Higher sensitivity of pericardial fluid cytology than biopsy in malignant effusions with potential explanation of false-negative cytology: A multi-institutional analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Malignant pericardial effusions are associated with a poor prognosis. Pericardial fluid cytology and pericardial biopsy are the primary methods for diagnosis. This study aimed to conduct a multi-institutional analysis to compare the diagnostic sensitivity of cytology and biopsy, and to investigate potential explanations for false-negative results in cytology. METHODS: A retrospective review of pericardial fluid cytology cases with concurrent biopsy was conducted across four different institutions. Results were compared using standard statistical methods with attention to sensitivity and histologic distribution. False-negative cytology cases were investigated for further exploration. RESULTS: A total of 309 cases were collected, of which 99 (32.0%) were confirmed malignant through repeat sampling or clinical history. Pericardial fluid cytology and biopsy identified 84 and 64 malignant cases, respectively. Our findings confirmed significantly higher sensitivity of cytology compared to biopsy (84.8% vs 65.7%). The most common sites of origin were lung, breast, and gastrointestinal, with adenocarcinoma being the most prevalent histologic subtype. Histologic review of 12 false-negative cytology cases revealed three key explanations; lymphoma was the most common missed diagnosis (33.3%); fibrinous pericarditis obscures neoplastic cells on the pericardial surface; and pericardial involvement can be seen without extension into the pericardial space. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated diagnostic superiority of pericardial fluid cytology over biopsy in the evaluation of malignant pericardial effusions. We identified several limitations in fluid cytology causing false negatives. In the context of an underlying malignancy with pericardial effusion, pathologists should consider immunohistochemistry studies to aid on the diagnosis.

Factors associated with myocardial SARS-CoV-2 infection, myocarditis, and cardiac inflammation in patients with COVID-19.

COVID-19 has been associated with cardiac injury and dysfunction. While both myocardial inflammatory cell infiltration and myocarditis with myocyte injury have been reported in patients with fatal COVID-19, clinical-pathologic correlations remain limited. The objective was to determine the relationships between cardiac pathological changes in patients dying from COVID-19 and cardiac infection by SARS-CoV-2, laboratory measurements, clinical features, and treatments. In a retrospective study, 41 consecutive autopsies of patients with fatal COVID-19 were analyzed for the associations between cardiac inflammation, myocarditis, cardiac infection by SARS-CoV-2, clinical features, laboratory measurements, and treatments. Cardiac infection was assessed by in situ hybridization and NanoString transcriptomic profiling. Cardiac infection by SARS-CoV-2 was present in 30/41 cases: virus+ with myocarditis (n = 4), virus+ without myocarditis (n = 26), and virus- without myocarditis (n = 11). In the cases with cardiac infection, SARS-CoV-2+ cells in the myocardium were rare, with a median density of 1 cell/cm2. Virus+ cases showed higher densities of myocardial CD68+ macrophages and CD3+ lymphocytes, as well as more electrocardiographic changes (23/27 vs 4/10; P = 0.01). Myocarditis was more prevalent with IL-6 blockade than with nonbiologic immunosuppression, primarily glucocorticoids (2/3 vs 0/14; P = 0.02). Overall, SARS-CoV-2 cardiac infection was less prevalent in patients treated with nonbiologic immunosuppression (7/14 vs 21/24; P = 0.02). Myocardial macrophage and lymphocyte densities overall were positively correlated with the duration of symptoms but not with underlying comorbidities. In summary, cardiac infection with SARS-CoV-2 is common among patients dying from COVID-19 but often with only rare infected cells. Cardiac infection by SARS-CoV-2 is associated with more cardiac inflammation and electrocardiographic changes. Nonbiologic immunosuppression is associated with lower incidences of myocarditis and cardiac infection by SARS-CoV-2.

Monoclonal antibodies in patients with osteoporosis and renal insufficiency: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: There are challenges for the treatment of osteoporosis in patients with kidney failure and monoclonal antibodies (MAb) might be a suitable therapy. However, the efficacy and safety of MAb among patients with osteoporosis and renal insufficiency remains unclear. Methods: We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central for studies evaluating the efficacy and safety of the use of MAb in patients with osteoporosis and renal insufficiency. We pooled risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for binary outcomes. Mean difference (MD) was used for continuous outcomes. Results: We included 5 studies with 33,550 patients. MAb therapy decreased the risk of vertebral fractures (RR 0.32; 95% CI 0.26-0.40; P < 0.01) when compared to placebo and no statistical difference was found when comparing to bisphosphonate (RR 0.71; 95% CI 0.49-1.03; P = 0.07). MAb therapy also decreased the risk of nonvertebral fractures (RR 0.79; 95% CI 0.69-0.91; P = 0.0009). Lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) was higher in the MAb therapy when compared to both placebo (MD 10.90; 95% CI 8.00-13.80; P < 0.01) and bisphosphonate (MD 7.66; 95% CI 6.19-9.14; P < 0.01). There was no statistically significant difference in the change of estimated glomerular filtration rate and in the incidence of hypocalcemia and serious adverse events between groups. Conclusions: There were reductions in both vertebral and nonvertebral fracture risks, alongside improvements in BMD among patients with renal insufficiency treated with MAb.

Breast Carcinoma With Tubulopapillary Features Has a Distinct Immunophenotypic and Molecular Signature: A Report of Two Tumors and Literature Review.

Breast carcinoma with tubulopapillary features is a newly described entity associated with poor prognosis with only 14 tumors reported in the literature. We report 2 additional tumors and identify novel immunohistochemical and molecular features of the tumor. The first tumor was from a 72-year-old woman with nonmetastatic breast carcinoma and the second was from a 32-year-old woman with metastatic breast carcinoma who received neoadjuvant therapy. Both tumors had high-grade nuclear features with a distinctive morphology characterized by infiltrating open glands with intratubular papillary and micropapillary projections in >90% of the invasive carcinoma. In addition to the usual predictors of aggressive behavior, both tumors showed a high expression of p16 and SOX10, which has not been previously described. Targeted tumor sequencing revealed pathogenic variants of TP53 in both tumors, in agreement with previous reports. Prior studies have shown a correlation between p16 and SOX10 expression with high-grade features and worse prognosis; typically seen in triple-negative carcinomas as demonstrated in both of our tumors. However, not all reported tumors of breast carcinoma with tubulopapillary features have demonstrated a triple-negative profile as there are a few reports of tumors with estrogen receptor and/or human epidermal growth factor 2 expression. Due to their distinct morphologic and molecular characteristics, breast carcinoma with tubulopapillary features may represent a new breast cancer histologic subtype.