Unraveling the peripheral and local role of inflammatory cytokines in glioblastoma survival.

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a life-threatening disease that presents high morbidity and mortality. The standardized treatment protocol results in a global survival of less than three years in the majority of cases. Immunotherapies have gained wide recognition in cancer treatment; however, GBM has an immunosuppressive microenvironment diminishing the possible effectiveness of this therapy. In this sense, investigating the inflammatory settings and the tumoral nature of GBM patients are an important goal to create an individual plan of treatment to improve overall survival rate and quality of life of these patients. Thirty-two patients who underwent surgical resection of GBM were included in this study. Tumor samples and 10 mL of peripheral blood were collected and immediately frozen. TNF-a, IL-1a and IL-4 were evaluated in the tumor and TNF-a, IL-1a and TGF-b in the plasma by Luminex assay. Immunohistochemistry analysis to determine immune celular profile was done, including immunohistochemistry for CD20, CD68 and CD3. Three cases were excluded. Tumor topography, tumor nature, and tumor volume reconstructions were accurately analyzed by T1-weighted, T2-weighted, and FLAIR magnetic resonance imaging. We found that GBM patients with below median peripheral levels of TNF-a and IL-1a had a decreased survival rate when compared to above median patients. On the other hand, patients with below median peripheral levels of TGF-b increased overall survival rate. Intratumoral IL-1a above median was associated with higher number of macrophages and fewer with B cells. Furthermore, plasmatic TNF-a levels were correlated with intratumoral TNF-a levels, suggesting that peripheral cytokines are related to the tumoral microenvironment. Even though tumor size has no difference regarding survival rate, we found a negative correlation between intratumoral IL-4 and tumor size, where larger tumors have less IL-4 expression. Nevertheless, the tumoral nature had a significant effect in overall survival rate, considering that infiltrative tumors showed decreased survival rate and intratumoral TNF-a. Moreover, expansive tumors revealed fewer macrophages and higher T cells. In multiple variation analyzes, we demonstrated that infiltrative tumors and below median peripheral IL-1a expression represent 3 times and 5 times hazard ratio, respectively, demonstrating a poor prognosis. Here we found that peripheral cytokines had a critical role as prognostic tools in a small cohort of GBM patients.

Low-grade Endometrial Stromal Sarcoma with Unusual Metastasis to the Skull

Background Endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESSs) are the second most common uterine sarcomas. Although ESSs are often indolent, they have metastatic potential. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three reports of brain metastasis, and the present report is the first to describe a late skull metastasis of an ESS. Case Report We describe the case of a 51-year-old woman who presented abnormal vaginal bleeding 14 years ago; she was diagnosed with an uterine mass and submitted to a hysterectomy. One year ago she presented ESS lung metastasis followed by a left parietal calvarial metastasis. The optimal treatment for metastatic ESS is controversial, but the use of progesterone and aromatase inhibitors is advisable.

Introdução Sarcoma endometrial estromal (SEE) é a segunda lesão mais frequente dentre os sarcomas uterinos. Geralmente são lesões indolentes, mas com potencial de desenvolver metástase. Até o momento há apenas três relatos de metástase cerebral, sendo este o primeiro estudo a descrever uma metástase craniana tardia dessas lesões. Relato de caso Nós descrevemos o caso de uma paciente de 51 anos de idade que apresentou há 14 anos um quadro de sangramento vaginal anormal, sendo diagnosticada uma massa uterina; a paciente foi submetida a uma histerectomia. Há um ano ela evoluiu com metástase pulmonar, seguida por metástase craniana parietal esquerda. O tratamento ideal do SEE metastático ainda é controverso, mas o uso de inibidores de aromatase é aconselhável.

