[Reduced Amputation Rate in Patients with Diabetic Foot Syndrome Since the Introduction of a Minimal-invasive Concept]. / Reduzierte Amputationsrate bei Patienten mit diabetischem Fußsyndrom seit Einführung eines minimalinvasiven Konzepts.

Amputations are always considered "the last option" for patients with vascular diseases. Currently, in Germany, more than 4.5 million patients suffer from diabetes mellitus. Since we introduced the minimally invasive concept for the treatment of diabetic foot syndrome, we have observed, after careful evaluation, a decreasing trend in the rates of minor and major amputations.Ethics and informed consent were ensured in this retrospective evaluation. Approximately 150 patients with complex diabetic foot syndrome are treated annually. Since July 2021, we have been treating our patients with a minimally invasive concept as one of several multidisciplinary modalities. For evaluation, we included and analyzed our diabetic patients who underwent minor and major amputations within the defined time frames from 2018 to 2023 (including revision amputations). We compared the most recent 30 months (group 2) since the introduction of this concept with the preceding 30 months (group 1).A total of 810 patients with any form of diabetic foot syndrome presented at our clinic between 2018 and 2023, of which 242 patients required primary surgical treatment. Patients in group 1 exhibited a major amputation rate of 4%, a minor amputation rate of 13%, and an overall revision surgery rate of 4%. Patients in group 2 displayed a major amputation rate of 2%, a minor amputation rate of 10%, and an overall revision surgery rate of 2%.After the introduction of the minimally invasive concept as an adjustment to our multidisciplinary approach for treating patients with diabetic foot syndrome, we have observed, through our critical evaluation, a declining trend in both minor and major amputation rates. While further research is necessary to confirm or reject our results, the implementation of minimally invasive surgery into the toolkit of regional hospitals may significantly contribute to an improved health status for patients.

[Efficacy and Safety of Indwelling Pleural Catheters]. / Effektivität und Sicherheit von getunnelten pleuralen Dauerkathetern.

In symptomatic malignant pleural effusions, mostly in a palliative situation, therapeutic procedures should be chosen to improve dyspnoea and the concomitant impairment of quality of life. Indwelling pleural catheters (IPC) have played an increasing role in recent years. The efficacy and safety of this method have not been adequately clarified under real-life clinical conditions. 94 patients, in whom IPC had been implanted because of a clinical indication, were analysed retrospectively with respect to efficacy and safety, together with patient characteristics, peri- and postinterventional complications, e.g. infections or pneumothorax, and long-term follow-up - with special emphasis on the occurrence of a pleurodesis. Overall, 89.5% (n = 85) of the patients received an IPC due to a recurrent pleural effusion caused by a malignant primary disease. The average duration of hospitalisation for patients did not decease as a result of their incurable condition and was 3.29 days. In 21.2% (n = 20) of the patients, pleurodesis occurred. Method-related complications arose for 33.2% (n = 32) of the patients, although further treatment was only needed in 8 patients. Late complications developed for 9 of the patients observed. The average survival period after implantation was 88.72 days. The results show that IPC is a technically straightforward, minimally invasive alternative to recurrent punctures or other methods of pleurodesis. A major benefit is the possibility of outpatient care.

A novel immune biomarker IFI27 discriminates between influenza and bacteria in patients with suspected respiratory infection.

Host response biomarkers can accurately distinguish between influenza and bacterial infection. However, published biomarkers require the measurement of many genes, thereby making it difficult to implement them in clinical practice. This study aims to identify a single-gene biomarker with a high diagnostic accuracy equivalent to multi-gene biomarkers.In this study, we combined an integrated genomic analysis of 1071 individuals with in vitro experiments using well-established infection models.We identified a single-gene biomarker, IFI27, which had a high prediction accuracy (91%) equivalent to that obtained by multi-gene biomarkers. In vitro studies showed that IFI27 was upregulated by TLR7 in plasmacytoid dendritic cells, antigen-presenting cells that responded to influenza virus rather than bacteria. In vivo studies confirmed that IFI27 was expressed in influenza patients but not in bacterial infection, as demonstrated in multiple patient cohorts (n=521). In a large prospective study (n=439) of patients presented with undifferentiated respiratory illness (aetiologies included viral, bacterial and non-infectious conditions), IFI27 displayed 88% diagnostic accuracy (AUC) and 90% specificity in discriminating between influenza and bacterial infections.IFI27 represents a significant step forward in overcoming a translational barrier in applying genomic assay in clinical setting; its implementation may improve the diagnosis and management of respiratory infection.

The asphericity of the metabolic tumour volume in NSCLC: correlation with histopathology and molecular markers.

