Transventricular endoscopic biopsy of suprasellar tumors: a pediatric case series

Background and purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of transventricular neuroendoscopic biopsies in pediatric patients with suprasellar tumors.

Methods

Twenty-three pediatric patients (12 males and 11 females) with suprasellar tumors underwent transventricular neuroendoscopic biopsy at our institute by a single surgeon from 2000 to 2011. Neuronavigation has been combined with endoscopic procedures since 2008. Neuroendoscopic biopsies were performed to verify the histopathological diagnosis of neoplasms and to plan appropriate treatment strategies.

Results

Neuroendoscopic biopsy specimens were appropriate for diagnosis in 22 of the 23 patients (95.7 %) and revealed 14 germ cell tumors (12 germinomas, one choriocarcinoma, and one immature teratoma), seven astrocytomas, and one craniopharyngioma. Subsequent treatment modalities including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or microscopic surgery were determined according to the pathological findings. Seventeen of the 23 patients (73.9 %) showed ventriculomegaly. Among them, ventriculomegaly in 14 patients was resolved after an endoscopic procedure and/or adjuvant chemotherapy, but the remaining three patients (17.6 %) required a ventriculoperitoneal shunt to relieve the ventriculomegaly. The pathologic diagnosis of these three patients was uniformly a large astrocytoma. Navigational tracking was helpful to enter small ventricles and the narrow foramen of Monro in patients without hydrocephalus. No mortalities were related to the procedures, but three transient diabetes insipidus (13.0 %) cases occurred but fully recovered before the patients received adjuvant therapy.

Conclusion

Endoscopic biopsy is feasible and shows acceptable operation-related complications to obtain tissue from suprasellar tumors in pediatric patients. Navigation-assisted neuroendoscopic procedure improves the accuracy of the endoscopic approach. An associated endoscopic procedure can resolve hydrocephalus, but it has limitations with large ventricle-occupying tumors.     

Prognostic factors of facial nerve function after vestibular schwannoma removal via translabyrinthine approach

Background: Prediction of facial function is a major concern when proposing surgery for patients with vestibular schwannoma (VS).

Aims/objectives: To evaluate postoperative facial function of patients who underwent operation of VS via a translabyrinthine approach (TL), and to analyze factors that influence facial functions.

Material and methods: A total of 91 VS patients, who were operated via a TL approach, between March 1997 and December 2016, were analyzed. Demographics, tumor-related factors, and operative findings were collected. Facial function was assessed according to the House-Brackmann (HB) grading system before surgery, immediately after surgery, and 1-, 3-, 6-months, and 1 year after surgery.

Results: In cases of patients that had a tumor that extended to the CPA, an unsatisfactory facial outcome was noted in 12 (30.0%) patients. FN outcomes after tumor removal depend on tumor size (p?=?.040). Among FN-related factors, only the FN recovery timing was correlated with facial outcomes (p?=?.030). Univariable and multivariable analysis revealed that tumor size and the timing of FN recovery were significant as favorable prognostic factors for good facial outcomes.

Conclusions and significance: Tumor size and the FN recovery timing are significant prognostic factors of facial outcome in VS patients who underwent operations via a TL approach.     

Cell membrane and nuclear expression of programmed death ligand-1 in prostate needle biopsy tissue in prostate cancer patients undergoing primary radiation therapy

BackgroundProgrammed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) expression in cancer is often associated with cancer aggressiveness and responsiveness to treatment with PD-1 pathway inhibitors. We conducted a systematic study on the expression of membranous PD-L1 (mPD-L1) and nuclear PD-1-L1 (nPD-L1) in prostate needle biopsy specimens of prostate cancer patients who underwent primary radiotherapy and analyzed the association between PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients.MethodA total of 971 cancer-containing prostate needle biopsy cores from 172 patients were immunohistochemically stained with anti-PD-L1 antibody. The association of PD-L1 expression with Gleason score and tumor volume percentage was evaluated for each biopsy core. Total of 171 patients were divided according to mPD-L1 or nPD-L1 expression, and clinicopathological characteristics were compared between the positive and negative groups. The prognostic significance of mPD-L1, nPD-L1 and common prognostic factors were analyzed in terms of biochemical recurrence.ResultTotal of 15% and 46% of biopsy cores were stained positive for mPD-L1 and nPD-L1, respectively. There was a positive correlation between Gleason score and mPD-L1 and a negative correlation between Gleason score and nPD-L1. Between mPD-L1 and nPD-L1, there was no significant correlation. There was intraindividual heterogeneity in PD-L1 expression among different Gleason scores. For mPD-L1, only pretreatment PSA was significantly higher in the positive group than in the negative, but not Gleason score and T stage. For nPD-L1, Gleason score and T stage were significantly higher in the positive group than in the negative. Both mPD-L1 and nPD-L1 expression were not predictive of BCR-free survival in univariate and multivariate analyses.ConclusionsOur results suggest that PD-1 pathway inhibitor may be a potential therapeutic option in high risk prostate cancer patients as early as neoadjuvant setting. The novel discovery of PD-L1 expression in the nucleus of PC should be subjected to further research.     

Effect of Carbohydrate Source on Kanagawa-Type Hemolysis of Vibrio parahaemolyticus

Almost all strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus produced Kanagawa-type hemolysis on media of high salt content in the presence of fermentable carbohydrates.     

阿克拉霉素A聚氰基丙烯酸异丁酯毫微粒冻干针剂体内外抗肝癌活性

阿克拉霉素A聚氰基丙烯酸异丁酯毫微粒的冻干针剂,能明显抑制体外培养人肝癌细胞株7703的生长,IC50为0.28μg·ml^-1。在0.8μg·ml^-1浓度时,克隆形成抑制率为90%,抑制作用有明显剂量依赖关系而未见明显时间依赖关系。静脉给药后,对常位移植人肝癌模型裸小鼠的抑瘤率为86.84%,肿瘤细胞增殖活性阳性率为20.83%。体内外均显示明显的抗肝癌活性,且体内抗肝癌活性比阿克拉霉素A冻干针剂强。     

Hemorrhagic cystitis following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

We conducted a retrospective study to investigate the incidence, risk factors, and clinical features of hemorrhagic cystitis (HC) following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Adult patients who developed HC after allo-HCT were identified from the HCT database of the Asan Medical Center and their medical records were reviewed. From December 1993 to August 2001, a total of 210 adult patients underwent allo-HCT. Fifty-one patients developed HC with a cumulative incidence of 25.7%. The median onset of HC was post-transplant day 24 (range, -2 to 474), and the median duration was 31 days (range, 8 to 369). Significant risk factors for HC by univariate analysis included diagnosis of chronic myelogenous leukemia (p=0.028), unrelated HCT (p=0.029), grade III-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) (p<0.001), extensive chronic GVHD (p=0.001), and positive cytomegalovirus antigenemia between post transplant days 31 and 60 (p=0.031). Multivariate analysis showed that grade III-IV acute GVHD was the most important risk factor for the occurrence of HC after allo-HCT (odds ratio, 3.38; 95% CI, 1.36-8.39). Late-onset HC, which occurred beyond 3 weeks after allo-HCT, was more frequently associated with GVHD than early-onset HC (p=0.007). Our data suggest that a portion of late-onset HC might be a manifestation of GVHD.