Increased body mass index is associated with improved overall survival in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a well-known risk factor for the development of several types of cancer including lymphomas, but its influence on the course of disease is fairly unknown. Recently, a retrospective cancer registry analysis demonstrated significantly prolonged survival for overweight and obese patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The study population almost exclusively consisted of male US American patients of lower socioeconomic status and one-fifth of patients received cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone (CHOP) chemotherapy without rituximab. Therefore, it remains unclear if these results can be extrapolated to the general DLBCL population. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective single-center analysis included 183 unselected DLBCL patients who were treated with rituximab and standard-dosed anthracycline-based chemoimmunotherapy as first-line therapy between January 2004 and December 2012. Patients were stratified by body mass index (BMI) into 'low BMI' (<25.0 kg/m(2)) and 'high BMI' (≥25.0 kg/m(2)). RESULTS: The two groups were well balanced regarding age, performance score, international prognostic index, B-symptoms and extranodal involvement. However, there was a trend for male sex (P = 0.053) and higher-stage disease (P = 0.066) in the high-BMI group. Patients with higher BMI had significantly longer overall survival (OS; hazard ratio [HR] 0.546; P = 0.035) with 80.9% of patients alive at 3 years versus 64.2% in the low-BMI group. BMI was also an independent prognostic factor for OS in multivariate analysis (HR 0.557; P = 0.043). CONCLUSION: We could show a significant association between overweight/obesity and improved OS in an unselected DLBCL cohort.

Dark lumen MR colonography based on fecal tagging for detection of colorectal masses: accuracy and patient acceptance.

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance colonography (MRC) with fecal tagging has recently been investigated in clinical studies for the detection of polyps. We assessed fecal tagging MRC in a field trial. METHODS: Forty-two patients in a private gastroenterologic practice underwent MRC with barium-based fecal tagging (150 mL of 100% barium at each of 6 main meals before MRC) and conventional colonoscopy. Diagnostic accuracy of MRC and patient acceptance were assessed and compared with the respective results of conventional colonoscopy. RESULTS: Eighteen percent of all MRC examinations showed a remaining high stool signal in the colon that impeded a reliable inclusion or exclusion of polyps. On a lesion-by-lesion basis, sensitivities for polyp detection were 100% for polyps larger than 2 cm (n = 1), 40% for polyps between 10 and 19 mm, 16.7% for polyps between 6 and 9 mm, and 9.1% for polyps smaller than 6 mm. The main reason for the low acceptance of MRC was the barium preparation, which was rated worse than the bowel cleaning procedure with conventional colonoscopy. CONCLUSION: MRC with fecal tagging must be further optimized. The large amount of barium resulted in poor patient acceptance, and barium according to this protocol did not provide sufficient stool darkening. Other strategies, such as increasing the hydration of stool, must be developed.

Lupus anticoagulant associated syndrome in benign and malignant systemic disease--analysis of ten observations.

The clinical and laboratory findings in seven female patients with primary autoimmune diseases, one female patient with lymphoplasmacytoid (LP) immunocytoma and IgM paraproteinemia, and two male patients with multiple myeloma are described. The common denominator in all patients was a lupus anticoagulant or a closely related coagulation disorder. Recurrent thrombosis was observed in six patients with autoimmune diseases and in two patients with malignant monoclonal gammopathies. Other clinical manifestations included cerebral disorders (four patients with autoimmune disease/two patients with monoclonal gammopathy), repeated obstetric complications (6/1), asymptomatic valvular heart disease (6/1), renal dysfunction (6/2), hepatic involvement (2/2), and arthropathy (2/0). Laboratory investigations revealed a biologic false-positive serological test for syphilis in six patients with autoimmune disease and one with monoclonal gammopathy, antinuclear antibodies (4/0), antibodies against DNA (4/1), and a positive direct Coombs test (3/1) which was accompanied by hemolytic anemia in two patients (1/1). Additionally slight leukocytopenia (2/1) and thrombocytopenia (6/2) were observed; abnormal bleeding was only seen in one patient with severe thrombocytopenia. Other complications characteristic of LP immunocytoma or multiple myeloma were missing. The obvious similarities between the patients with autoimmune diseases and the patients with malignant monoclonal gammopathies suggest analogous pathogenetic mechanisms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Morphologic and histologic changes caused by continuous peridural analgesia in a cancer patient]. / Morphologisch-histologische Veränderungen durch kontinuierliche Periduralanalgesie bei einem Karzinom-Patienten.

The morphological and histological alterations were studied that appeared in the peridural space of a patient who was anesthetized for 114 days with a peridural catheter (Perifix-Catheter, Braun) because of intensive violent pain caused by an incurable carcinoma. No macroscopical or histological indication of inflammation could be observed in any of the peridural space and spinal canal. The only alterations detected were nonspecific foreign-body reactions, such as an increase in foreign-body gigant cells and single connective tissue adhesions. Peridural opiate analgesia combined with long-term local anesthesia (0.25% Bupivacain) provided the patient with a long period free of pain.