Cardiovascular complications are major sources of morbidity and mortality in hypertensive patients. To assess the prevalence of anatomical and functional abnormalities of the heart in such patients, we studied total 67 sujects with systemic hypertension and hypertensive cardiovascular disease by echocardiography. Accordingly normal values of echocardiography from 27 control subjects, we found each significant change(p<0.05). of the septal thickness, left ventricular mass, mitral valve E-F slope and aortic dimension on the both groups, but functional measurements did only show significant change on the hypertensive cardiovascular group in contrast to hypertensive subjects group. The prevalence of the echocardiographic abnormalities on the simple hypertensive subjects group who have no abnormal 12-lead E.C.G. or Chest X-rays are orderly 14 subjects(64%) on the aortic root dimension, 9 subjects (41%) on the left ventricular posterior free-wall thickness and 7 subjects(32%) on the septal thickness. These findings demonstrated a high prevalence of cardiac abnormalities in a population of asymptomatic hypertensive subjects. And these abnormalities can be detected well by echocardiography before they were otherwise apparent.
Cardiovascular Diseases ; Echocardiography* ; Heart ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Mitral Valve ; Mortality ; Prevalence ; Reference Values ; Thorax

An aggressive subtype of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor, epithelioid inflammatory myofibroblastic sarcoma occurs primarily inside the abdominal cavity, followed by a pulmonary localization. Most harbor anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene rearrangements, with RANBP2 and RRBP1 among the well-documented fusion partners. We report the second case of primary epithelioid inflammatory myofibroblastic sarcoma of the brain, with a well-known EML4::ALK fusion. The case is notable for its intra-axial presentation that clinico-radiologically mimicked glioma.

Pulmonary arteriovenous fistula is a congenital vascular malformation in lung resulting from abnormal capillary development and the exact etiology is not well known but it may occur with or without hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (L-IHT) or Rendu-Osler-Weber disease is an autosomal dominant vascular disorder which associates epistaxis, mucocutaneous and visceral telangicetases, and recurrent hemorrhage with chronic anemia and visceral shuntings. Recently we experienced a case of the pulmonary arteriovenous fistula in a 23 year old woman with a family history of this disease, which was confirmed by pulmonary angiography.
Anemia ; Angiography ; Arteriovenous Fistula* ; Capillaries ; Epistaxis ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Lung ; Telangiectasia, Hereditary Hemorrhagic ; Vascular Malformations ; Young Adult

Objective: Proper management of lymph nodes (LNs) with ultrasonographic (US) indeterminate features in thyroid cancerpatients remains elusive. We aimed to evaluate the malignancy risk and US findings predictive of malignancy for USindeterminate LNs in preoperative thyroid cancer patients through node-by-node correlation. Materials and Methods: A total of 348 LNs in 284 thyroid cancer patients, who underwent fine-needle aspiration or coreneedlebiopsy between December 2006 and June 2015, were included. We determined the malignancy risks for US probablybenign, indeterminate, and suspicious categories. For US indeterminate LNs, which had neither echogenic hilum nor hilarvascularity in the absence of any suspicious finding, US findings were compared between benign and metastatic LNs usingMann-Whitney U test and Fisher’s exact test. Results: US imaging diagnoses were probably benign in 20.7% (n = 72) cases, indeterminate in 23.6% (n = 82), andsuspicious in 55.7% (n = 194). Malignancy risk of US indeterminate LNs (19.5% [16/82]) differed from those of the USprobably benign (2.8% [2/72]) (p = 0.002) and US suspicious LNs (78.4% [152/194]) (p < 0.001). Among US indeterminate LNs,there were no significant differences in short, long, and long-to-short diameter (L/S) ratios between benign and metastatic LNs(3.9 vs. 3.8 mm, p = 0.619; 7.3 vs. 7.3 mm, p = 0.590; 1.9 vs. 1.9, p = 0.652). Conclusion US indeterminate LNs were frequently encountered during preoperative evaluation and had intermediate malignancyrisk. Given the lack of discriminative power of size criteria and L/S ratio, clinical factors such as surgical strategy and nodesize should be considered for proper triage of US indeterminate LNs in thyroid cancer.

Objective: To evaluate pharmacokinetic variables from contrast-enhancing lesions (CELs) and non-enhancing T2 high signal intensity lesions (NE-T2HSILs) on dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for predicting progression-free survival (PFS) in glioblastoma (GBM) patients. Materials and Methods: Sixty-four GBM patients who had undergone preoperative DCE MR imaging and received standard treatment were retrospectively included. We analyzed the pharmacokinetic variables of the volume transfer constant (Ktrans) and volume fraction of extravascular extracellular space within the CEL and NE-T2HSIL of the entire tumor. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses were performed using preoperative clinical characteristics, pharmacokinetic variables of DCE MR imaging, and postoperative molecular biomarkers to predict PFS. Results: The increased mean Ktrans of the CEL, increased 95th percentile Ktrans of the CELs, and absence of methylated O6- methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase promoter were relevant adverse variables for PFS in the univariate analysis (p = 0.041, p = 0.032, and p = 0.083, respectively). The Kaplan-Meier survival curves demonstrated that PFS was significantly shorter in patients with a mean Ktrans of the CEL > 0.068 and 95th percentile Ktrans of the CEL > 0.223 (log-rank p = 0.038 and p = 0.041, respectively). However, only mean Ktrans of the CEL was significantly associated with PFS (p = 0.024; hazard ratio, 553.08; 95% confidence interval, 2.27–134756.74) in the multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis. None of the pharmacokinetic variables from NE-T2HSILs were significantly related to PFS. Conclusion Among the pharmacokinetic variables extracted from CELs and NE-T2HSILs on preoperative DCE MR imaging, the mean Ktrans of CELs exhibits potential as a useful imaging predictor of PFS in GBM patients.