IDIOPATHIC GRANULOMATOUS MASTITIS: DIAGNOSIS AND FOLLOW-UP WITH MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING / Mastite granulomatosa idiopática: diagnóstico e seguimento com ressonância magnética

Granulomatous mastitis is a rare and benign condition of the breast that, in some cases, has an unknown etiology of benign inflammatory disease know as idiopathic mastitis. Your diagnosis is usually made by exclusion. Imaging tests have shown nonspecific findings that may suggest an inflammatory disease, a carcinoma, or no changes. A differential diagnosis should be made with other causes of mastitis, always alerting to the risk of inflammatory carcinoma. Imaging tests are more useful to rule out malignancy than to confirm idiopathic granulomatous mastitis. Because both imaging and physical examination can mimic a malignant lesion of the breast, the histopathological report is fundamental to establish the diagnosis. Its etiology remains unknown, so the treatment is controversial in the literature, with some authors recommending surgery, others immunosuppression, and, finally, some antibiotics. We report the case of a 21-year-old woman with a suspected lesion in the breast associated with papillary discharge. During the investigation, there was a 12 x 6 x 8.5 cm enhancement on magnetic resonance imaging associated with inflammatory signs on the skin and lymph nodes. Anatomopathological examination revealed a idiopathic granulomatous mastitis. The enhancement disappeared completely after conservative treatment with corticosteroids. Mammography and ultrasound may also demonstrate nonspecific changes, such as focal asymmetry, undefined mass, or distortion. Despite the limitations of the imaging studies, it has been demonstrated in this report that MRI can be used to monitor the clinical response to conservative treatment and follow-up by the risk of recurrence.

A mastite granulomatosa é uma condição rara e benigna da mama que, em alguns casos, possui etiologia desconhecida de doença inflamatória benigna, a mastite idiopática. Seu diagnóstico normalmente é feito por exclusão. Os exames de imagens têm demonstrado achados inespecíficos que podem sugerir uma doença inflamatória, um carcinoma ou não apresentar alterações. Deve ser realizado um diagnóstico diferencial com outras causas de mastites, sempre alertando para o risco de carcinoma inflamatório. Os exames de imagem servem mais para descartar uma malignidade do que para confirmar a mastite granulomatosa idiopática. Em função de tanto os exames de imagem como o exame físico poderem simular uma lesão maligna da mama, o laudo histopatológico é fundamental para estabelecer o diagnóstico. A sua etiologia permanece desconhecida, portanto, o tratamento é controverso na literatura, com alguns autores recomendando cirurgia, outros a imunossupressão e, por fim, alguns antibióticos. É apresentado o caso de uma paciente de 21 anos com uma lesão suspeita na mama associada à descarga papilar. Durante a investigação, houve um realce de 12 x 6 x 8,5 cm na ressonância magnética associado a sinais inflamatórios na pele e nos linfonodos. O exame anatomopatológico evidenciou um quadro de mastite granulomatosa idiopática. O realce desapareceu completamente após o tratamento conservador com corticoterapia. A mamografia e o ultrassom também podem demonstrar alterações inespecíficas, tais como assimetria focal, massa indefinida ou distorção. Apesar das limitações dos exames de imagem, demonstrou-se, neste relato, que a ressonância magnética pode ser utilizada para monitorar a resposta clínica ao tratamento conservador e o acompanhamento pelo risco de recorrência.

"Next Door" intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging for awake craniotomy: Preliminary experience and technical note.

BACKGROUND: During glioma surgery "maximal safe resection" must be the main goal. Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (iMRI) associated with awake craniotomy (AC) is a valuable tool to achieve this objective. In this article, AC with a "next-door" iMRI concept is described in a stepwise protocol. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of 18 patients submitted to AC using iMRI; a stepwise protocol is also discussed. RESULTS: The mean age was 41.7 years. Hemiparesis, aphasia, and seizures were the main initial symptoms of the patients. Sixty-six percent of the tumors were located in the left hemisphere. All tumors were near or within eloquent areas. Fifty-three percent of the cases were glioblastomas multiforme and 47% of the patients had low grade gliomas. The mean surgical time and iMRI time were 4 h 4 min and 30 min, respectively. New resection was performed in 33% after iMRI. Extent of resection (EOR) higher than 95% was possible in 66.7% of the patients. The main reason of EOR lower than 95% was positive mapping of eloquent areas (6 patients). Eighty percent of the patients experienced improvement of their deficits immediately after the surgery or had a stable clinical status whereas 20% had neurological deterioration, however, all of them improved after 30 days. CONCLUSION: AC associated with "next-door" iMRI is a complex procedure, but if performed using a meticulous technique, it may improve the overall tumor resection and safety of the patients.

