What has changed in malignant mesothelioma between 1990 and 2019? A time- series analyses in Turkey.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the changes in epidemiological and survival characteristics of malignant mesothelioma (MM) cases diagnosed in a 30-year period between 1990 and 2019. METHODS: Data were analyzed considering three time periods (1990-1999, 2000-2009, 2010-2019) when treatment practices changed. The Join point Regression Program was used to analyze the change in clinical and epidemiological characteristics of the cases. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to calculate the overall survival of the patients. Cox regression analysis was used to determine the effect of variables on survival. RESULTS: The study group consisted of 928 MM patients. During the study period, the mean age of the patients and the percentage of epithelioid subtype increased, while the percentage of female and histopathologically unidentified cases decreased. The median survival (95%CI) of patients according to the study periods was 9.0 (7.2-10.9), 9.0 (7.6-10.4) and 12.0 (10.5-13.5) months, respectively. A significant increase in overall survival was observed in the time trend (p = 0.013). There was no significant change in overall survival in patients receiving best supportive care over the 30-year period (p = 0.060), but an improvement of 1.4 (95%CI 0.2 to 2.7) months (p = 0.027) was observed in patient receiving chemotherapy. An improvement in overall survival of 4.8 (1.2 to 8.4) months was also observed in patients receiving multimodality treatment during 2000-2019 (p = 0.014). MM patients who were younger, female, diagnosed after 2000, epithelioid subtype, early stage, and received chemotherapy or multimodal treatment had longer survival. CONCLUSIONS: It was found that histopathological diagnosis and treatment success in MM have improved over the years.

Evaluation of the contribution of fine-needle non-aspiration cytology to diagnosis in cases with pulmonary malignant lesions.

BACKGROUND: Fine-needle non-aspiration cytology (FNNAC) is an easy-to-apply, minimally invasive diagnostic method that contributes to the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. FNNAC can be performed from peripheral lymph nodes as well as in peripheral lung lesions. This study aimed to evaluate the contribution of FNNAC performed from peripheral lesions or lymph nodes to diagnosis in patients with pulmonary malignant lesions. METHODS: FNNAC was applied from a peripherally located mass in the lung, chest wall lesion, or peripheral lymph node using a needle without an injector or active suction. The collected material was evaluated using the cytoblock method. The FNNAC accuracy was obtained by dividing the true positivity value by a number of needle biopsies performed. The 95% confidence interval of the obtained rate was also calculated. RESULTS: The mean age of 56 patients, two female (3.6%) and 54 male (96.4%), was 63.9 ± 9.1 (38-80) years. FNNAC was performed from the peripheral lymph node in 48 patients, the peripheral pulmonary lesion in four, and the accompanying chest wall lesion in four. While true positivity was present in 42 patients, two patients had true negativity, and 12 had false negativity. In five of the 12 cases reported as false negative, the collected material was evaluated as insufficient, while the malignant diagnoses of the remaining seven cases were confirmed by other diagnostic methods. The diagnostic success of FNNAC was determined as 78.57% (95% CI: 65.56-88.41). FNNAC was more successful in diagnosis when performed from the peripheral lymph node compared to the peripheral pulmonary lesion (p=0.033).

