Gastric inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, a rare mesenchymal neoplasm: A case report.

BACKGROUND: The inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare mesenquimal tumor of doubtful biological behaviour. It's characterised for affecting mainly children and young adults, although it can appear at any age, being the lungs the primary affected organ (in children it represents 20% of all primary pulmonary tumors). CASE SUMMARY: We present the case of a 45 year old woman, with a computed tomography (CT) finding of injury on the anterior surface of the fundus/gastric body and a solid perigastric injury of 12 mm in the ecoendoscopy. The case is presented in the tumor committee deciding to perform a laparoscopic wedge resection. The histological diagnosis was a IMT. The diagnosis is based on imaging tests like the abdominal CT, abdominal ecography and the ecoendoscopy but to confirm the diagnosis a pathological study is necessary. CONCLUSION: Due to the unpredictable nature of this tumor, surgical resection is the best therapeutic option.

Determining the usefulness of systematic 18F-FDG PET/CT for the management of invasive fungal infection (PETIFI project): a prospective national multicentre cohort study protocol.

INTRODUCTION: The evaluation of staging and activity of invasive fungal infection (IFI) is used to adjust the type and duration of antifungal therapy (AT). Typically anatomy-based imaging is used. Positron emission tomography/CT with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG PET/CT) not only evaluates more than one body area in one session, but adds functional information to the anatomic data provided by usual imaging techniques and can potentially improve staging of IFI and monitoring of the response to therapy. Our objective is to analyse the impact of the systematic use of 18F-FDG PET/CT in IFI diagnostic and therapeutic management. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Multicentre prospective cohort study of IFI with performance of systematic 18F-FDG PET/CT at diagnosis and follow-up that will be carried out in 14 Spanish tertiary hospitals. It is planned to include 224 patients with IFI over a 2-year study period. Findings and changes in management before and after 18F-FDG PET/CT will be compared. Additionally, the association of initial quantitative 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters with response to therapy will be evaluated.The primary endpoint is to compare the yield of 18F-FDG PET/CT with standard management without 18F-FDG PET/CT in IFI at initial assessment (staging) and in monitoring the response to treatment.The impact of the results of 18F-FDG PET/CT on the diagnostic-therapeutic management of patients with IFI (added value), as well as the prognostic ability of different quantification parameters of 18F-FDG PET/CT will be secondary endpoints. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda University Hospital approved the protocol of the study at the primary site. We plan to publish the results in high-impact journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05688592.

Parvimonas micra: A potential causative pathogen to consider when diagnosing odontogenic brain abscesses.

BACKGROUND: Brain abscess is a life-threatening entity which requires prompt and long-term antibiotic therapy, generally associated with surgical drainage, and eradicating the primary source of infection. Parvimonas micra (Pm) has only been reported once before as the lone infecting organism of an orally originated, solitary brain abscess. Diagnosing brain abscesses caused by this Gram-positive anaerobic coccus, constituent of the oral cavity flora, is challenging, and an optimal treatment regimen has not been well established. We report the diagnosis and successful treatment of a Pm caused odontogenic brain abscess. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 62-year-old immunocompetent male with a right-parietal brain abscess presented with headache and seizures. He was started on empirical antibiotic therapy and subsequently underwent surgical drainage. The only source of infection found was severe periodontitis with infected mandibular cysts. Thus, tooth extraction and cyst curettage were performed 1 week after brain surgery. Cultures of brain abscess fluid were negative, but amplification of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) with polymerase chain reaction demonstrated Pm. After 3 weeks of intravenous ceftriaxone and metronidazole, the patient was switched to oral metronidazole and moxifloxacin for 6 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: This case highlights the potential risk of untreated dental infections causing brain abscesses. Pm should be considered as a possible pathogen of odontogenic brain abscesses despite its presence usually not being detected by standard bacterial cultures. Therefore, 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis is strongly recommended for bacterial identification before defining brain abscesses as cryptogenic.

A Retrospective Controlled Cohort Study of the Impact of Glucocorticoid Treatment in SARS-CoV-2 Infection Mortality.

