Impact of arterial input function selection on the accuracy of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI quantitative analysis for the diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer.

PURPOSE: Using a limited temporal resolution dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset to assess the impact of the arterial input function (AIF) choice on the transfer constant (K(trans) ) to distinguish prostate carcinoma (PCa) from benign tissue. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with clinically important peripheral PCa (≥0.5 cc) were retrospectively studied. These patients underwent 1.5T multiparametric prostate MR with PCa and benign regions of interest (ROIs) selected using a visual registration with morphometric reconstruction obtained from radical prostatectomy. Using three pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis software programs, the mean K(trans) of ROIs was computed using three AIFs: an individual AIF (Ind-AIF) and two literature population average AIFs of Weinmann (W-AIF) and of Fritz-Hansen (FH-AIF). A pairwise comparison of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROCC) obtained with different AIFs was performed. RESULTS: AUROCCs obtained with W-AIF (ranging from 0.801 to 0.843) were significantly higher than FH-AIF (ranging from 0.698 to 0.780, 0.002 ≤ P ≤ 0.045) and similar to or higher than Ind-AIF (ranging from 0.591 to 0.839, 0.014 ≤ P ≤ 0.9). Ind-AIF and FH-AIF provided similar AUROCC (0.34 ≤ P ≤ 0.81). The pairwise correlation of K(trans) values was moderate to very strong when comparing W-AIF with FH-AIF (the Spearman's correlation coefficients [SCCs] ranged from 0.55 to 0.93) and very weak to moderate when comparing W-AIF with Ind-AIF (the SCCs ranged from 0.018 to 0.59) or FH-AIF with Ind-AIF (the SCCs ranged from 0.30 to 0.51). CONCLUSION: W-AIF yielded a higher performance than FH-AIF and a similar or higher performance than Ind-AIF in distinguishing PCa from benign tissue.

Cutaneous malignancy and human immunodeficiency virus disease / Cutaneous malignancy and human immunodeficiency virus disease

Certain skin cancers occur with increased frequency or altered course in patients infected with HIV. Malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma are examples of cutaneous malignancies that have a more aggressive course in patients with HIV. Others, such as basal cell carcinoma, appear more frequently in this population but do not appear to be more aggressive. The incidence of HIV-associated Kapsosi's sarcoma has markedly decreased since the advent of HIV antiretroviral therapy. Our understanding of the pathogenesis of this malignancy and its unique management issues are fully reviewed. Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) is rare in this population. Other types of cutaneous lymphoma and HIV-associated pseudo-CTCL are discussed. This article addresses prevention, treatment, and follow-up strategies for this at-risk population. LEARNING OBJECTIVE: At the completion of this learning activity, participants should be familiar with the unique epidemiology, clinical course, and management of cutaneous malignancy in patients infected with HIV...

Graduação nuclear do carcinoma invasivo de ductos mamários em punção aspirativa por agulha fina: estudo comparativo com o grau histológico e avaliação da concordância intra e inter-observador / Nuclear classification of invasive carcinoma of fine-needle aspiration mammary ducts: comparative study with histological grade and evaluation of intra- and interobserver agreement

O grau nuclear é considerado um dos principais fatores prognósticos do carcinoma invasivo de ductos mamários, porém não e frequentemente utilizado em punção aspirativa por agulha fina (PAAF) na rotina diária de muitos patologistas. Para avaliar a concordância cito-histológica da graduação nuclear foi realizado estudo retrospectivo de 90 casos de carcinoma ductal invasivo da mama, inicialmente diagnosticados por PAAF e com subsequente confirmação histológica. As leituras dos preparados citológicos foram realizados em esfregaços corados pela Hematoxilina-Eosina por dois patologistas independentemente, utilizando-se a graduacao nuclear de Black modificada por Fisher (BM) e simplicada por Cajulis (BS) e posteriormente confrontadas com a graduação de Bloom & Richardson na histologia. O índice de concordância com a histologia variou de 64,4% a 68,8% na classificação de BM e de 86,6% a 88,8% na classificação de BS. Na graduação pelo sistema de Black modificado, a reprodutibilidade inter-observador variou de 56,6% a 68,8%. No sistema de Black simplificado, a reprodutibilidade intra-observador foi de 93,3%, enquanto que a reprodutibilidade inter-observador variou de 82,2% a 84,4%. Constatou-se que a graduação nuclear na PAAF utilizando o sistema de Black simplificado (BS) teve maior concordância com o grau histológico e melhor reprodutibilidade intra e inter-observador, quando comparada com o sistema de Black modificado (BM). Diante dos resultados demonstrados pela análise estatística (medida de concordância Kappa), conclui-se que o grau nuclear é aplicavel em material citológico, tem alta reprodutibilidade e deveria ser incluído nos laudos de punção aspirativa por agulha fina nos casos de carcinoma de mama.

