Ultrasound-guided minimally invasive autopsy as a tool for rapid post-mortem diagnosis in the 2018 Sao Paulo yellow fever epidemic: Correlation with conventional autopsy.

BACKGROUND: New strategies for collecting post-mortem tissue are necessary, particularly in areas with emerging infections. Minimally invasive autopsy (MIA) has been proposed as an alternative to conventional autopsy (CA), with promising results. Previous studies using MIA addressed the cause of death in adults and children in developing countries. However, none of these studies was conducted in areas with an undergoing infectious disease epidemic. We have recently experienced an epidemic of yellow fever (YF) in Brazil. Aiming to provide new information on low-cost post-mortem techniques that could be applied in regions at risk for infectious outbreaks, we tested the efficacy of ultrasound-guided MIA (MIA-US) in the diagnosis of patients who died during the epidemic. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this observational study, we performed MIA-US in 20 patients with suspected or confirmed YF and compared the results with those obtained in subsequent CAs. Ultrasound-guided biopsies were used for tissue sampling of liver, kidneys, lungs, spleen, and heart. Liver samples from MIA-US and CA were submitted for RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry for detection of YF virus antigen. Of the 20 patients, 17 had YF diagnosis confirmed after autopsy by histopathological and molecular analysis. There was 100% agreement between MIA-US and CA in determining the cause of death (panlobular hepatitis with hepatic failure) and main disease (yellow fever). Further, MIA-US obtained samples with good quality for molecular studies and for the assessment of the systemic involvement of the disease. Main extrahepatic findings were pulmonary hemorrhage, pneumonia, acute tubular necrosis, and glomerulonephritis. One patient was a 24-year-old, 27-week pregnant woman; MIA-US assessed the placenta and provided adequate placental tissue for analysis. CONCLUSIONS: MIA-US is a reliable tool for rapid post-mortem diagnosis of yellow fever and can be used as an alternative to conventional autopsy in regions at risk for hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with limited resources to perform complete diagnostic autopsy.

Analysis of the blood supply to the post-fracture edentulous mandible: study by colour Doppler sonography.

PURPOSE: This study assessed the arterial blood supply to the mandible of edentulous patients treated for mandibular fractures using colour Doppler ultrasound. METHODS: The blood supply of edentulous patients surgically treated for mandibular fractures (group A) and edentulous fracture-free individuals (group B) was assessed. Only the fractured sides were evaluated in the first group (N = 17), whereas each side was evaluated in the second group (N = 20). The arterial flow of six sites was assessed. The systolic-peak maximum velocity (SPV), final diastolic velocity (FDV), resistive index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), acceleration and flow direction of each artery were obtained. Additionally, the presence of local vascular obstructive factors was evaluated. The differences between groups were analysed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, which was complemented by the Mann-Whitney test, for correlations between the degree of alveolar atrophy and the study factors (p < 0.050). RESULTS: There was a significant decrease in the flow of certain arteries, especially the submental (SPV, p = 0.007, PI, p = 0.022, and acceleration, p = 0.015), in the fracture group. The facial artery in both groups showed lower values related to local obstructive factors (SPV, p = 0.001, FDV, p = 0.040, and PI, p = 0.030). The submental artery flow was higher (SPV, p = 0.006, and FDV, p = 0.009) in non-atrophic individuals. CONCLUSIONS: There was a decreased flow mainly in the submental artery, but there were no cases of major vascular injury in edentulous patients treated for mandibular fractures.

Thyroid nodules: evaluation with power Doppler and duplex Doppler ultrasound.

This study purposes a new classification of thyroid nodules blood flow by power duplex Doppler ultrasound. A total of 177 nodules were studied with B-mode scanning, power Doppler, and spectral analysis. These data were compared with cytological results from ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biopsy. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed. The power Doppler analysis of the nodules produced 5 vascular patterns: I, absence of signal blood flow; II, exclusively perinodular blood flow; III, perinodular >/= central blood flow; IV, central blood flow > perinodular blood flow; V, exclusively central blood flow. Statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship between these vascular patterns and cytological results. The spectral analysis demonstrated that the resistance index were higher in nodules with malignant versus other cytology ( P < 0.001). The results indicate that power duplex Doppler facilitates screening of thyroid nodules at high risk for malignancy with elevated sensitivity (92.3%) and specificity (88%).