PURPOSE: Asphericity (ASP) is a tumour shape descriptor based on the PET image. It quantitates the deviation from spherical of the shape of the metabolic tumour volume (MTV). In order to identify its biological correlates, we investigated the relationship between ASP and clinically relevant histopathological and molecular signatures in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: The study included 83 consecutive patients (18 women, aged 66.4 ± 8.9 years) with newly diagnosed NSCLC in whom PET/CT with 18F-FDG had been performed prior to therapy. Primary tumour resection specimens and core biopsies were used for basic histopathology and determination of the Ki-67 proliferation index. EGFR status, VEGF, p53 and ALK expression were obtained in a subgroup of 44 patients. The FDG PET images of the primary tumours were delineated using an automatic algorithm based on adaptive thresholding taking into account local background. In addition to ASP, SUVmax, MTV and some further descriptors of shape and intratumour heterogeneity were assessed as semiquantitative PET measures. RESULTS: SUVmax, MTV and ASP were associated with pathological T stage (Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.001, p < 0.0005 and p < 0.0005, respectively) and N stage (p = 0.017, p = 0.003 and p = 0.002, respectively). Only ASP was associated with M stage (p = 0.026). SUVmax, MTV and ASP were correlated with Ki-67 index (Spearman's rho = 0.326/p = 0.003, rho = 0.302/p = 0.006 and rho = 0.271/p = 0.015, respectively). The latter correlations were considerably stronger in adenocarcinomas than in squamous cell carcinomas. ASP, but not SUVmax or MTV, showed a tendency for a significant association with the extent of VEGF expression (p = 0.058). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, ASP (p < 0.0005) and the presence of distant metastases (p = 0.023) were significantly associated with progression-free survival. ASP (p = 0.006), the presence of distant metastases (p = 0.010), and Ki-67 index (p = 0.062) were significantly associated with overall survival. CONCLUSION: The ASP of primary NSCLCs on FDG PET images is associated with tumour dimensions and molecular markers of proliferation and angiogenesis.

Dual time point imaging for F18-FDG-PET/CT does not improve the accuracy of nodal staging in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the diagnostic performance of dual time point imaging (DTPI) for pre-therapeutic lymph node (LN) staging in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of 47 patients with NSCLC who had undergone DTPI by PET (early + delayed) using F18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). PET raw data were reconstructed iteratively (point spread function + time-of-flight). LN uptake in PET was assessed visually (four-step score) and semi-quantitatively (SUVmax, SUVmean, ratios LN/primary, LN/liver, and LN/mediastinal blood pool). DTPI analyses included retention indices (RIs), Δ-ratios and changes in visual score. Histology or cytology served as standards of reference. Accuracy was determined based on ROC analyses. RESULTS: Thirty-six of 155 LNs were malignant. DTPI accuracy was low for all measures (visual assessment, 24.5%; RI SUVmax, 68.4%; RI SUVmean, 65.8%; Δ-ratios, 63.9-76.1%) and significantly inferior to early PET. Accuracies of early (range, 86.5-92.9%) and delayed PET (range, 85.2-92.9%) were comparable. At early PET, accuracy of the visual score (92.9%) was similar or superior to semi-quantitative analyses (range, 86.5-92.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Using a modern PET/CT device and novel image reconstruction, neither additional delayed PET nor DTPI analyses improved the accuracy of PET-based LN staging. Dedicated visual assessment criteria performed very well. KEY POINTS: • DTPI did not improve accuracy of PET-based LN staging in NSCLC. • Analyzed SUV ratios were not superior to LN SUVmax or SUVmean. • A four-step visual score may allow highly accurate, standardized LN assessment.

Quantitative assessment of the asphericity of pretherapeutic FDG uptake as an independent predictor of outcome in NSCLC.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the predictive value of a novel quantitative measure for the spatial heterogeneity of FDG uptake, the asphericity (ASP) in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: FDG-PET/CT had been performed in 60 patients (15 women, 45 men; median age, 65.5 years) with newly diagnosed NSCLC prior to therapy. The FDG-PET image of the primary tumor was segmented using the ROVER 3D segmentation tool based on thresholding at the volume-reproducing intensity threshold after subtraction of local background. ASP was defined as the relative deviation of the tumor's shape from a sphere. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression as well as Kaplan-Meier (KM) analysis and log-rank test with respect to overall (OAS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were performed for clinical variables, SUVmax/mean, metabolically active tumor volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG), ASP and "solidity", another measure of shape irregularity. RESULTS: ASP, solidity and "primary surgical treatment" were significant independent predictors of PFS in multivariate Cox regression with binarized parameters (HR, 3.66; p<0.001, HR, 2.11; p=0.05 and HR, 2.09; p=0.05), ASP and "primary surgical treatment" of OAS (HR, 3.19; p=0.02 and HR, 3.78; p=0.01, respectively). None of the other semi-quantitative PET parameters showed significant predictive value with respect to OAS or PFS. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a probability of 2-year PFS of 52% in patients with low ASP compared to 12% in patients with high ASP (p<0.001). Furthermore, it showed a higher OAS rate in the case of low versus high ASP (1-year-OAS, 91% vs. 67%: p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The novel parameter asphericity of pretherapeutic FDG uptake seems to provide better prognostic value for PFS and OAS in NCSLC compared to SUV, metabolic tumor volume, total lesion glycolysis and solidity.

