Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with hepatocellular carcinoma in the West of Scotland: a cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The COVID-19 pandemic had an undoubted impact on the provision of elective and emergency cancer care, including the diagnosis and management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our aim was to determine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with HCC in the West of Scotland. DESIGN: This was a retrospective audit of a prospectively collated database of patients presented to the West of Scotland Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) between April and October 2020 (during the pandemic), comparing baseline demographics, characteristics of disease at presentation, diagnostic workup, treatment and outcomes with patients from April to October 2019 (pre pandemic). RESULTS: There was a 36.5% reduction in new cases referred to the MDT during the pandemic. Patients presented at a significantly later Barcelona Cancer Liver Clinic stage (24% stage D during the pandemic, 9.5% pre pandemic, p<0.001) and with a significantly higher Child-Pugh Score (46% Child-Pugh B/C during the pandemic vs 27% pre pandemic, p<0.001). We observed a reduction in overall survival (OS) among all patients with a median OS during the pandemic of 6 months versus 17 months pre pandemic (p=0.048). CONCLUSION: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have contributed to a reduction in the presentation of new cases and survival among patients with HCC in the West of Scotland. The reason for this is likely multifactorial, but disruption of standard care is likely to have played a significant role. Resources should be provided to address the backlog and ensure there are robust investigation and management pathways going forward.

Histological Assessment of Gonads in DSD: Relevance for Clinical Management.

Malignant gonadal germ cell tumors, referred to as germ cell cancers (GCC), occur with increased frequency in individuals who have specific types of differences (disorders) of sex development (DSD). Recent population-based studies have identified new environmental and genetic risk factors that have led to a 'genvironment' hypothesis, which may potentially be helpful in risk assessment in DSD-related GCC. In DSD, the malignancy risk is highly heterogeneous, but recent studies allow now to discriminate between high- and low-risk conditions. Gonadal biopsy is in some cases the best procedure of choice to assess the risk, and with the availability of immunohistochemical biomarkers [OCT3/4 (POU5F1), TSPY, SOX9, FOXL2 and KITLG (SCF)], a reliable classification of GCC and its precursors can be made. The opportunities in the field of virtual diagnostic pathology will be presented, having possibilities for rare diseases in general and DSD specifically. It is expected that the International DSD Registry will stimulate international collaborations, facilitating better diagnostic procedures as well as research.

Diagnostic Accuracy of the Combination of Clinical Symptoms and CT or MR Angiography in Patients With Chronic Gastrointestinal Ischemia.

BACKGROUND: No golden diagnostic standard is available to diagnose chronic gastrointestinal ischemia (CGI). GOALS: We aimed to establish an accurate prediction model for CGI, based on clinical symptoms and radiologic evaluation of the amount of stenosis in the celiac artery (CA) and superior mesenteric artery (SMA) by means of computed tomography-angiography or magnetic resonance (MR)-angiography. STUDY: We prospectively included 436 consecutive patients with clinical suspicion of CGI in a tertiary referral center. Predictors for CGI were obtained by comparing clinical parameters to the diagnosis of CGI. Multivariable logistic regression was used to combine the strongest predictors in a model. A score chart based on the prediction model was provided to calculate the risk of CGI. RESULTS: CGI was present in 171/436 (39%) patients (67 y; range, 54 to 74 y; 27% male). Strongest predictors for CGI were female gender [odds ratio (OR)=1.44; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.85-2.43], weight loss (OR=1.63, 95% CI, 0.98-2.72), concomitant cardiovascular disease (OR=1.70, 95% CI, 1.04-2.78), duration of symptoms (OR=0.88, 95% CI, 0.79-0.99), and stenosis of CA and SMA (50% to 70% stenosis CA: OR=1.33, 95% CI, 0.56-3.19; >70% stenosis CA: OR=5.79, 95% CI, 3.42-9.81; 50% to 70% stenosis SMA: OR=3.21, 95% CI, 0.81-12.74; >70% stenosis SMA: OR=4.39, 95% CI, 2.30-8.41). A model based on clinical symptoms alone showed limited discriminative ability for diagnosing CGI (c-statistic 0.62). Adding radiologic imaging of the mesenteric arteries improved the discriminative ability (c-statistic 0.79). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical symptoms alone are insufficient to predict the risk of CGI. Radiologic evaluation of the mesenteric arteries is essential. This tool may be useful for clinicians to assess the risk of CGI and to decide whether further diagnostic work-up for CGI is needed.