CT Scan-Guided Abrams' Needle Pleural Biopsy versus Ultrasound-Assisted Cutting Needle Pleural Biopsy for Diagnosis in Patients with Pleural Effusion: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Image-guided pleural biopsies, both using ultrasound (US) or computed tomography (CT), are important in the diagnosis of pleural disease. However, no consensus exists regarding which biopsy needles are appropriate for specific procedures. OBJECTIVES: In this randomized, prospective study, we aimed to compare CT scan-guided pleural biopsy using an Abrams' needle (CT-ANPB) with US-assisted pleural biopsy using a cutting needle (US-CNPB) with respect to both diagnostic yield and safety. METHODS: Between February 2009 and April 2013, 150 patients with exudative pleural effusion who could not be diagnosed by cytological analysis were included in the study. The patients were randomized into either the US-CNPB group or the CT-ANPB group. The two groups were compared in terms of diagnostic sensitivity and complications. RESULTS: Of the 150 patients enrolled in this study, 45 were diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, 46 were diagnosed with metastatic pleural disease, 18 were diagnosed with pleural tuberculosis, 34 were diagnosed with benign pleural disease, and 7 were lost to follow-up. In the US-CNPB group, the diagnostic sensitivity was 66.7%, compared with 82.4% in the CT-ANPB group; the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p = 0.029). The sensitivity of CT-ANPB increased to 93.7% for patients with a pleural thickness ≥1 cm. The complication rates were low and acceptable. CONCLUSIONS: The first diagnostic intervention that should be preferred in patients with pleural effusion and associated pleural thickening on a CT scan is CT-ANPB. US-CNPB should be used primarily in cases for which only pleural thickening but no pleural effusion is noted.

Prognostic impact of intratumoral C-reactive protein expression in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Elevated serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level has been demonstrated to predict poorer survival of both localized and metastatic renal cell carcinoma. However, the prognostic value of intratumoral CRP expression has not been sufficiently studied. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the present study, the expression of CRP was evaluated with immunohistochemical analysis in 127 patients who had undergone curative surgery for clear cell renal cell carcinoma. CRP staining was scored using the immunoreactivity score. An immunoreactivity score of 4 (median value) or lower was considered negative, a score higher than 4 was considered positive CRP expression. RESULTS: Univariate analysis revealed that Fuhrman grade, necrosis, vascular invasion, TNM stage and CRP expression were associated with tumor-specific survival. Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards regression method revealed only TNM stage as an independent predictor of tumor-specific survival (p = 0.001). A trend towards significance (p = 0.066) was observed with CRP expression, but it did not reach significance. Patients with a positive CRP score were 3.46 times more likely to die than patients with a negative CRP score. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the assessment of intratumoral CRP expression may be a useful tool for predicting the prognosis in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Investigation of MTAP and BAP1 staining loss and P16/CDKN2A deletion in pleural cytology specimens and its role in the diagnosis of mesothelioma.

BACKGROUND: Mesothelioma is a malignant neoplasm with a poor survival rate. We aimed to investigate the importance of BAP1, MTAP (IHC), and p16/CDKN2A homozygous deletion (FISH) in cytologic material obtained from pleural effusion sampling, which is a less invasive procedure in the diagnosis of mesothelioma. METHODS: Our study discussed pleural cytology samples of cases with histopathologically proven mesothelioma diagnoses between 2017 and 2022. As the control group, materials that had pleural effusion sampling for other reasons and reactive mesothelial hyperplasia were included in the study. Cell blocks prepared from these materials were subjected to fluorescent in situ hybridization for p16/CDKN2A homozygous deletion and immunohistochemistry for BAP1 and MTAP. RESULTS: The specificity of the P16/CDKN2A homozygous deletion in diagnosing mesothelioma is 100%. Its sensitivity is 68.75%. The specificity of BAP1 immunohistochemical nuclear expression loss is 95%, while the sensitivity is 60%. Loss of nuclear expression of MTAP alone has the lowest specificity and sensitivity, with a specificity of 86% and a sensitivity of 43%. The highest sensitivity is reached when BAP1 loss and p16/CDKN2A homozygous deletion are evaluated together, increasing to 81%. The specificity is 95%. CONCLUSION: It has been determined that any marker alone cannot be used for a definitive mesothelioma diagnosis in pleural effusion cytological specimens; however, sensitivity increases in some combinations. The combination of BAP1 immunohistochemistry and p16/CDKN2A homozygous deletion detected by FISH, which has a higher specificity and sensitivity, can be routinely used in the diagnosis of mesothelioma under the guidance of clinical and radiologic information.

BAP1, Wilms' tumor 1, and calretinin in predicting survival and response to first-line chemotherapy in patients with pleural mesothelioma.