Occult interferon α-induced pulmonary granulomatosis despite continuation of treatment.

Interferon alpha (IFN α)-based treatment of chronic hepatitis C viral (HCV) infection may induce pulmonary and extrapulmonary sarcoidosis. We report a case of a 50-year-old male patient who suffered from hepatitis C-induced liver cirrhosis with respiratory insufficiency due to severe hepatopulmonary syndrome. After 9 months of treatment with IFNα and ribavirin, he developed an asymptomatic, clinically occult pulmonary granulomatosis, which was not detectable in CT. The diagnosis was made by bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage and transbronchial lung biopsy. The condition did not progress to clinically apparent disease despite continuation of IFN alpha treatment.

Impact of thoracic surgery on esophageal motor function-Evaluation by high resolution manometry.

BACKGROUND: Alteration of esophageal function is a potential risk factor for postoperative complications in thoracic surgery. This prospective study investigates esophageal motility and function during and after thoracic procedures via high resolution manometry (HRM) and impedance technology with spatiotemporal representation of pressure data. METHODS: Twelve consecutive patients eligible for elective thoracic surgery underwent preoperative and postoperative (48 hours and 7 days) esophageal HRM. Swallowing acts were carried out with 5 mL of water, 10 mL of water and 1 cm3 bread in physiological posture to evaluate distal contraction integral (DCI). Length and location of contractile integrity breaks were measured by investigators blinded to the form of surgical intervention. The impact of surgical procedures on esophageal motility was quantified according to current Chicago Classification (CC) criteria. Pre-, intra- and postoperative 24-hour multi-channel impedance pH-metry (MII-pH) was performed to further analyze gastroesophageal reflux patterns. RESULTS: All patients were investigated 48 hours prior to and 7 days after thoracic procedures, with a total of n=675 swallowing acts being included in our study. Increased motility patterns of the tubular esophagus occurred temporally 48 hours postoperatively. DCI 48 hours after surgery increased significantly (5 mL, P=0.049; solid, P=0.014) and returned to baseline values after seven days (5 mL, P=0.039; solid, P=0.039). Break length was significantly reduced 48 hours postoperatively, especially in the proximal esophageal segment (transition zone). Follow-up measurements after another week were comparable to preoperative baseline findings. The perioperative MII-pH measurement showed numerous artifacts caused by intubation and ventilation during surgery also with increasing short and frequent acidic reflux episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracic procedures cause a transient modulation of esophageal peristalsis with postoperative increased contractility of the tubular esophagus, presumably without affecting intraesophageal reflex arcs. Although limited by the number of patients, we can conclude on our data that postoperative esophageal hypomotility is unlikely to promote secondary pulmonary complications.

Standardized visual reading of F18-FDG-PET in patients with non-small cell lung cancer scheduled for preoperative thoracic lymph node staging.

OBJECTIVES: Routine visual assessment of positron emission tomography (PET) for thoracic lymph node (LN) staging in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is limited by a lack of reliable assessment criteria. This study evaluates the accuracy and inter-rater agreement of a standardized approach with unified windowing and a PET-based visual score. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective analysis included pretherapeutic FDG-PET data of 86 patients with NSCLC. After standardized windowing (threshold: 2×liver SUVmean) the LN uptake was assessed visually by three independent readers with varying levels of experience using a 4-step score (1, LN uptake≤mediastinal blood pool structures (MBPS); 2, MBPS3). The inexperienced (n=1), advanced (n=1), and expert readers (n=1) achieved similar accuracies of 93.5%, 91.4% and 92.1%, respectively (P>0.05 each). Cohen's κ ranged from 0.92 to 0.96 and Fleiss' κ was 0.93. ROC-analyses showed no significant differences between attendant readers within any subgroup (AUC, 0.92-0.96). CONCLUSION: Applying unified windowing, the introduced PET-score achieved highly accurate and robust LN assessment. This approach may shorten learning curves of inexperienced readers, facilitate multicenter trials, and improve comparability of future studies.