Advancing Renal Amyloidosis Care: The Role of Modern Diagnostic Techniques with the Potential of Enhancing Patient Outcomes.

Renal amyloidosis is a set of complex disorders characterized by the deposition of amyloid proteins in the kidneys, which causes gradual organ damage and potential kidney failure. Recent developments in diagnostic methods, particularly mass spectrometry and proteome profiling, have greatly improved the accuracy of amyloid typing, which is critical for disease management. These technologies provide extensive insights into the specific proteins involved, allowing for more targeted treatment approaches and better patient results. Despite these advances, problems remain, owing to the heterogeneous composition of amyloid proteins and the varying efficacy of treatments based on amyloid type. Access to sophisticated diagnostics and therapy varies greatly, highlighting the global difference in renal amyloidosis management. Future research is needed to investigate next-generation sequencing and gene-editing technologies, like clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), which promise more profound insights into the genetic basis of amyloidosis.

Studying the clinical, radiological, histological, microbiological, and immunological evolution during the different COVID-19 disease stages using minimal invasive autopsy.

The WHO defines different COVID-19 disease stages in which the pathophysiological mechanisms differ. We evaluated the characteristics of these COVID-19 disease stages. Forty-four PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients were included in a prospective minimal invasive autopsy cohort. Patients were classified into mild-moderate (n = 4), severe-critical (n = 32) and post-acute disease (n = 8) and clinical, radiological, histological, microbiological and immunological data were compared. Classified according to Thoracic Society of America, patients with mild-moderate disease had no typical COVID-19 images on CT-Thorax versus 71.9% with typical images in severe-critical disease and 87.5% in post-acute disease (P < 0.001). Diffuse alveolar damage was absent in mild-moderate disease but present in 93.8% and 87.5% of patients with severe-critical and post-acute COVID-19 respectively (P = 0.002). Other organs with COVID-19 related histopathological changes were liver and heart. Interferon-γ levels were significantly higher in patients with severe-critical COVID-19 (P = 0.046). Anti-SARS CoV-2 IgG was positive in 66%, 40.6% and 87.5% of patients with mild-moderate, severe-critical and post-acute COVID-19 respectively (n.s.). Significant differences in histopathological and immunological characteristics between patients with mild-moderate disease compared to patients with severe-critical disease were found, whereas differences between patients with severe-critical disease and post-acute disease were limited. This emphasizes the need for tailored treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Unexpected diagnosis of multiple sclerosing pneumocytomas in a patient with chondrosarcoma of the hand.

Sclerosing pneumocytomas are rare, benign pulmonary neoplasms that predominantly affect Asian female patients in the age category of 40-70 years, mostly non-smokers. We report on a 72-year-old Caucasian woman with chondrosarcoma of the hand who developed multiple bilateral progressive lung nodules suspicious of lung metastases. Staged lung resections were performed, and pathological diagnosis was confirmed by immunohistochemical analysis of the resected specimens. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to detect gene mutations. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated sclerosing pneumocytomas, and NGS showed an IDH1 mutation. Eventually, the patient developed lung metastases for which rethoracotomy was performed. The differentiation of sclerosing pneumocytoma from lung cancer is a diagnostic challenge, and sclerosing pneumocytoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of pulmonary nodules. Gene mutation analysis does not always show classical and common mutations, which should be kept in mind when interpreting its results.