PURPOSE: There are currently no methods to predict response to chemotherapy in pleural mesothelioma (PM). The aim of this study is to investigate the predictive and prognostic role of BAP1, WT1 and calretinin expression and their combinations in pre-treatment tumor samples by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining. METHODS: The study included consecutive PM patients treated with chemotherapy alone at a University hospital between 2009 and 2020. BAP1 analyses were performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumor tissue samples of the patients, while WT1 and calretinin information were obtained from the histopathological diagnosis records. RESULTS: Of the total 107 patients included, 64% had loss of BAP1 expression, whereas 77% had WT1 and 86% had calretinin expression. Patients with the presence of BAP1 expression, one or both of the other two markers, or loss of expression of all three markers (unfavorable status) were more likely to not respond to chemotherapy than those with the presence of all three markers or loss of BAP1 expression and expression of one or two other markers (favorable status) (p = 0.001). Median survival time of patients with favorable and unfavorable status was 15 ± 1.7 and 8.0 ± 2.4 months, respectively (p = 0.027). After adjustment for histopathology and stage, loss of BAP1 (HR = 0.54, 95%CI 0.35-0.83), WT1 (1.75, 1.06-2.90), calretinin (2.09, 1.14-3.84) expression and favourable panel (0.50, 0.27-0.92) was associated with prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: The IHC biomarkers BAP1, WT1, and calretinin, used in the routine diagnosis of PM and their combinations, are the first biomarkers associated with response to chemotherapy and may be a useful tool to select patients for first-line platinum pemetrexed treatment in PM patients. Validation in a large cohort is ongoing.

Image-Assisted Pleural Needle Biopsy or Medical Thoracoscopy: Which Method for Which Patient? A Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Image-guided or assisted needle biopsies and the increasing use of medical thoracoscopy (MT) have increased the diagnostic accuracy of pleural diseases significantly. However, no consensus exists regarding which patients with pleural effusion should undergo MT and which patients should undergo image-guided or assisted needle biopsy as the first procedure to ensure greater diagnostic accuracy. RESEARCH QUESTION: Which biopsy method is more appropriate for which patient to provide the highest diagnostic accuracy in the diagnosis of pleural effusion? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This prospective, randomized, parallel study included 228 patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion. Patients were divided into two groups based on CT scan findings. Group 1 included patients with pleural effusion only. Group 2 included patients with pleural thickening or lesion in addition to pleural effusion. Patients in each group were assigned randomly to an image-assisted Abrams needle pleural biopsy (IA-ANPB) or MT arm. The diagnostic sensitivity, reliability, and safety were determined for both groups. RESULTS: The false-negative rate was 30.3% for the IA-ANPB arm and 3.1% for the MT arm in group 1. The same rates were 11.9% for IA-ANPB and 4.7% for MT in group 2. In group 1, the sensitivity for the IA-ANPB arm was 69.7%, and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.30. The same rates for the MT arm were 96.9% and 0.03 (P = .009). In group 2, these values were 88.1% and 0.12 for the IA-ANPB arm and 95.4% and 0.05 for the MT arm (P = .207). The rate of complications between the two biopsy methods was not different (8.5% and 15.8%, respectively; P = .107). INTERPRETATION: MT showed a high diagnostic success in all patients with pleural fluid. However, IA-ANPB showed similar diagnostic success as MT in patients with pleural effusion and associated pleural thickening or lesions. Therefore, in the latter case, IA-ANPB could be preferable to MT. TRIAL REGISTRY: ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT05428891; URL: www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov.

Genetic analysis of familial predisposition in the pathogenesis of malignant pleural mesothelioma.

