The American journal of the medical sciences
-
Patients with early-stage luminal A breast cancer (LABC) have better prognoses. However, follow-up examinations are frequent and remain complex. The present study examined whether circulating tumor cell (CTC) detection could be used as an earlier and more reproducible indicator of disease status among patients with early-stage LABC, and given China's healthcare resource challenges, whether it could periodically replace follow-up routine imaging. ⋯ Among Chinese patients with low-risk LABC, CTC detection was highly reliable and relatively low cost. Therefore, CTC detection may be used to reduce the number of routine imaging follow-ups.
-
Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis is a rare inflammatory disease of the breast, for which there is a lack of consensus on the treatment protocol; it requires long-term follow-up and is associated with a high rate of relapse after surgical treatment. In this study, we report on the largest single-center cohort of idiopathic granulomatous mastitis treated with steroids + methotrexate. ⋯ Steroid + methotrexate treatment is an effective and reliable method for ensuring long-term remission in patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis diagnosis.
-
Gender plays a crucial role in the prevalence, clinical presentation, management and outcomes of various cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of gender on clinical manifestations and outcomes in the Chinese patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). ⋯ Compared to males, females were older and more symptomatic at presentation, and had higher risk of progression to heart failure in Chinese HCM patients but there were no differences in cardiovascular mortality.
-
Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are at risk for CF-related bone disease. Women with CF may use estrogen supplementation for reasons other than skeletal health. It is unknown whether estrogen therapy has a beneficial impact on skeletal health in women with CF. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that few women with CF of reproductive age are prescribed estrogen therapy. Furthermore, estrogen exposure up to age 21 is associated with improved BMD, but estrogen exposure after age 21 does not appear to be associated with improved BMD. Further studies are needed to understand the reasons for the low rates of estrogen use in young women with CF and the optimal timing, dose and formulation of estrogen prescription.