Magnetic resonance imaging-guided occult breast lesion localization and simultaneous sentinel lymph node mapping.

BACKGROUND: Radio-guided occult lesion localization is a valid technique for the diagnosis of suspicious non-palpable lesions. Here we determine the feasibility of pre-operative localization of occult suspect non-palpable breast lesions using radio-guided occult lesion localization, as well as for identifying the sentinel lymph node. METHODS: This is a descriptive study of data collected retrospectively. Pre-operative mapping of 34 breast lesions in 25 patients suspected of being malignant was performed using conventional imaging methods with a magnetic resonance imaging-guided radiopharmaceutical injection. RESULTS: The mean time required to perform the localization was 25 minutes. After resection of the lesions using a gamma probe, malignancy was confirmed in fifteen patients (60.0%), with nine invasive ductal carcinomas, two invasive lobular carcinomas, and four in situ ductal carcinomas The resection was confirmed by the complete removal of the radioactive material. The pathologic results and images were concordant in all but two cases, which were submitted for new magnetic resonance imaging examinations and surgery that confirmed the malignancies. Of the 15 patients with confirmed malignancies, 10 had sentinel lymph node resection. Of these, eight were negative for metastases, one had micro-metastases and one had confirmed metastases. Three patients had full axillary node dissection, with metastases found in only one. No side effects were observed with magnetic resonance-guided radiopharmaceutical injection. CONCLUSIONS: The sentinel node occult lesion localization technique is a simple, reproducible and effective alternative approach to occult lesions compared to other methods, such as mammotomy and the hook-wire localization technique, for mapping suspect breast lesions and identifying lymph node metastasis.

Pneumoventrílo espontâneo após cirurgia bariátrica / Spontaneous pneumoventricle following bariatric surgery: case report and review of literature

O pneumoventrículo é um evento comum no pós-operatório de cirurgias de fossa posterior, ou acessos transventriculares, com evolução benigna e raramente letal. Já o pneumoventrículo espontâneo é uma condição rara, quase sempre associado com fístula liquórica, com possível pior prognóstico. Neste trabalho descrevemos uma paciente de 57 anos, previamente hígida, submetida 7 meses antes a uma cirurgia bariátrica, com perda de 50 Kg desde então, que há 1 mês apresentou cefaléia, hemiparesia e incontinência vesical, secundárias a um pneumoventrículo espontâneo.

Spontaneous pneumoventricle following bariatric surgery: case report and review of literature

Pneumoventricle is a common postoperative event following posterior fossa approach, or any transventricular approach, with a benign evolution, rarely life-threatning. However, spontaneous pneumoventricle is a rare condition, almost always secondary to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage, with possible worse evolution. We describe a 57-year-old woman, previously healthy, submitted 7 months ago to a bariatric surgery, losing 110 pounds (50 Kg) since that, who developed 1 month ago headache, hemiparesis and incontinence, secondary to a spontaneous pneumoventricle. (au)

O pneumoventrículo é um evento comum no pós-operatório de cirurgias de fossa posterior, ou acessos transventriculares, com uma evolução benigna, raramente letal. Já o pneumoventrículo espontâneo é uma condição rara, quase sempre associado com fístula liquórica, com possível pior prognóstico. Neste trabalho descrevemos uma mulher de 57 anos, previamente hígida, submetida há 7 meses a uma cirurgia bariátrica, perdendo 50 Kg desde então, que há 1 mês apresentou cefaléia, hemiparesia e incontinência vesical, secundárias a um pneumoventrículo espontâneo.