Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis: Long-discussed but yet-to-be-known.

Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is a chronic benign inflammatory disease of the breast with unknown etiology. It is an important diagnostic and therapeutic challenge, as most patients were initially misdiagnosed by their primary care physicians, leading to diagnostic confusion and heightened anxiety. Although several triggers have been proposed for development of IGM, the etiologic association of neither of them has been documented. Three main hypotheses about the possible causes of IGM have been suggested, including autoimmune response, infectious disease, and hormonal disruption. Here, we discuss a hypothetical perspective of IGM to explain the possible role of autoinflammation in the pathogenesis of the disease. We also reviewed the previously published literature on pathogenesis of IGM.

Can Procalcitonin Add to the Prognostic Power of the Severity Scoring System in Adults with Pneumonia?

BACKGROUND: The first decision confronting clinicians in the management of patients with community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is whether the patient is to be hospitalized or not. We sought to validate the pneumonia scoring system and assess the power of procalcitonin (PCT) level to predict in-hospital mortality (IHM) and intensive vasopressor and respiratory support (IVRS) requirements in patients with CAP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 120 patients with CAP were evaluated for severity of illness based on the defined scoring systems including pneumonia severity index (PSI), confusion, urea, respiratory rate, blood pressure, age>65 (CURB-65), confusion, respiratory rate, blood pressure, age>65 (CRB-65), infectious diseases society of America/American thoracic society 2007 criteria (IDSA/ATS 2007) and systolic blood pressure, multilobar infiltrate, albumin, respiratory rate, tachycardia, confusion, low oxygen, low pH (SMART-COP). Demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiographic data were collected prospectively. The accuracy of each scoring system in predicting IVRS requirement and IHM was assessed from the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). Level of PCT was determined by semi-quantitative PCT-Q method (BRAHMS). The accuracy of the defined scoring systems, PCT levels and each scoring system plus PCT levels in prediction of IHM and IVRS requirement was analyzed. RESULTS: The accuracy of PCT levels in predicting IHM and IVRS requirement based on AUC was 0.542 and 0.658, respectively and the best threshold was ≥ 2ng/mL for both of them. Adding the level of procalcitonin to different scoring systems (based on the defined scoring systems) improved the accuracy of all systems. CONCLUSION: We do not suggest using the PCT level alone as a predictor for mortality and IVRS requirement. Instead, we suggest PSI plus PCT and IDSA/ATS 2007 plus PCT as accurate predictors for IHM and SMART-COP plus PCT for IVRS requirement in patients who presented with CAP.

Etiological Diagnosis of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Adult Patients: A Prospective Hospital-Based Study in Mashhad, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is the third most common cause of death in the world, and mortality is highest for patients who require hospitalization. OBJECTIVES: This prospective observational study is an etiological survey of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) over a 12-month period in the Iranian city of Mashhad. To our knowledge, this is one of the first prospective hospital-based studies to comprehensively evaluate the epidemiological, demographical, clinical, and prognostic factors of patients with CAP in Iran. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied all adult patients (aged ≥ 16 years) with CAP admitted to Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, between February 2013 and January 2014. The etiological diagnosis of CAP was made through conventional culturing and staining of respiratory secretions (i.e. sputum and pleural fluid), standard BACTEC™ Plus Aerobic/F bottles for blood cultures, and the immunochromatographic assays BinaxNOW(®) Streptococcus pneumoniae antigen and BinaxNOW(®) Legionella pneumophila antigen for the detection of S. pneumoniae antigen and L. pneumophila serogroup 1 antigen, respectively. RESULTS: Among 120 patients with CAP, the most common etiology was S. pneumoniae (24.4%), followed by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (17.5%), S. aureus (6.7%), polymicrobial agents including anaerobes (4.2%), complicated hydatid cyst (2.5%), Influenza A virus (4.2%; including 2 cases of mixed Influenza A-bacterial infection), and Klebsiella pneumoniae, Brucella melitensis, Mucor, and varicella, each in 0.8% of the patients. The diagnosis of pneumonia remained unknown in 49 (40%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: Tuberculosis was an important cause of CAP in our region. Hence, it should be considered in all patients admitted with a CAP diagnosis.

How should we manage a patient with invasive mucoromycosis who develops life-threatening reaction to amphotericin B? Report of two cases and literature review.

This report presents two cases of invasive rhino-orbital mucormycosis who had life-threatening reactions to amphotericin B. Both cases were treated with a combination of posaconazole-caspofungin favorably with no evidence of recurrence upon long-term follow-up. To our knowledge, this is the first report of successful treatment of invasive mucormycosis with azole-echinocandin combination. It may suggest that caspofungin exerts additional or even synergistic antimucoral effects to posaconazole.

Treatment for and clinical characteristics of granulomatous mastitis.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the clinical and paraclinical characteristics of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis, the management of our patients, and review the literature on this topic. METHODS: Patients referred to our clinic with a presumptive diagnosis of infectious mastitis were only included in the study if they had histopathologic confirmation of granulomatous mastitis. A systemic or infectious etiology was excluded by the testing of tissues and fluids by staining, culture, and polymerase chain reaction methods. Those patients with no reported etiology were categorized as idiopathic granulomatous mastitis and treated with antiinflammatory drugs. All were monitored for signs of recurrence. RESULTS: All 22 patients with a final diagnosis of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis were women with a mean age (± standard deviation) of 32.8 ± 6.2 years. Initial treatment with a prednisone regimen was given in 15 (68.2%) patients, prednisone plus methotrexate (MTX) in six (27.3%), and MTX alone in one (4.5%). Among the total of 22 patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis, 12 (54.5%) received MTX either as an initial treatment or as an alternative regimen. Of the 22 patients, three (13.6%) had disease recurrence and four (18.2%) experienced adverse drug reactions. Sixteen (72.7%) patients discontinued the initial treatment regimen with acceptable control of disease activity and without recurrence or adverse drug reactions during the follow-up period. CONCLUSION: Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis is a distinct benign breast condition of unknown etiology but several triggers are suspected, including inflammatory, infectious, and hormonal factors. Corticosteroids and MTX, with or without surgery, are the treatment of choice in these patients.