PURPOSE: Mesothelioma is the primary tumor of the mesothelial cell membrane. The most important etiology is asbestos exposure. The development of malignant mesothelioma in very few of the population exposed to asbestos and its frequent occurrence in some families may be significant in terms of genetic predisposition. Again, the presence of relatives with mesothelioma who did not have asbestos contact strengthens this argument. This disease, which has limited treatment options and has a poor prognosis, revealing a genetic predisposition, if any, may prolong survival with early diagnosis and effective treatment. METHODS: Based on the genetic predisposition idea, we diagnosed and followed a total of ten individuals of relatives with mesothelioma. DNA was isolated from peripheral blood and whole genome sequencing analysis was done. Common gene mutations in ten individuals were filtered using bioinformatics. After this filter, from the remaining variants, very rare in the population and damaging mutations are selected. RESULTS: Eight thousand six hundred and twenty-two common variants have been identified in ten individuals with this analysis. In total, 120 variants were found on 37 genes in 15 chromosomes. These genes are PIK3R4, SLC25A5, ITGB6, PLK2, RAD17, HLA-B, HLA-DRB1, HLA-DQB1, GRM, IL20RA, MAP3K7, RIPK2, and MUC16. CONCLUSION: Our finding, PIK3R4 gene, is directly associated with mesothelioma development. Twelve genes, which are associated with cancer, were detected in literature. Additional studies, which scan first-degree relatives of individual, are needed to find the specific gene region.

Asymptomatic course of a metastatic mass completely filling the right atrium in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Intracardiac involvement rarely develops in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its prognosis is poor. Patients generally have symptoms of sudden dyspnea or massive lower extremity edema and the clinical course may be further complicated by many fatal cardiovascular complications. Absence of cardiac symptoms or findings, however, is an unusual condition. We present a 61-year-old man with HCC who was incidentally found to have an intracavitary mass completely occupying the right atrium. He had no cardiac complaints, nor any signs of cardiac involvement. The mass was first detected by computed tomography and then confirmed by transthoracic echocardiography. The patient underwent a successful surgical resection and the histopathologic diagnosis was HCC. Unfortunately, the postoperative course was complicated by the development of acute kidney failure and, despite hemodialysis treatment, the patient died of kidney failure eight days after the operation.

Erythropoietin improves the healing of skin necrosis resulting from Doxorubicin extravasation in a rat model.

BACKGROUND: Doxorubicin is an antineoplastic agent that causes skin necrosis when extravasated. Various agents have been tried to reduce tissue damage owing to extravasation. Erythropoietin (EPO) is an obligatory growth factor for red blood cells and has beneficial effects on wound healing. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that local EPO injection can prevent and improve healing of necrosis at the doxorubicin injection site in rats. METHODS: We used 31 female Sprague-Dawley rats. The dorsal area of each rat was shaved, and 2 mg of doxorubicin in 0.5 mL saline was injected intradermally. The rats were then divided into 3 groups: control; control with intradermal injection of saline; and treatment, which received an intradermal injection of EPO. EPO in saline was injected into 4 quadrants of the same site where doxorubicin was injected 1 hour before. The rats were monitored and the area of each ulcer was measured. Skin biopsies were excised at the end of 4 weeks using anesthetic pentobarbital. Inflammation, edema, epithelization, neovascularization, necrosis, fibroblast proliferation, and collagen synthesis were evaluated and compared between groups. RESULTS: The average areas of the lesions were significantly smaller in the EPO-injected rats (P = 0.03). The histopathologic evaluation revealed that the scores for epithelization, neovascularization, fibroblast proliferation, and collagen synthesis were higher (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P = 0.002, and P = 0.04, respectively) and the score for necrosis was lower (P < 0.001) in the EPO-injected group than in both the saline-injected and control groups. CONCLUSIONS: In this study using female Sprague-Dawley rats, EPO treatment improved the healing of skin necrosis caused by doxorubicin injection. This finding may lead to a new therapeutic approach for the management of skin necrosis caused by doxorubicin extravasation.

Primary Extraosseous Ewing's Sarcoma of the Lung: Radiologic and Pathologic correlation.

Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is a rare and highly aggressive tumor belonging to a family of neoplasms of neuroectodermal origin, which primarily affects the bones or soft tissues. ES originating from lung parenchyma without chest wall involvement is extremely rare with less than 40 cases reported in the English literature. A 41-year-old man admitted to the thoracic surgery department presenting with intermittent non-productive cough, dyspnea, left-sided chest pain for two months for further evaluation and treatment with a preliminary diagnosis of pulmonary mass. Contrast-enhanced thorax CT and MRI revealed a large heterogeneous soft-tissue mass in the left lower lobe with no distant metastases or occult primary tumor. Following the percutaneous transthoracic biopsy, histopathological and immunohistochemical results were consistent with primary pulmonary ES. Though rare, primary pulmonary ES should be considered in the differential diagnosis of young patients presenting with a large heterogeneous soft tissue mass in the lung. This case report highlights the diagnosis, radiologic and pathologic findings, and management of primary pulmonary ES.

Detection of Lung Cancer on Computed Tomography Using Artificial Intelligence Applications Developed by Deep Learning Methods and the Contribution of Deep Learning to the Classification of Lung Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Every year, lung cancer contributes to a high percentage deaths in the world. Early detection of lung cancer is important for its effective treatment, and non-invasive rapid methods are usually used for diagnosis. INTRODUCTION: In this study, we aimed to detect lung cancer using deep learning methods and determine the contribution of deep learning to the classification of lung carcinoma using a convolutional neural network (CNN). METHODS: A total of 301 patients diagnosed with lung carcinoma pathologies in our hospital were included in the study. In the thorax, Computed Tomography (CT) was performed for diagnostic purposes prior to the treatment. After tagging the section images, tumor detection, small and non-small cell lung carcinoma differentiation, adenocarcinoma-squamous cell lung carcinoma differentiation, and adenocarcinoma-squamous cell-small cell lung carcinoma differentiation were sequentially performed using deep CNN methods. RESULTS: In total, 301 lung carcinoma images were used to detect tumors, and the model obtained with the deep CNN system exhibited 0.93 sensitivity, 0.82 precision, and 0.87 F1 score in detecting lung carcinoma. In the differentiation of small cell-non-small cell lung carcinoma, the sensitivity, precision and F1 score of the CNN model at the test stage were 0.92, 0.65, and 0.76, respectively. In the adenocarcinoma-squamous cancer differentiation, the sensitivity, precision, and F1 score were 0.95, 0.80, and 0.86, respectively. The patients were finally grouped as small cell lung carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and squamous cell lung carcinoma, and the CNN model was used to determine whether it could differentiate these groups. The sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score of this model were 0.90, 0.44, and 0.59, respectively, in this differentiation. CONCLUSION: In this study, we successfully detected tumors and differentiated between adenocarcinoma- squamous cell carcinoma groups with the deep learning method using the CNN model. Due to their non-invasive nature and the success of the deep learning methods, they should be integrated into radiology to diagnose lung carcinoma.

Factors affecting swallowing during thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

OBJECTIVE: This prospective study was conducted to examine the factors that affect swallowing during thyroid fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). METHODS: Consecutive patients who were to undergo FNAB were approached for inclusion in the study. The depth and size of the nodule were measured in all patients. In a random fashion, patients were told not to swallow during the procedure, or they were not given any instructions regarding swallowing. RESULTS: Regarding the 143 participants in the study, no significant differences in age (P = .07), diameter and depth of the thyroid nodules (P = .14; P = .46, respectively), or cytologic diagnosis of thyroid aspirates (P > .20) were found between the swallowing (n = 50) and nonswallowing (n = 93) patient groups. Swallowing was observed in 29 patients who were instructed not to swallow (36%) and in 21 patients who were not given any instructions regarding swallowing (34%; P = .95). The mean duration of the procedure for swallowing patients was 19.8 seconds, and it was 15.7 seconds for nonswallowing patients. The duration of the procedure was significantly shorter in patients who did not swallow (P = .001). More male patients swallowed than female patients (P = .003). CONCLUSIONS: Giving specific instructions about not swallowing did not make a difference regarding swallowing by patients during the FNAB procedure. More male patients swallowed than female patients. A longer duration of the FNAB procedure meant that the operator was more likely to encounter swallowing (and thus displacement of the thyroid) while doing the procedure. Completing the procedure quickly is the surest method to avoid a moving thyroid while performing FNAB.

Diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor in a patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

Uterine adenomatoid tumors are usually solitary lesions. Adenomatoid tumors diffusely infiltrating the entire myometrium have rarely been reported in the literature. A feature common to half of the reported cases of diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor was an immunocompromised status of the patient caused by the medications for renal transplantation. In this article, we describe an unusual case of diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor in a patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Pelvic examination showed an irregular and enlarged uterus. Supracervical hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed with a clinical diagnosis of uterine leiomyoma. Pathological examination showed, in addition to multiple leiomyomas, diffuse uterine adenomatoid tumor. We suggested that the diffuse pattern in our patient might be related to immunosuppression secondary to chronic hepatitis C virus infection.

Pleurodesis in follow-up and treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma patients.

We analyzed the necessity of pleurodesis in the follow-up of the patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), and how much it contributes to the survival period by determining the indications, efficiency, and reliability of the pleurodesis application. 191 patients were assessed retrospectively and 69 (36%) of them were established with a pleurodesis indication. In 42 patients accepting pleurodesis, the pleurodesis success was evaluated. Factors affecting the success of pleurodesis and the effect of pleurodesis on survival were assessed. Pleurodesis was a success in 26 (62%) of the 42 patients. In the group in which the pleurodesis process was a success, it was observed that KPS and pleural fluid pH were higher (p= 0.030, p= 0.032, respectively). In case of KPS > or = 80, the sensitivity was: 76.9%, specificity: 50.0%, PPV: 71.4%, and NPV was established as 57.1%. In case of pleural fluid pH > 7.27, the sensitivity was: 92.9%, specificity: 50.0%, PPV: 76.5%, and NPV was observed as 80.0%. In the group in which pleurodesis was a success, the median survival was longer (Log-rank: 11.2; p= 0.0008). Independently from chemotherapy, the chance of living longer for patients whose pleurodesis was a success was 2.6 times higher. A severe complication concerning the process was not observed. Pleurodesis is performed less frequently than it is assumed on patients with MPM. In patients with KPS > or = 80, pleural fluid pH > 7.27, and with indication, pleurodesis must be administered. In feasible patients, a successful pleurodesis with talc increases the survival of patients with MPM, and it can be safely administered.

Water-Clear Cell Adenoma of the Mediastinal Parathyroid Gland.

Water-clear cell adenoma of the parathyroid gland is a rare neoplasm that consists of cells with abundant clear-pink cytoplasm. There have only been 19 cases reported in the English literature. Here we report a case of water-clear cell adenoma of the mediastinal parathyroid gland. A 70-year-old male patient presented to the hospital with back pain and a mediastinal mass 6 cm in size was detected. After excision and microscopic evaluation, uniform, large clear cells with fine cytoplasmic vacuolization, without nuclear atypia, and arranged in solid and acinar patterns were revealed. The cells formed nests that were separated by fine fibrovascular septae and stained positively with anti-parathyroid hormone. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been previously reported in this location. In the differential diagnosis of clear cell lesions of the mediastinum, water-clear cell parathyroid adenoma should be considered.