Portal thrombosis: late postoperative prevalence in Mansoni's schistosomiasis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Splenectomy with esophagogastric devascularization and distal splenorenal anastomosis are used for the treatment of bleeding esophageal varices in Mansoni's hepatosplenic schistosomiasis. Portal thrombosis followed by ascitis has been observed in the early postoperative phase, but there are no studies about the spontaneous and late postoperative prevalence of this vascular complication. The aim was to evaluate the spontaneous and late postoperative prevalence of total portal vein thrombosis and of ascitis in these patients. METHODOLOGY: US-Doppler examination was performed on 168 patients divided in three groups: 1) 92 non-operated (preoperative); 2) 62 after splenectomy with esophageal devascularization, 3) 14 after distal splenorenal anastomosis. The presence of ascitis was sought in all. RESULTS: Group 1 had 5.43% (5/92) of spontaneous total portal vein thrombosis, groups 2 and 3, presented 19.35% (12/62) and 50.00% (7/14) in the late postoperative follow-up, respectively. The Fisher's test showed that group 3 had higher incidence of this vascular occlusive complication (p = 0.038). No ascites were found. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical treatment of portal hypertension boosts the natural tendency to total portal vein thrombosis in this disease. The difference in the occurrence of this vascular complication during the late postoperative phase suggests the existence of a hemodynamic factor determined by the surgical technique.

Percutaneous ethanol (PEIT) and calcitrol (PCIT) injection therapy are ineffective in treating severe secondary hyperparathyroidism.

BACKGROUND: Secondary hyperparathyroidism (2HPT) is a frequent complication of long-term dialysis treatment and, despite recent advances in medical therapy, surgical parathyroidectomy (PTX) is required in a considerable number of uraemic patients. Recently, other modalities of therapy, such as ultrasound-guided percutaneous parathyroid injection of ethanol (PEIT) or of calcitriol (PCIT), have been used to treat refractory 2HPT. Our objectives were to evaluate the efficacy of these therapeutic modalities and to analyse their effects on parathyroid cell proliferation. METHODS: Nineteen haemodialysis patients with severe 2HPT were studied. Ten underwent PEIT (Group I) and nine underwent PCIT (Group II). After treatment, five patients in each group were submitted to PTX. Parathyroid cell proliferation was appraised at the beginning and at the end of the study by fine-needle aspiration biopsy, making use of immunocytochemical testing for Ki-67. The surgically removed glands were submitted to histopathological analysis and cellular proliferation was evaluated. RESULTS: Both PEIT and PCIT proved inefficient in controlling 2HPT. Comparing study onset with day 60, both groups showed a significant decrease in serum-ionized calcium: 5.3+/-0.3 vs 5.1+/-0.5 mg/dl (P = 0.03) in Group I and 5.5+/-0.4 vs 5.4+/-0.3 mg/dl (P = 0.03) in Group II. Other laboratory parameters were unchanged. There was a significant, although transitory, enlargement in glandular volume in Group II at day 30 when compared with study onset (1.5+/-0.6 vs 1.7+/-0.7 cm(3), P = 0.02). When comparing the two groups, Group I showed a glandular volume smaller than that of Group II at days 30 (1+/-0.5 vs 1.7+/-0.7 cm(3), P = 0.003), 60 (0.8+/-0.4 vs 1.5+/-0.9 cm(3), P = 0.006) and 90 (0.8+/-0.5 vs 1+/-0.7 cm(3), P = 0.02). Cellular proliferation, which was equally elevated in both groups at the beginning of the study, could not be evaluated at the end due to lack of material. The majority of glands obtained through PTX presented intensive cellular proliferation and contained areas of nodular hyperplasia, even those glands with a volume of <0.5 cm(3). CONCLUSION: In our experience, both PCIT and PEIT were unable to control severe 2HPT in chronic haemodialysis patients. We believe that the severity of the 2HPT in the study patients, in conjunction with the fact that we excluded from treatment parathyroid glands with a volume of <0.5 cm(3), were the most important causes of this failure.