In this contribution, new data concerning the distribution of vascular flora alien to Italy are presented. It includes new records, confirmations, and status changes for Italy or for Italian ...administrative regions. Nomenclatural and distribution updates, published elsewhere, and corrections are provided as Suppl. material 1.
Background
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. As an association between MS and reduced cerebral venous blood drainage was hypothesised, our aim was to compare ...the size of the jugular foramina in patients with MS and in control subjects.
Methods
Ethics committee approval was received for this retrospective case–control study. We collected imaging and clinical data of 53 patients with MS (23 men, mean age 45 ± 9 years) and an age/gender-matched control group of 53 patients without MS (23 men, mean age 46 ± 10 years). The minimal diameter of both jugular foramina was measured on T1-weighted contrast-enhanced axial magnetic resonance images; the two diameters were summed. Student
t
test and Spearman correlation coefficient were used for analysis. Reproducibility was estimated using the Bland–Altman method.
Results
The mean diameter of the right foramen in patients with MS (6.3 ± 1.6 mm) was 10% smaller than that of the controls (7.0 ± 1.4 mm) (
p
= 0.020); the mean diameter of the left foramen in patients with MS (5.6 ± 1.3 mm) was 7% smaller than that of the controls (6.0 ± 1.3 mm) (
p
= 0.089). The sum of the diameters of both jugular foramina in patients with MS (mean 11.9 ± 2.3 mm) was 8% smaller (
p
= 0.009) than that of the controls (mean 13.0 ± 2.1 mm). The differences in diameters between patients with relapsing-remitting MS and patients with secondary progressive MS were not significant (
p
≥ 0.332). There was no significant correlation between foramen diameters and the expanded disability status scale (
p
≥ 0.079). Intra-reader and inter-reader reproducibility were 91% and 88%, respectively.
Conclusions
Jugular foramen diameter in patients with MS was 7-10% smaller than that in controls, regardless of the MS disease course.
Abstract 5183
The advantage of using interim 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron-emission tomography (PET) scan in the clinical work-up of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NLH) is unclear. ...Data from meta-analyses are inconclusive, mainly because of the low number of patients evaluated and heterogeneity among studies. New clinical investigations, focused on this topic, have been recently published. We conducted an updated systematic review on the role of 18PDG-PET for the interim evaluation in patients with aggressive lymphomas.
Medline, Embase, Scopus and Databases were searched for relevant studies through March 2011. We included studies that evaluated FDG-PET performed between the first and the fourth cycle of first-line chemotherapy. Patients were selected when they were evaluated for response assessment with interim 18FDG-PET. For each study, we constructed a 2 × 2 contingency table consisting of true positive (TP), false positive (FP), false negative (FN), and true negative (TN), where all patients were categorized according to whether they were PET positive or negative, and whether they experienced treatment failure. A meta-analysis of the prognostic accuracy was performed.
We selected 16 out of 46 studies, involving 1256 patients with aggressive NHLs (90% with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma); 1157 patients met our inclusion criteria and were considered for the final analysis. Interim18FDG-PET, performed after a median of 3 cycles of chemotherapy (range 1–6 cycles), gave true and false negative results in 641 (56 %) and 65 (6%) patients, respectively. Therefore, 18FDG-PET had an overall sensitivity of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.69 to 0.88) and a specificity of 0.84 (95% CI, 0.76 to 0.90) (figure). Heterogeneity among studies was substantial.
Because of data heterogeneity, interim 18FDG-PET for aggressive NHL patients remains an unproven test for routine clinical practice. Its role should be further evaluated in clinical researches with homogeneous treatments and standardized imaging. Display omitted
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Infective endocarditis (IE) is a particular disease which presents with a variety of clinical, aetiological forms and is lethal if not aggressively treated with antibiotics alone or in combination ...with surgery. This review tries to analyse the possible role of F18-FDG-PET/CT in the diagnosis of IE based on the state of art in literature.
To verify whether myocardial impairment can be detected by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in patients with asymptomatic systemic sclerosis (SSc), 35 patients with SSc with normal left ventricular (LV) ...ejection fraction and 35 control subjects were studied.
Myocardial longitudinal peak systolic velocity, strain, and strain rate (SR) were measured by TDI at a regional level, and for each parameter the average value was calculated using an LV 12-segment model. In addition, the mitral annulus diastolic velocities and the E/Ea ratio were obtained. Myocardial calibrated integrated backscatter (cIB) was used as an index of fibrosis.
Compared with controls, patients with SSc showed lower peak strain (-19.5% +/- 2.3% vs -26.1% +/- 2.4%, P < .001), peak SR (-1.34 +/- 0.14 s(-1) vs -1.59 +/- 0.14 s(-1), P < .001), septal cIB (-19.5 +/- 3.1 dB vs -23.8 +/- 1.6 dB, P < .001), and posterior wall cIB (-23.4 +/- 2.9 dB vs -28.6 +/- 2.5 dB, P = .001), and higher E/Ea (11.7 +/- 2.5 vs 9.8 +/- 1.1, P < .001), whereas peak systolic velocities did not differ. Strain, SR, and E/Ea correlated better with cIB than systolic velocities.
TDI-derived strain, SR, and E/Ea can detect impairment of LV myocardial function in asymptomatic patients with SSc with normal LV ejection fraction better than TDI systolic velocities.
A novel approach to augmenting alveolar ridges simultaneously with implant placement is presented. The technique is based on the use of custom-shaped osteosynthesis plates, which are fixed to the ...bone with miniscrews. The plates provide a rigid scaffolding for bone chips. Resorbable barriers are used to cover the plates and the grafts. The results of three selected cases are presented. This technique is relatively simple, can be used in almost any clinical situation, and can provide excellent results.
PURPOSE:The aim was to evaluate the incremental diagnostic rate of F-18 fluoro-fluorodeoxygulose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-18 FDG-PET/CT) in patients with negative I-131 ...whole body scans and high Tg levels. The secondary end points were correlations between F-18 FDG-PET/CT positive results and Tg levels and comparison between F-18 FDG-PET/CT accuracy in patients “on-therapy” with suppressed thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and those with high TSH levels.
METHODS:We studied 52 patients who had undergone total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation; they had high Tg levels (average = 156 ng/mL; SD ± 274) after 3 weeks of levothyroxine withdrawal and negative I-131 total body scans after therapeutic doses.
RESULTS:We noted a statistically significant positive correlation between F-18 FDG-PET/CT positive results and Tg levels, irrespective of levothyroxine therapy regimen. Tg levels between F-18 FDG-PET/CT positive/negative groups were significantly different and we did not note any statistically significant correlation between F-18 FDG-PET/CT results and TSH levels, tumor size, and combination of Tg/TSH levels.
CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate that F-18 FDG-PET/CT is a useful diagnostic tool in patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma and with negative I-131 total body scans and high Tg levels. The levothyroxine therapy regimen does not influence F-18 FDG-PET/CT results and the rate of F-18 FDG-PET/CT positive results appears to correlate with the Tg levels. The highest accuracy is reached when the study is performed for patients with Tg levels higher than 21 ng/mL.
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