Prospective Study of the Utility of Computed Tomography Triage of Pleural Biopsy Strategies in Patients With Pleural Diseases.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to prospectively evaluate the efficacy and reliability of a diagnostic workup, triaging pleural biopsy method according to baseline computerized tomography (CT) findings in the diagnosis of pleural diseases. METHODS: Patients with pleural pathology were divided into 3 arms according to findings on CT scan images. Arm A: patients with pleural thickening/lesion in addition to pleural effusion. These patients underwent CT scan-guided Abrams' needle pleural biopsy. Arm B: patients with pleural effusion alone or suspected benign asbestos pleurisy. This group underwent medical thoracoscopy (MT). Arm C: patients with only pleural thickening. This group underwent ultrasonography-guided cutting needle pleural biopsy. MT was planned in patients who did not have a specific diagnosis in the CT scan-guided Abrams' needle pleural biopsy group. When patients with a histopathologic diagnosis of fibrinous pleuritis after MT were assessed in terms of the risk factors for malignant pleural diseases, we offered a further invasive procedure. RESULTS: A total of 164 patients were enrolled in the study. Diagnostic sensitivity after the initial procedure was 90.2% in Arm A, 93.3% in Arm B, 95.2% in Arm C, and 92.4% in the entire workup. The negative predictive value of the entire workup was 90.4% for malignant pleural mesothelioma, 97.1% for metastatic malignant pleural diseases, and 100% for tuberculous pleurisy. Five cases who had a diagnosis of fibrinous pleuritis after MT were detected to have risk factors, 4 of which (80%) indicated malignant disease. Complication rates were low and acceptable. CONCLUSION: Use of CT scans to triage an appropriate pleural biopsy method is associated with high diagnostic success. We recommend that the proposed diagnostic workup in this study may be used as a diagnostic algorithm for pleural diseases that require a histopathologic analysis. Determination of risk factors predicting malignant disease in patients where fibrinous pleuritis is reported after MT would be useful for clinical practice.

Local recurrence of tumor at sites of intervention in malignant pleural mesothelioma.

In malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) patients, local dissemination (LD) of the tumor is frequently observed at the sites of intervention where diagnosis/treatment are performed. We evaluate the factors affecting LD frequency and discuss the use of PR in MPM patients. Histopathologically diagnosed 212 MPM patients who had not received PR were evaluated in terms of development of LD. Of the 212 patients, 29 received supportive therapy, 157 received chemotherapy and 26 received multi-modal therapy. The LD frequency was 13.2% for all patients. The median survival rate was 9 or 10 months in patients with or without LD, respectively. A higher LD frequency was observed in patients receiving thoracotomy. The LD appearance time in supportive care is short. The LD frequency in patients treated with chemotherapy that revealed progressive disease was higher than the patients who revealed stable disease or objective response. LD developed in 2 months in patients with sarcomatous and mixed cell type, and the survival rate was low. LD was not associated with the stage of the disease. The most suitable candidate groups for PR are patients receiving supportive therapy, thoracotomy without multi-modal therapy or patients with sarcomatous and mixed cell type tumors.

The effects of intra-rectal and intra-peritoneal application of Origanum onites L. essential oil on 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid-induced colitis in the rat.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the treatment efficiency of intra-rectal (IR) and intra-peritoneal (IP) application of Origanum onites essential oil (OOEO), which is a well-known antioxidant, in the colitis model induced by 2,4,6-trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) and ethanol (E) in comparison with dexamethasone therapy through the morphologic damage score. Monoclonal antibodies against intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1, CD54), anti-rat granulocytes, and myeloperoxidase (MPO), were also investigated immunohistochemically. There was a significant difference in terms of ulceration, mucus cell depletion, inflammatory cell infiltration, vascular dilatation (p<0.001), crypt abscesses (p<0.01), and edema (p<0.05) between OOEO-1mg/kg-IR and control colitis groups. A significant difference was encountered in terms of mucus cell depletion, crypt abscesses, inflammatory cell infiltration, vascular dilatation (p<0.01), and ulceration (p<0.05) between the OOEO-0.1mg/kg-IR and control colitis groups. A significant difference was noticed in terms of ulceration, inflammatory cell infiltration, mucus cell depletion (p<0.001), vascular dilatation (p<0.01), and mucosal atrophy (p<0.05) between the OOEO-1mg/kg-IP and control colitis groups. There was a significant difference in terms of ulceration, mucus cell depletion, inflammatory cell infiltration (p<0.001), crypt abscesses, vascular dilatation (p<0.01), and mucosal atrophy (p<0.05) between the OOEO-0.1mg/kg-IP and control colitis groups. No significant difference was determined in terms of ulceration, inflammatory cyst, mucosal atrophy, edema, and vascular dilatation between the dexamethazone and control colitis groups (p>0.05). Under the present conditions, we concluded that IR and IP OOEO treatment, applied at the dosage of 0.1 or 1mg/kg/day, have a significant protective effect on the colonic injury.