United network for organ sharing outcomes after heart transplantation for al compared to ATTR cardiac amyloidosis.

Light-chain (AL) cardiac amyloidosis (CA) has a worse prognosis than transthyretin (ATTR) CA. In this single-center study, we compared post-heart transplant (OHT, orthotopic heart transplantation) survival for AL and ATTR amyloidosis, hypothesizing that these differences would persist post-OHT. Thirty-nine patients with CA (AL, n = 18; ATTR, n = 21) and 1023 non-amyloidosis subjects undergoing OHT were included. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to evaluate the impact of amyloid subtype and era (early era: from 2001 to 2007; late era: from 2008 to 2018) on survival post-OHT. Survival for non-amyloid patients was greater than ATTR (P = .034) and AL (P < .001) patients in the early era. One, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were higher for ATTR patients than AL patients in the early era (100% vs 75%, 67% vs 50%, and 67% vs 33%, respectively, for ATTR and AL patients). Survival in the non-amyloid cohort was 87% at 1 year, 81% at 3 years, and 76% at 5 years post-OHT. In the late era, AL and ATTR patients had unadjusted 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates of 100%, which was comparable to non-amyloid patients (90% vs 84% vs 81%). Overall, these findings demonstrate that in the current era, differences in post-OHT survival for AL compared to ATTR are diminishing; OHT outcomes for selected patients with CA do not differ from non-amyloidosis patients.

Foreign body-induced abscess resembling pancreatic neoplasia.

We report the case of a 44-year-old man presenting with abdominal pain and leukocytosis. His initial computed tomography demonstrated a pancreatic head mass concerning for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. However, on further review of the patient's imaging, the mass was determined to be an abscess caused by foreign body ingestion and gastric perforation rather than cancer. This report describes the clinical and radiographic distinctions between pancreatic neoplasia and abscess. It also reviews the pertinent medical literature on how such viscus perforations affect subsequent prognostication and clinical management.

Unmasking Evans syndrome: T-cell phenotype and apoptotic response reveal autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS).

Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS) is a rare disorder of disrupted lymphocyte homeostasis. Clinical manifestations of ALPS vary but typically include autoimmune cytopenias, organomegaly, lymphadenopathy, and increased risk of malignancies. A similar spectrum of symptoms may be seen in some patients with Evans syndrome (ES), a hematologic disorder defined by autoimmune destruction of at least 2 hematologic cell types. We hypothesized that a subset of patients diagnosed with ES may have ALPS. We screened 12 children with ES by flow cytometric analysis for CD4-/CD8- (double negative) T cells (DNTs) and with the definitive test for ALPS, defective in vitro Fas-mediated apoptosis. Six of the patients had elevated DNTs, suggestive of ALPS and also had defective Fas-mediated apoptosis. The other 6 patients displayed normal T-cell apoptosis; 5 of whom had normal DNTs, and 1 had a borderline result. Thus, 7 (58%) of 12 patients with ES had elevated DNTs suggestive of ALPS, with functional confirmation in 6 of 7. This suggests that analysis of DNTs may be a sensitive first-line screening test, serving as a marker of patients who should undergo definitive testing for ALPS. Our data further suggest that a number of patients with ES may have ALPS, a novel finding with important therapeutic implications.