Whole-Body MRI in Children and Adolescents - S1 Guideline. / Ganzkörper-Magnetresonanztomografie im Kindes- und Jugendalter ­ S1-Leitlinie.

Whole-body MRI is an imaging method that uses advanced modern MRI equipment to provide high-resolution images of the entire body. The goal of these guidelines is to specify the indications for which whole-body MRI can be recommended in children and adolescents and to describe the necessary technical requirements. CITATION FORMAT: · Schaefer JF, Berthold LD, Hahn G et al. Whole-Body MRI in Children and Adolescents - S1 Guidelines. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2019; 191: 618 - 625.

[A structured case analysis from the Critical Incident Reporting System of the German Medical Association and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians]. / Eine strukturierte Fallanalyse aus dem Critical Incident Reporting System der Bundesärztekammer und Kassenärztlichen Bundesvereinigung.

BACKGROUND: Reporting systems for near misses are necessary to improve patient safety. In Germany, different systems are publicly available on both a national and regional level or as systems related to various medical domains. In contrast with the British Registry, our reporting systems still lack systematic evaluation. Using the Open-Task-Process Model (OPT model) one case of CIRSmedical (www.cirsmedical.de) was selected for a systematic analysis. METHOD: Case 148384 reports on a patient with a tentative diagnosis of pulmonary embolism with an oxygen saturation of 71 %. The attending physician was ordered to leave the patient to participate in the daily team meeting. After 40minutes, the nurses transferred the patient from the emergency department to the ICU. The OPT model systematically checks the properties of all tasks in a given process and matches them to requirements or solving capacities of the task. RESULTS: The analysis manifests some structural problems: Although the case was not very difficult (high priority, but a frequent problem), the solving capacities were not adequate in order to avoid errors. Since the physician left the patient, the loyalty toward medical standards and the team error correction activity were low. The team did not intervene to prevent the doctor from leaving his patient. CONCLUSION: The OPT model allows for the analysis of both single cases and complete data sets of CIR systems and is able to disclose structural problems of clinical management.

THSD7A expression in human cancer.

We recently described a case of a Thrombospondin Type-1 Domain containing 7A (THSD7A) associated membranous nephropathy in a female patient who was synchronously suffering from a THSD7A-positive malignancy. We here investigated the role of THSD7A as a new potential tumor antigen by evaluating over 20 000 tissue spots in more than 70 different tumor entities by immunohistochemistry using tissue microarrays. THSD7A expression was highly variable in different neoplasias with differing staining patterns. Both gain and loss of THSD7A expression compared to expression status in non-tumor tissue were linked to tumor-specific markers in the different tumor entities and were of prognostic value. The potential role of THSD7A in tumor development and therapy needs further investigation.

Pharmacokinetics and safety of gadobutrol-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in pediatric patients.

OBJECTIVES: This clinical study investigated the pharmacokinetics and safety of gadobutrol, a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging extracellular contrast agent, in pediatric patients aged 2 to 17 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this open-label, multicenter study, patients scheduled for routine contrast-enhanced MR imaging of the brain, spine, liver or kidney, or MR angiography received a single intravenous injection of gadobutrol (0.1 mmol/kg/0.1 mL/kg). Patients were stratified by age groups (2-6, 7-11, and 12-17 years). Blood and urine samples were collected at prespecified time points and analyzed for gadolinium concentrations. Plasma data were evaluated by means of a nonlinear mixed effects model, and urine data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. In addition, the safety of gadobutrol was evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 130 patients (2-6 years, n = 45; 7-11 years, n = 39; 12-17 years, n = 46) were included in the final population pharmacokinetic analysis. Gadobutrol pharmacokinetics in children aged 2 to 17 years were adequately described by an open 2-compartment model with elimination from the central compartment. The median estimates (2.5th percentile, 97.5th percentile) of body weight-normalized total body clearance (L/h/kg) per age group were 0.10 (0.05, 0.17) for all ages, 0.13 (0.09, 0.17) in the 2 to 6 year age group, 0.10 (0.05, 0.17) in the 7 to 11 year age group and 0.09 (0.05, 0.10) in the 12 to 17 year age group. The body weight-normalized median estimates of total volume of distribution (L/kg) were 0.20 (0.12, 0.28) for all ages, 0.24 (0.20, 0.28) in the 2 to 6 year age group, 0.19 (0.14, 0.23) in the 7 to 11 year age group and 0.18 (0.092, 0.23) in the 12 to 17 year age group. Median gadolinium plasma concentrations at 20 minutes postinjection were simulated using the population pharmacokinetic model and ranged from 414 (13 kg subject) to 518 micromol/L (65 kg subject). Body weight was identified as the major covariate influencing the pharmacokinetic parameters of total body clearance and central volume of distribution. Age was not found to be an additional independent parameter. The median amount of renally excreted gadolinium was 77.0% of the administered dose within 6 hours postinjection, indicating that gadobutrol was renally excreted in this pediatric population aged 2 to 17 years. Gadobutrol was well tolerated, with drug-related adverse events of mild intensity reported for 8 (5.8%) of 138 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Observed differences in pharmacokinetics were attributed to body weight, with no additional independent effect of age. Thus, no dose adjustment from the standard dose of gadobutrol in adults based on body weight (0.1 mmol/kg) is necessary in pediatric patients aged 2 to 17 years. Gadobutrol was safe and well tolerated in the pediatric population in this study.

Preclinical evaluation of coronary vascular function after cardioplegia with HTK and different antioxidant additives.

OBJECTIVE: Due to limited resources, improvement of preservation solutions is still of great importance in cardiac transplant surgery. New additives with antioxidant properties were tested with respect to coronary function of isolated rat hearts. METHODS: Bretschneider HTK solution containing none or an antioxidant additive (deferoxamine, trolox or LK 616) was used for 8h cold cardioplegia. After reperfusion with Krebs-Henseleit buffer (KHB), we assessed vascular dilator capacity (bradykinin, adenosine triphosphate, reactive hyperemia), myocardial function (left ventricular developed pressure, heart rate, oxygen consumption) and release of biochemical markers (aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, troponin, adenosine). RESULTS: Bradykinin- and adenosine triphosphate-induced vasodilations were largely reduced in hearts stored 8h in traditional HTK as compared to unstored controls. Storage in HTK+LK 616 significantly improved bradykinin-induced vasodilation. Vasodilation toward ATP was best preserved in hearts stored in HTK+deferoxamine. Deferoxamine and trolox, both improved reactive hyperaemic response during reperfusion. Left ventricular pressure development was significantly reduced after 8h cardioplegia, but no difference existed between different cardioplegia groups. Release of biochemical markers of tissue injury was similar in all cardioplegia groups. After storage in HTK+LK 616 (100 microM), however, heart marker release was slightly augmented as compared to HTK. CONCLUSIONS: Despite similar myocardial function and marker release, coronary vascular function after cardioplegic storage may profit by addition of iron chelators (or antioxidants) to traditional HTK solution.