Análisis coste-efectividad del diagnóstico genético en la miocardiopatía arritmogénica

La miocardiopatía arritmogénica (MA) es una enfermedad del músculo cardiaco caracterizada por la aparición de arritmias ventriculares que se pueden manifestar como muerte súbita y que frecuentemente debuta en la adolescencia y juventud. La sustitución de miocardio por tejido fibroadiposo es la base de su patogenia y su etiología frecuentemente es genética, principalmente por mutaciones en genes que codifican las proteínas desmosómicas de las uniones intercelulares. Esta infiltración fibroadiposa puede afectar predominantemente al ventrículo derecho con o sin afectación izquierda o puede afectar predominantemente al ventrículo izquierdo, en cuyo caso el diagnóstico diferencial puede ser más complicado.Hasta en un 70% de los casos se trata de una enfermedad que afecta a varios miembros de una misma familia, con un patrón de herencia autosómico dominante, por lo que ante el diagnóstico de un caso índice se recomienda el estudio de todos los familiares de primer grado. Sin embargo, el diagnóstico familiar basado exclusivamente en estudios de fenotipo se ve dificultado por fenómenos de penetrancia incompleta, expresividad variable y expresividad dependiente de la edad, lo que implica que en muchos casos el seguimiento de los familiares en riesgo de padecer la enfermedad se deba prolongar casi de por vida..

Electrocardiographic features of immune checkpoint inhibitor associated myocarditis.

BACKGROUND: Myocarditis is a highly morbid complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) use that remains inadequately characterized. The QRS duration and the QTc interval are standardized electrocardiographic measures that are prolonged in other cardiac conditions; however, there are no data on their utility in ICI myocarditis. METHODS: From an international registry, ECG parameters were compared between 140 myocarditis cases and 179 controls across multiple time points (pre-ICI, on ICI prior to myocarditis, and at the time of myocarditis). The association between ECG values and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was also tested. RESULTS: Both the QRS duration and QTc interval were similar between cases and controls prior to myocarditis. When compared with controls on an ICI (93±19 ms) or to baseline prior to myocarditis (97±19 ms), the QRS duration prolonged with myocarditis (110±22 ms, p CONCLUSIONS: The QRS duration is increased in ICI myocarditis and is associated with increased MACE risk. Use of this widely available ECG parameter may aid in ICI myocarditis diagnosis and risk-stratification

Systemic management of malignant meningiomas: A comparative survival and molecular marker analysis between Octreotide in combination with Everolimus and Sunitinib.

PurposeTo compare the effectiveness of octreotide/everolimus vs. sunitinib for the systemic treatment of recurrent aggressive meningiomas.Methods31 patients with recurrent or refractory WHO II or WHO III meningiomas were examined in two reference centers in Colombia. Patients who had systemic treatment (sunitinib, everolimus/octreotide) and a complete follow-up were included. Overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and toxicities were evaluated. Additionally, tissue samples were examined for PDGFRβ and VEGFR2, their expression was correlated with outcomes.ResultsTwenty-two patients (72%) were female with a median age of 55 years (SD±15.3). The most prevalent histology was anaplastic meningioma in 20 patients (65%) with 48% of patients suffering from three previous relapses before the start of systemic treatment. A total of 14 patients received combination therapy with octreotide/everolimus, 11 received sunitinib and the remaining 6 received other second-line agents. Median OS was 37.3 months (95%CI 28.5-42.1) and the PFS during the treatment with everolimus/octreotide (EO) and sunitinib (Su) was 12.1 months (95%CI 9.2-21.1) and 9.1 months (95%CI 6.8-16.8); p = 0.43), respectively. The OS of the group treated with the EO→Su→Bev sequence (1st/2nd/3rd line) was 6.5 months longer than the Su→EO→Bev sequence (36.0 vs. 29.5 months) (p = 0.0001). When analyzing molecular markers, the positive PDGFRβ and negative VEGFR2 expression were associated with longer survival both in OS and PFS.ConclusionSunitinib and octreotide/everolimus have similar efficacy and safety in the systemic management of refractory meningioma. VEGFR2 and PDGFRβ expression are associated with better outcomes

A comprehensive analysis of factors related to carmustine/bevacizumab response in recurrent glioblastoma

Purpose Patients with recurrent glioblastoma (rGBM) have a poor prognosis, with survival ranging from 25 to 40 weeks. Antiangiogenic agents are widely used, showing a variable response. In this study, we explored the efcacy of carmustine plus bevacizumab (BCNU/Bev) for treating rGBM. Methods/patients In this study, we assessed 59 adult patients with histologically confrmed rGBM who were treated with BCNU/Bev as second-line regimen. The response rate (RR), progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were evaluated according to their molecular expression profle, including CD133 mRNA expression, MGMT methylation (pMGMT), PDGFR amplifcation, YKL40 mRNA expression, IDH1/2 condition, p53 and EGFRvIII mutation status. Results Median follow-up was 18.6 months, overall RR to the combination was 56.3%, and median PFS was 9.0 months (95% CI 8.0–9.9). OS from time of diagnosis was 21.0 months (95% CI 13.2–28.7) and from starting BCNU/Bev it was 10.7 months (95% CI 9.5–11.8). IDH1/2 mutations were found in 30.5% of the patients, pMGMT in 55.9% and high CD133 mRNA expression in 57.6%. Factors which positively afected PFS included performance status (p=0.015), IDH+ (p=0.05), CD133 mRNA expression (p=0.009) and pMGMT+ (p=0.007). OS was positively afected by pMGMT+ (p=0.05). Meanwhile, YKL40 negatively afected PFS (p=0.01) and OS (p=0.0001). Grade≥3 toxicities included hypertension (22%) and fatigue (12%). Conclusions BCNU/Bev is a safe and tolerable treatment for rGBM. Patients with MGMT+/IDH+ derive the greatest beneft from the treatment combination in the second-line setting. Nonetheless, high YKL40 expression discourages the use of antiangiogenic therapy

Electrocardiographic features of immune checkpoint inhibitor associated myocarditis.

Myocarditis is a highly morbid complication of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) use that remains inadequately characterized. The QRS duration and the QTc interval are standardized electrocardiographic measures that are prolonged in other cardiac conditions; however, there are no data on their utility in ICI myocarditis.From an international registry, ECG parameters were compared between 140 myocarditis cases and 179 controls across multiple time points (pre-ICI, on ICI prior to myocarditis, and at the time of myocarditis). The association between ECG values and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) was also tested.Both the QRS duration and QTc interval were similar between cases and controls prior to myocarditis. When compared with controls on an ICI (93±19 ms) or to baseline prior to myocarditis (97±19 ms), the QRS duration prolonged with myocarditis (110±22 ms, p<0.001 and p=0.009, respectively). In contrast, the QTc interval at the time of myocarditis (435±39 ms) was not increased compared with pre-myocarditis baseline (422±27 ms, p=0.42). A prolonged QRS duration conferred an increased risk of subsequent MACE (HR 3.28, 95% CI 1.98 to 5.62, p<0.001). After adjustment, each 10 ms increase in the QRS duration conferred a 1.3-fold increase in the odds of MACE (95% CI 1.07 to 1.61, p=0.011). Conversely, there was no association between the QTc interval and MACE among men (HR 1.33, 95% CI 0.70 to 2.53, p=0.38) or women (HR 1.48, 95% CI 0.61 to 3.58, p=0.39).The QRS duration is increased in ICI myocarditis and is associated with increased MACE risk. Use of this widely available ECG parameter may aid in ICI myocarditis diagnosis and risk-stratification