheumatic diseases and chronic infections. Cryoglobulinemia is said to be essential when there is no identifiable underlying disease. Type II and III cryoglobulinemia frequently presents as vasculitis, most commonly with recurrentlower extremity purpura, glomerulonephritis, and peripheral neuropathy.

It is now evident that most patients diagnosed with type II or type III mixed essential cryoglobulinemia have the disease as an immune response to chronic hepatitis C infection. The role of hepatitis C virus is suggested by finding that the cryoglobulins in these patients are enriched with anti–hepatitis C antibody and hepatitis C RNA. Moreover, antviral therapy can remit the disease in some patients.

Treatment depends on the type of cryoglobulin, underlying disease, and severity of symptoms. Cryoglobulinemia with severe hyperviscosity syndrome requires plasmapheresis and chemotherapy of the underlying malignancy. Some patients with cryoglobulinemia suffer from mild, recurrent crops of lower extremity purpura that require no specific therapy. More extensive vasculitis associated with autoimmune diseases or essential cryoglobulinemia may respond to prednisone, cyclophosphamide, or both. The most effective treatment for cryoglobulinemia associated with hepatitis C has not yet been determined. Brief use of prednisone followed by 6 months of interferon alfa has produced clinical and liver function test improvement, but relapse of liver disease and vasculitis often occurs when interferon alfa is stopped.

All information contained within the Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center website is intended for educational purposes only. Visitors are encouraged to consult other sources and confirm the information contained within this site. Consumers should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they may have read on this website.

Thanks to the Vasculitis Centre Website for this information:

http://vasculitis.med.jhu.edu/typesof/cryoglobulinemia.html
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Avatar universal
Cryoglobulins are antibody complexes that precipitate as serum is cooled and that dissolve on rewarming (1). These complexes contain hepatitis C virus (HCV) particles and can precipitate in the walls of small and medium sized vessels. There are three types (I, II, III) of cryoglobulinemia .Type II or “mixed” cryoglobulinemia (MC) is the one most commonly associated with chronic hepatitis C infection. This type is called “mixed” because the antibodies that are found are of two kinds. One antibody is a polyclonal (i.e., from more than one group of cells) antibody (IgG), and the other antibody is a monoclonal (IgM) directed against the IgG. The frequency with which cryoglobulins are detectable in serum of patients with CHC depends on how carefully samples are handled and upon the methods used for detection of cryoglobulins. Because these proteins precipitate from serum as it is cooled, the blood must be kept at body temperature after it has been obtained until it has clotted and the serum has been drawn off. Then the serum is tested for the abnormal proteins. If this precaution is not observed, the test may be spuriously negative.

The skin, kidney, nerves and joints can be affected by cryoglobulins. Cutaneous leukocytoclastic vasculitis is a skin lesion that appears as palpable purpura (hemorrhages in the skin that result in the appearance of purplish spots or patches) that usually affects the lower extremities over the shins (Fig 1). These lesions are caused by plugging of the dermal capillaries (very small blood vessels in the skin). Successful treatment of the hepatitis C infection with interferon (+ ribavirin) usually results in resolution of the skin lesions.

Cryoglobulins also affect the nervous system in some HCV infected patients. The most frequent symptoms and signs are those of chronic sensory polyneuropathy, although acute or subacute encephalopathy has been reported as well (2,3). “Restless leg syndrome” and Guillain-Barré syndrome have also been reported (4). The mechanism of nerve involvement is thought to be MC-well-established related vasculitis of the small blood vessels that supply the nerves. There is no well-established treatment. Treatment with interferon, corticosteroids, or cyclophosphamide (cytoxan) has not shown any consistent results although some patients appear to respond to one or a combination of these drugs (5).
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