Medicine
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Evaluation of a commercial quantitative Aspergillus fumigatus-specific IgM assay for the diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is a common fungal infection with high mortality rates in immunocompromised patients. Early diagnosis of IPA is still challenging because of its nonspecific clinical symptoms and radiological presentations. To evaluate the clinical value of a commercial Aspergillus fumigates-specific IgM antibody assay in diagnosis of IPA, a multicenter prospective study was performed in 12 hospitals in Zhejiang Province, China, from January 1 to December 31, 2016. ⋯ The area under the curve of the IgM assay revealed by the receiver-operating characteristic analysis was 0.511 in the IPA cases. This study is the first to evaluate the clinical performance of a commercial A. fumigatus-specific IgM antibody assay that uses envelopes galactomannan extracted from A. fumigatus as the sole antigen in diagnosis of IPA. In conclusion, the A. fumigatus-specific IgM antibody assay has limited value and should not be a prior recommendation for IPA diagnosis.
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Review Case Reports
Refracture of osteoporotic vertebral body after treatment by balloon kyphoplasty: Three cases report.
Balloon kyphoplasty is a widely accepted treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) with good results and a low risk for complications. A refracture of previously treated vertebra is a relatively rare condition. ⋯ Patients with OVCFs and intravertebral cleft who did not obtain complete pain-relief at the treated vertebral level after kyphoplasty should be strictly followed up. Early finding of this condition and rapid intervention might contribute to avoiding the occurrence of the cemented vertebral refracture after kyphoplasty. Conservative treatments such as back brace and antiosteoporotic medications were strongly recommended.
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Review Case Reports
Treatment of medullary thyroid carcinoma with apatinib: A case report and literature review.
Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare type thyroid carcinoma originating from the thyroid parafollicular cells (C cells). Chemotherapy has a limited efficacy for treating persistent or recurrent MTC. ⋯ Treatment of MTC with apatinib has been shown to be effective in our case. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) that suppress rearranged during transfection (RET) and vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) should be considered as a effective therapeutic approaches.
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Review Case Reports
Primary osteosarcoma of frontal bone: A case report and review of literature.
Primary osteosarcomas of the skull and skull base are rare, comprising <2% of all skull tumors. Primary osteosarcomas of the skull are aggressive neoplasms composed of spindle cells producing osteoid which have poor outcome. ⋯ Because osteosarcoma of skull is a rare disease, the early recognition and correct diagnosis are very important for a better prognosis. It is therefore imperative that clinicians recognize osteosarcoma early to make an accurate diagnosis and complete surgical resection followed by combined chemo-radiation is proved to be one of the most optimal treatment regimens.
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Review Case Reports
Lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma: A case report and brief review of literature.
Lymphoepithelioma-like hepatocellular carcinoma (LEL-HCC) is a rare variant of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). To date, few cases have been reported in the literature, and almost no report in analyzing the different features of LEL-HCC. ⋯ Our case was the youngest patient of all the reported cases, and the third case who was infected with both hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). LEL-HCC is a rare variant of HCC, with a relatively favorable prognosis. Further research recruiting more patients is required to determine the accurate causes and mechanism of LEL-HCC.