Table 1.

Clinical outcome and treatment-related morbidity of patients with polychondritis or SLE in complete remission

Patient*	Follow up (months)	ANA†	Anti-double-stranded DNA† ELISA‡ (U/ml) CL-IF	Cardiolipin†§ (U/ml) IgG/IgM	Other parameters†	Complement† (md/dl) C3/C4	Steroid dosage (mg/day)†¶	Karnofsky score (%)†	ECLAM score†	Side effects during immunoablation
1     PC/female/41 years/1985	21	No relevance	No relevance	No relevance	Tracheal involvement, costosternal pain, arthralgias	No relevance	62.5	60	No relevance	SIRS**: WHO grade IV Local infection Interstitial pneumonia and capillary leakage DIC Reactivation of gastrointestinal ulcer
					↓		↓	↓
					Complete resolution		3	100
2 SLE/female/27 years/1987	19	1:5120	518  /  1:64	38    /    54	∅	82    /    10	35	40	6.5	SIRS**: WHO grade IV Septicaemia and pneumonia in aplasia: WHO grade I Flares of disease (abdominal vasculitis, arthralgias, serositis)
		↓	↓         ↓	↓         ↓		↓          ↓	↓	↓	↓
		Negligible	<cut-off  ∅	<31     <31		140       22	5	100	2
3 SLE/female/48 years/1993	16	1:5120	5040 / 1:128	88 / 379	α -Ro+	122   /   14	20	60	6	SIRS**: WHO grade IV Septicaemia Local infection Liver haematoma: WHO grade II SIRS**: WHO grade IV
		↓	↓         ↓	↓         ↓	↓	↓         ↓	↓	↓	↓
		1:80	<cut-off  ∅	<31     <31	∅	164      27	4	100	2
4    SLE/male/37 years/1989	10	1:2560	976 / 1:128	33   /   56	α-Ro/  Proteinuria α-La+   8.8 g/day	<44  /  <5	100	70	10
		↓	↓         ↓	↓         ↓	↓            ↓	↓         ↓	↓	↓	↓
		1:160	<cut-off  ∅	<31     <31	∅    0.8 g/day	120     22	5	100	2

^*Characteristics: number/disease/sex/age/year of diagnosis. ^†Values above the arrow represent the admission values and those below the arrow represent the present status. ^‡ELISA cut-off was 118 iU/ml. ^§The cut-offs for IgG and IgM anticardiolipin were 48 and 44 U/ml, respectively. ^¶Doses corresponding to prednisolone equivalents. ^**SIRS due to application of cyclophosphamide and ATG. CL-IF, Crithidia luciliae immunofluorescence; PC, relapsing polychondritis; DIC, disseminated intravascular coagulation; ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; SIRS, systemic inflammatory response syndrome; WHO, World Health Organization.