Dermatoses do pavilhäo auricular / External ear dermatosis

Apresentamos uma atualizaçäo sobre as dermatoses que ocorrem no pavilhäo auricular. Propomos uma classificaçäo em sete grupos e realizamos uma sucinta descriçäo clínica de cada uma das 84 entidades catalogadas, de forma didática, com a finalidade de auxiliar o médico, sobretudo o clínico geral, o dermatologista e o otorrinolaringologista, no diagnóstico de tais patologias.

Megacarcinomas cutáneos históricos

Se expone la gran frecuencia del cáncer cutáneo, tanto epiteliomas como melanomas, resaltando los casos de tumores malignos cutáneos de gran tamaño, de otras épocas, algunos en enfermos de lepra que gracias al diagnóstico y tratamiento precoz, son actualemte excepcionales.

Ability of lymphokine-activated killer cells to lyse mycobacteria-infected cells.

Lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cells were generated by interleukin-2 activation of peripheral blood lymphocytes obtained from lepromatous leprosy (LL) patients and healthy individuals. The ability of LAK cells to lyse targets (macrophages and T-24, a bladder carcinoma cell line) infected with mycobacteria (Mycobacterium leprae and mycobacterial strain ICRC) was assessed in a 51 chromium-release assay. It was observed that LAK cells generated from LL patients and healthy individuals could preferentially lyse M. leprae or ICRC-pulsed macrophages and T-24 cells, compared to non-pulsed targets. The ability of LAK cells to kill intracellular mycobacteria was demonstrated in colony forming assays. These results indicate a promising role for LAK cells in immunotherapy of leprosy.

Incidencia de epiteliomas en enfermos de lepra en el Sanatorio de Fontilles (España) de 1985 a 1995

Se hace un estudio sobre la incidencia de los epiteliomas entre los 290 enfermos de lepra controlados en Fontilles. Se estudian los parámetros edad, sexo, tipo de lepra y zona de aparición, todo ello en relación a su asociación con los epiteliomas. Se llega a la conclusión de que es una patología frecuente en estos enfermos, de aparición similar a los no enfermos de lepra; destacando que las recidivas son algo superiores, quizá por las lesiones residuales propias de la enfermedad de Hansen.

Immunolocalization of cell-wall-deficient forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in sarcoidosis and in sinus histiocytosis of lymph nodes draining carcinoma.

In sarcoidosis, pleomorphic chromogens (PCs) occur as multivariate pigmented elements within sinusoids of lymph nodes (sinusoidal phase) and as tiny "round bodies" detectable in granulomas (generalized phase). The sinusoidal phase occurs in other conditions as well and characteristically contains yeastlike bodies also known as H-W bodies. To elucidate the antigenic profile of all variant forms, 28 cases of sarcoidosis (series A) and 14 cases of malignancy associated sinus histiocytosis (series B) were studied immunohistochemically with panels of various antibodies, including antimycobacterial MAbs specific for M tuberculosis complex (TB68, TB71), for M. leprae (MMP-I-3C3) and for cross-reactive mycobacterial antigens (F24-2-3 and F116-5, the latter recognizing superoxide dismutase). Results for series A indicate that: 1) PCs are cell-wall-deficient (CWD) mycobacterial forms belonging to M. tuberculosis complex (over 95%); 2) both phases are antigenically identical parts of the L-cycle; 3) "round bodies" of the "infective" phase have an endolysosomal evolution; 4)uncommon vacuolated forms represent a labile spheroplast stage; 5) the yeastlike bodies are specialized sinusoidal large bodies of unknown function. Results for series B show that in roughly two thirds of cases the pigmented forms are also CWD mycobacteria, have the same immunophenotype as sarcoid PCs in 35.7% of cases, have a much higher incidence of labile vacuolated forms and, finally, that malignancy associated "pseudosarcoid" granulomas do not differ antigenically from genuine sarcoid granulomas. Unlike conventional mycobacteria, PCs do not express cytoskeletal proteins consistently. Their general reactivity for HBcAg raises the possibility of phage interactions being responsible for the L-cycle since it may reflect shared epitopes between unrelated virus entities.

[Cutaneous neoplasms during leprosy: 2 case reports]. / Néoplasie cutanée au cours de la lèpre: a propos de deux cas.

The authors report on two cases of dermal neoplasia in foot trophic disorders observed in leprous subjects. The report includes the description of the clinic and histologic data as well as the surgical technique used; finally, it underlines the importance of a precocious diagnostic so as to obtain a good therapeutic result.