Primary retroperitoneal cavernous hemangioma: An exceptional disease in adulthood

Primary retroperitoneal cavernous hemangioma is an extremely rare disease in clinical practice. It is classified as a vascular tumor. Only three cases have been reported in the literature. The diagnosis is uncommon due to the lack of specific radiological features. It becomes symptomatic as a consequence of its enormous size or complications like rupture or compression. We herein report a unique case of primary retroperitoneal cavernous hemangioma treated with conventional surgery in a 35‐year‐old male patient admitted to our department for chronic abdominal pain. Retroperitoneal cavernous hemangioma is an extremely rare vascular tumor in adulthood. Confirmation is made by histopathological examination after total surgical resection.     

Diagnosis and management of severe atherosclerosis of the ascending aorta and aortic arch during cardiac surgery: focus on aortic replacement

Objective: Severe atherosclerosis of the ascending aorta and arch frequently causes difficulties during heart operations, hindering surgical manoeuvres and potentially leading to systemic embolism. The aim of our study was to assess the safety and effectiveness of replacing the atherosclerotic ascending aorta in this setting. Methods: Aortic atherosclerosis was characterized by epiaortic ultrasonographic scanning in 90.1% of 1927 consecutive adult patients undergoing cardiac operations, and by computed tomographic chest scanning in selected cases. Thirty-six of the 152 patients requiring major derangements from our standard practice due to aortic atherosclerosis underwent replacement of the ascending aorta and constitute the study group. Replacement of the aorta was extended to the arch in 13 cases (36.1%). It was associated with single or multiple valve surgery in 34 patients (94.4%) and with coronary revascularization in 30 (83.3%). Two patients (5.6%) underwent coronary bypass grafting without valve surgery. A cryoablation procedure was associated in three patients with permanent atrial fibrillation. Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest was employed in 34 patients (94.4%), while proximal aortic disease allowed conventional distal crossclamping in 2 cases. The risk of operative mortality was estimated by the logistic EuroSCORE both with and withholding the variable ‘surgery of the thoracic aorta’. All survivors were followed-up for 1–41 months (16 ± 12). Results: Two patients died in the hospital (5.6%) and two during follow-up, for a cumulative survival of 91.3% and 85.6% at 1 and 3 years, respectively (hospital deaths included). The hospital death rate compared favourably with the expected estimates of 25.5% (p < 0.05) and 10.3% (p = 0.67) obtained by the EuroSCORE full model and without ‘aortic surgery’, respectively. In-hospital adverse neurologic events occurred in six patients (16.7%), including stroke in one patient (2.8%) and neurocognitive disturbances in five (13.9%), although they were all transient and cleared before discharge. Excess bleeding required re-exploration in four patients (11.1%), and one more patient underwent emergency grafting for acute postoperative coronary occlusion. Ten patients (38.5%) were intubated for longer than 24 h. Conclusion: Despite significant perioperative morbidity, replacement of the severely atherosclerotic aorta is worth consideration to avert expectedly higher death and stroke rates.     

Bone Mineral Density in Young Women on Methadone Substitution

Little is known about bone mineral density (BMD) in patients with heroin addiction and subsequent methadone substitution. The goal of this study was to compare bone mass density of young HIV-negative women on long-term methadone treatment to a local group of young healthy women. Eleven women (aged 20–29) with previous heroin dependence and current methadone substitution (20–140 mg, median 60, daily) for 1.5–9 (median 3) years were compared to 30 healthy women (aged 20–28). Participants were examined with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry of the lumbar spine (L2–L4), of the total proximal hip area, and of the femoral neck. Patients and controls had neither current nor lifetime underweight condition, had comparable ages at menarche, and did not differ significantly in current body mass index (21.9 ± 4.0, respectively, 20.5 ± 1.5 kg/m²) in spite of a largely unhealthy lifestyle (cigarette, alcohol, and cocaine consumption in patients). Patients’ total-hip parameters were marginally lower than those of controls (BMD P = 0.054, T score P = 0.049), whereas the femoral neck and lumbar spine parameters did not differ significantly between the two groups. Long-term methadone substitution in HIV-negative women seems to slightly affect bone mass density.     