Evidence to support the use of steroids in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia is lacking. We aim to determine the impact of steroid use for COVID-19 pneumonia on hospital mortality. We performed a single-center retrospective cohort study in a university hospital in Madrid, Spain, during March of 2020. To determine the role of steroids in in-hospital mortality, patients admitted with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pneumonia and treated with steroids were compared to patients not treated with steroids, and we adjusted with a propensity score for patients on steroid treatment. Survival times were compared using the log rank test. Different steroid regimens were compared and adjusted with a second propensity score. During the study period, 463 out of 848 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia fulfilled inclusion criteria. Among them, 396 (46.7%) patients were treated with steroids and 67 patients were not. Global mortality was 15.1%. The median time to steroid treatment from symptom onset was 10 days (interquartile range [IQR], 8 to 13 days). In-hospital mortality was lower in patients treated with steroids than in controls (13.9% [55/396] versus 23.9% [16/67]; hazard ratio [HR], 0.51 [95% confidence interval, 0.27 to 0.96]; P = 0.044). Steroid treatment reduced mortality by 41.8% relative to the mortality with no steroid treatment (relative risk reduction, 0.42 [95% confidence interval, 0.048 to 0.65]). Initial treatment with 1 mg/kg of body weight/day of methylprednisolone versus steroid pulses was not associated with in-hospital mortality (13.5% [42/310] versus 15.1% [13/86]; odds ratio [OR], 0.880 [95% confidence interval, 0.449 to 1.726]; P = 0.710). Our results show that the survival of patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia is higher in patients treated with glucocorticoids than in those not treated. Rates of in-hospital mortality were not different between initial regimens of 1 mg/kg/day of methylprednisolone and glucocorticoid pulses.

Impact of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia in a tertiary hospital: Mortality and prognostic factors. / Impacto de la bacteriemia por Pseudomonas aeruginosa en un hospital de tercer nivel: mortalidad y factores pronósticos.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia is associated with a very high mortality, conditioned by comorbidity, source, severity of the episode and lack of adequate treatment. The aim of the study is to know the mortality and prognostic factors of bacteraemia by P.aeruginosa in our hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study of P.aeruginosa bacteraemia detected between 2009 and 2014. Epidemiological, clinical and microbiological characteristics were described. A risk factor analysis for mortality was performed. RESULTS: We analysed 110 episodes of bacteraemia, which was more frequent in men of advanced age and with a history of hospitalisation, comorbidity and immunosuppression. Most of the bacteraemias were secondary (mainly of respiratory or urinary source) and led to a significant clinical deterioration. The presence of antibiotic resistance was very high, with 27.3% of multiresistant strains. Empirical treatment was adequate in 60.0% and 92.3% for definite treatment. Overall mortality was 37.3% and attributable mortality was 29.1%. The most important prognostic factors were Charlson index ≥3, history of haematologic malignancy, neutropenia and previous use of corticosteroids, source of bacteraemia, Pitt index ≥4, renal insufficiency, adequate definite treatment, empiric treatment with piperacillin/tazobactam in severe episodes and focus control. CONCLUSION: P.aeruginosa bacteraemia is associated with a very high mortality, possibly more related to previous comorbidity and severity of the episode than to the treatment chosen. However, the main goal in management remains to optimise treatment, including focus control.

Clostridium difficile: deleterious impact on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

C. difficile infection (CDI), the most common cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea, is very frequent after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Recent publications suggest it affects between 6 % and 20 % of HSCT recipients during the first year and is more common following allogeneic transplant (allo-HSCT). The best diagnostic strategy remains to be defined, but molecular testing for the toxin genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) seems to be replacing the traditional enzyme immunoassays (EIA). The higher sensitivity of the PCR may result in increased measured incidence of disease. C. difficile infection typically occurs during the first month after HSCT. Although the course of CDI after HSCT does not seem to be different than in other hospitalized patients, it may result in worsening of bowel graft versus host disease (GVHD) after allo-HSCT. Current evidence suggests a reciprocal effect by which GVHD may increase the risk of CDI and C. difficile disease may increase the risk of GVHD. Metronidazole was the treatment most commonly used in all recent series, followed by the combination metronidazole and oral vancomycin. There is minimal information on the use of fidaxomicin in HSCT recipients. Regarding stool transplant, there is one case report of successful use of this modality in an HSCT recipient. These two newer approaches will certainly be investigated in the future.