Metastatic extrapleural malignant solitary fibrous tumor presenting with hypoglycemia (Doege–Potter syndrome)

AbstractWe report a rare case of metastatic malignant solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) that presented with hypoglycemia because of insulin growth factor-2 production. Initial workup included computed tomography imaging that revealed a large, partially necrotic liver mass, a hypervascular pancreatic head lesion, and 2 renal lesions. Following hepatic resection, pancreatic head resection and nephrectomy, all these lesions demonstrated pathological findings that were consistent with SFT. The patient also had a history of an intracranial mass that had been previously resected and treated with gamma knife therapy at an outside institution, which was found to also be SFT. Six months after initial pancreatic head resection, the patient developed a new lesion involving the pancreatic tail that was found to represent recurrent metastatic SFT. This case emphasizes the highly aggressive nature of extrapleural SFT, while rare, and the role of imaging in follow-up for disease recurrence

Cross-sectional imaging-based severity scoring of chronic pancreatitis: why it is necessary and how it can be done

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) remains a diagnostic challenge as clinical symptoms are non-specific, histopathological appearances are varied and pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. Multiple classifications and grading systems have been proposed for CP, but none leverage the full capabilities of cross-sectional imaging modalities and are not widely accepted or validated. CT and MRI/MRCP are useful in identifying a wide spectrum of histopathological changes in CP and can also assess exocrine reserve of pancreas. Advanced MRI techniques such as T1 mapping and extracellular volume fraction can potentially identify early CP. Cross-sectional imaging-based severity scoring can quantify CP disease burden and may have positive implications for clinicians and researchers. In this review, we discuss the need for cross-sectional imaging-based severity scoring for CP, role of CT, and MRI/MRCP in assessment of CP and how these modalities can be used to obtain severity scoring for CP. We summarize relevant information from recently published CT and MRI/MRCP reporting standards for CP, and from international guidelines for cross-sectional imaging and severity scoring for CP

Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

Serum Leptin Is a Biomarker of Malnutrition in Decompensated Cirrhosis.

Malnutrition is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in cirrhosis. There is no consensus as to the optimal approach for identifying malnutrition in end-stage liver disease. The aim of this study was to measure biochemical, serologic, hormonal, radiographic, and anthropometric features in a cohort of hospitalized cirrhotic patients to characterize biomarkers for identification of malnutrition.In this prospective observational cohort study, 52 hospitalized cirrhotic patients were classified as malnourished (42.3%) or nourished (57.7%) based on mid-arm muscle circumference < 23 cm and dominant handgrip strength < 30 kg. Anthropometric measurements were obtained. Appetite was assessed using the Simplified Nutrition Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ) score. Fasting levels of serum adipokines, cytokines, and hormones were determined using Luminex assays. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine features independently associated with malnutrition.Subjects with and without malnutrition differed in several key features of metabolic phenotype including wet and dry BMI, skeletal muscle index, visceral fat index and HOMA-IR. Serum leptin levels were lower and INR was higher in malnourished subjects. Serum leptin was significantly correlated with HOMA-IR, wet and dry BMI, mid-arm muscle circumference, skeletal muscle index, and visceral fat index. Logistic regression analysis revealed that INR and log-transformed leptin were independently associated with malnutrition.Low serum leptin and elevated INR are associated with malnutrition in hospitalized patients with end-stage liver disease

Mediastinal Hibernoma: A Rare Case with Radiologic-Pathologic Correlation

Hibernomas, especially located in the mediastinum, are extremely rare benign tumors, which are important to consider in the differential diagnosis of a heterogeneously enhancing mass with areas of fat attenuation on imaging of an often incidentally discovered mass. Other common possibilities in the differential include malignant tumors, such as liposarcoma, hence histopathology is usually required to confirm the diagnosis. Hibernomas often follow the distribution of sites of persistence of brown fat in adults, and intrathoracic locations are unusual. We present a very rare case of a mediastinal hibernoma in a 53-year-old woman. She presented to the emergency department with severe, progressive right neck and shoulder pain with radiation down her arm and was found to have a right apical posterior mediastinal mass on imaging. Initial radiographs of the shoulder showed a soft tissue mass within the apical right hemithorax. Further imaging with CT revealed a well circumscribed, heterogeneously enhancing mass with areas of fat attenuation. Pathology confirmed the diagnosis of mediastinal hibernoma, and the mass was completely excised. Fourteen months after surgery, the patient had a normal chest radiograph, and thirty-two months after surgery, she remains asymptomatic

Metastatic extrapleural malignant solitary fibrous tumor presenting with hypoglycemia (Doege–Potter syndrome)

We report a rare case of metastatic malignant solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) that presented with hypoglycemia because of insulin growth factor-2 production. Initial workup included computed tomography imaging that revealed a large, partially necrotic liver mass, a hypervascular pancreatic head lesion, and 2 renal lesions. Following hepatic resection, pancreatic head resection and nephrectomy, all these lesions demonstrated pathological findings that were consistent with SFT. The patient also had a history of an intracranial mass that had been previously resected and treated with gamma knife therapy at an outside institution, which was found to also be SFT. Six months after initial pancreatic head resection, the patient developed a new lesion involving the pancreatic tail that was found to represent recurrent metastatic SFT. This case emphasizes the highly aggressive nature of extrapleural SFT, while rare, and the role of imaging in follow-up for disease recurrence

Anthropometric, Functional, and Nutritional Features of Patients.

<p>Anthropometric, Functional, and Nutritional Features of Patients.</p