Axillary Lymph Node Echo-Guided Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytology Enables Breast Cancer Patients to Avoid a Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy. Preliminary Experience and a Review of the Literature

Purpose For many years, the status of the axillary lymph nodes has been determined by an axillary lymphadenectomy. However, a sentinel lymph node biopsy has been shown to effectively replace the need for an axillary lymphadenectomy in order to determine the axillary staging. This study presents the preliminary results regarding the efficacy of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) to identify metastatic axillary lymph nodes in the pre-operative phase. Methods One hundred lymph nodes from 100 patients with histologically and cytologically confirmed breast cancer (cT1–2 cN0) underwent echo-guided FNAC. The diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value [PPV], negative predictive value [NPV]) for the axillary metastases was evaluated based on the histological findings of either a sentinel lymph node biopsy or an axillary lymphadenectomy as a reference standard. Results It was possible to avoid a sentinel lymph node biopsy in 30% of the cases; the sensitivity was 68%, specificity 100%, PPV 100%, and NPV 65%. Echo-guided FNAC of the axillary lymph nodes should thus be included among the regular diagnostic procedures of presurgical staging. Conclusion This simple, inexpensive, and minimally invasive technique makes it possible to avoid the additional cost of a sentinel lymph node biopsy while also sparing the patient the stress of undergoing a second surgery.     

A Swedish consensus on the surgical treatment of concomitant atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common arrhythmia among patients scheduled for open heart surgery and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. According to international guidelines, symptomatic and selected asymptomatic patients should be offered concomitant surgical AF ablation in conjunction with valvular or coronary surgery. The gold standard in AF surgery is the Cox Maze III ("cut-and-sew") procedure, with surgical incisions in both atria according to a specified pattern, in order to prevent AF reentry circuits from developing. Over 90% of patients treated with the Cox Maze III procedure are free of AF after 1 year. Recent developments in ablation technology have introduced several energy sources capable of creating nonconducting atrial wall lesions. In addition, simplified lesion patterns have been suggested, but results with these techniques have been unsatisfactory. There is a clear need for standardization in AF surgery. The Swedish Arrhythmia Surgery Group, represented by surgeons from all Swedish units for cardiothoracic surgery, has therefore reached a consensus on surgical treatment of concomitant AF. This consensus emphasizes adherence to the lesion pattern in the Cox Maze III procedure and the use of biatrial lesions in nonparoxysmal AF.     

An ALS case with a novel D90N-SOD1 heterozygous missense mutation

Abstract Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most common form of motor neuron disease. We describe the case of a patient with a rapidly progressive form of ALS characterized by both upper and lower motor neuron impairment, no early bulbar signs and severe pain in all four extremities. The patient had a heterozygous c.271G > A mutation in SOD1, leading to an amino acids substitution of asparagine to aspartate at position 90 of the protein chain (p.D90N). Our report confirms that ALS patients with D90 codon heterozygous mutations may be associated with rapid progression and a prominent pain syndrome.     

Renal replacement therapy in lupus nephritis

The indications and the choice of renal replacement therapy for lupus patients are similar to those for other uremic patients. However, lupus patients can pose some particular problems. First, 10-28% of patients needing dialysis can have a partial renal function recovery. Therefore, the clinician has to decide whether to administer a rescue treatment, risking side-effects, or to reduce immunosuppression precluding a potential recovery. Many patients on regular dialysis show subdued biological and clinical activity. Others can show a hectic disease activity, particularly in the 1st year. In these cases, treatment is difficult, as vigorous immunosuppression can expose uremic patients to severe side-effects. The presence of circulating antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) can favor thrombosis or stenosis of vascular access (VA). Renal transplantation is the best therapy for most lupus patients with end-stage renal failure. Many, but not all, studies have reported similar patient and graft survival rates in lupus and in non-lupus transplant recipients. The results are much better with living donor transplantation. Patients with aPL, black patients and those on long-term dialysis have a higher graft failure risk. Candidates with active lupus and/or those with significant iatrogenic morbidity should be advised to wait 6-12 months before transplantation. The recurrence risk of lupus nephritis ranged between 2% and 30% in different studies. The histological picture does not usually show severe features. Antiplatelet agents or anticoagulation can be advised for aPL patients.     

Pathologic Features and Long-term Results in Early Gastric Cancer: Report of 116 Cases 8–13 Years after Surgery

One hundred sixteen patients who underwent surgery for early gastric cancer (EGC) at Careggi General Hospital in Florence between 1987 and 1992 were studied with regard to clinicopathologic features, incidence, and recurrence of the disease. The overall 5-year cumulative survival rate was 87.5%, and the disease-specific 5-year survival rate was 88.2%. EGC was limited to the mucosa in 43 patients (37%), while it infiltrated the submucosa in 73 others (63%). At the time of surgery, 9.5% of patients were found to have lymph node metastasis, always concomitant with submucosal invasion. There was 1 postoperative death (0.8%); 16 patients (13.7%) died of tumor recurrence, and 20 (17.2%) died of unrelated causes. Analysis of recurrence showed an intestinal histotype in 13 patients (81.2%), submucosal infiltration in 14 patients (87.5%), a Pen-A growth pattern in 8 patients (50%), and lymph node involvement in 3 patients (18.7%). The Cox proportional hazard model indicated that age and depth of wall invasion were statistically significant. The best predictor of survival appears to be the depth of invasion within the gastric wall. The claim by several investigators that prognosis for EGC is also associated with the presence of lymph node involvement is not supported by the present study. The postoperative 5-year survival rate in node-negative patients was 88.8% compared to 81.8% in node-positive patients (p = 0.296).     

No effect of transfusion transmitted virus viremia on the distribution and activation of peripheral lymphocytes in hemodialyzed patients

AIM: We aimed to examine the distribution and activation of peripheral T cells in TTV positive (n = 32) and negative (n = 17) hemodialyzed patients. The control group (n = 20) consisted of healthy blood donors. METHOD: TTV-DNA was detected by seminested PCR. CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, CD56, CD3/HLA-DR, CD3/CD69 and the Th1/Th2 ratio of T cells were analyzed by flow cytometry. Circulating IFN-gamma, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta levels were measured by ELISA in the sera. RESULTS: There was no difference between the CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD19 values of HD subjects. In addition, the expression of both activation markers, HLA-DR and CD69, was significantly elevated in the TTV-positive and -negative HD groups compared to the controls, but not showing any difference from each other. The measurements of intracellular cytokines showed the enhanced occurrence of INF-gamma + CD4 T cells, and decreased appearance of IL-4 + CD4 lymphocytes in the HD groups without any significant difference between the TTV virus positive and negative patients. In addition, HD also elevated the expression of IL-10 in CD4 and CD8 (Th2) cells. There were only two significant changes in the levels of circulating cytokines: (a) IL-2 increased; (b) IL-13 decreased in both groups of HD patients compared to the controls, independently of TTV positivity or negativity. CONCLUSIONS: We assume that transfusion-transmitted virus does not cause any specific change in the distribution and activation of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of hemodialyzed patients. Hemodialysis itself, however, results in a significant activation of peripheral T cells with the domination of increased production of Th1 type cytokines, IFN-gamma, IL-2, in contrast to the decreased synthesis of Th2 type cytokines, IL-4 and IL-13. Furthermore, the increased expression of IL-10 in the CD4 and CD8 cells of HD patients can be the sign of a contraregulatory Th2 activation as an answer on the Th1 effect.