Purpose: The programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) SP142 assay identifies patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) who are most likely to respond to the anti–PD-L1 agent atezolizumab. We aimed to compare PD-L1 (SP142) expression between primary and recurrent/metastatic TNBCs and elucidate the clinicopathological features associated with its expression. Materials and Methods: Primary and recurrent/metastatic TNBCs tested with PD-L1 (SP142) were collected, and clinicopathological information of these cases was obtained through a review of slides and medical records. Results: PD-L1 (SP142) positivity was observed in 50.9% (144/283) of primary tumors and 37.8% (31/82) of recurrent/metastatic TNBCs with a significant difference. Recurrent or metastatic sites were associated with PD-L1 positivity, with high PD-L1 positivity in the lung, breast, and soft tissues, and low positivity in the bone, skin, liver, and brain. When comparing PD-L1 expression between primary and matched recurrent/metastatic TNBCs using 55 paired samples, 20 cases (36.4%) showed discordance; 10 cases revealed positive conversion, and another 10 cases revealed negative conversion during metastatic progression. In primary TNBCs, PD-L1 expression was associated with a higher histologic grade, lower T category, pushing border, and higher tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte infiltration. In survival analyses, PD-L1 positivity, especially high positivity, was found to be associated with favorable prognosis of patients. Conclusion PD-L1 (SP142) expression was lower in recurrent/metastatic TNBCs, and substantial cases showed discordance in its expression between primary and recurrent/metastatic sites, suggesting that multiple sites may need to be tested for PD-L1 (SP142) when considering atezolizumab therapy. PD-L1 (SP142)–positive TNBCs seems to be associated with favorable clinical outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the association of MRI features with the major genomic profiles and prognosis of World Health Organization grade III (G3) gliomas compared with those of glioblastomas (GBMs). Materials and Methods: We enrolled 76 G3 glioma and 155 GBM patients with pathologically confirmed disease who had pretreatment brain MRI and major genetic information of tumors. Qualitative and quantitative imaging features, including volumetrics and histogram parameters, such as normalized cerebral blood volume (nCBV), cerebral blood flow (nCBF), and apparent diffusion coefficient (nADC) were evaluated. The G3 gliomas were divided into three groups for the analysis: with this isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutation, IDH mutation and a chromosome arm 1p/19q-codeleted (IDHmut1p/19qdel), IDH mutation, 1p/19q-nondeleted (IDHmut1p/19qnondel), and IDH wildtype (IDHwt). A prediction model for the genetic profiles of G3 gliomas was developed and validated on a separate cohort. Both the quantitative and qualitative imaging parameters and progression-free survival (PFS) of G3 gliomas were compared and survival analysis was performed. Moreover, the imaging parameters and PFS between IDHwt G3 gliomas and GBMs were compared. Results: IDHmut G3 gliomas showed a larger volume (p = 0.017), lower nCBF (p = 0.048), and higher nADC (p = 0.007) than IDHwt. Between the IDHmut tumors, IDHmut1p/19qdel G3 gliomas had higher nCBV (p = 0.024) and lower nADC (p = 0.002) than IDHmut1p/19qnondel G3 gliomas. Moreover, IDHmut1p/19qdel tumors had the best prognosis and IDHwt tumors had the worst prognosis among G3 gliomas (p < 0.001). PFS was significantly associated with the 95th percentile values of nCBV and nCBF in G3 gliomas. There was no significant difference in neither PFS nor imaging features between IDHwt G3 gliomas and IDHwt GBMs. Conclusion We found significant differences in MRI features, including volumetrics, CBV, and ADC, in G3 gliomas, according to IDH mutation and 1p/19q codeletion status, which can be utilized for the prediction of genomic profiles and the prognosis of G3 glioma patients. The MRI signatures and prognosis of IDHwt G3 gliomas tend to follow those of IDHwt GBMs.

Purpose: We aimed to assess the real-world efficacy of nab-paclitaxel in metastatic breast cancer patients. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study performed in two tertiary referral hospitals in Korea. Patients with metastatic breast cancer treated with nab-paclitaxel (Abraxane®) between March 2016 and March 2020 were enrolled. Results: A total of 102 patients with metastatic breast cancer were included. Patients were heavily pre-treated with a median of four prior lines of chemotherapy (5 lines when including endocrine therapy in hormone-receptor-positive patients), and 66 patients (64.7%) were exposed to taxanes in the metastatic setting. According to St. Gallen molecular subtypes, 36 patients (35.3%) were luminal A, 28 (27.5%) were luminal B, 18 (17.7%) were human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–positive and 20 (19.6%) had triple-negative disease. Fifty patients (49.0%) were treated with a 3-weekly regimen (260 mg/m2 on day 1 every 3 weeks), and 52 (51.0%) were treated with a weekly regimen (100 mg/m2 every week). Objective response rate was 22.9%. After a median follow-up of 22.0 months, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 4.0 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6 to 4.8) and median overall survival was 8.7 months (95% CI, 7.5 to 11.2). Patients treated with weekly regimen had longer PFS compared to 3-weekly regimen (5.5 vs. 2.3 months, p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed the treatment regimen as an independent prognostic factor for PFS. There was no grade 3 or 4 hypersensitivity reaction. Conclusion This real-world data shows that nab-paclitaxel is a reasonable treatment option in heavily pre-treated and/or taxane-exposed metastatic breast cancer patients.

Purpose: To evaluate whether the added value of contrast leakage information from dynamic susceptibility contrast magnetic resonance imaging (DSC MRI) is a better prognostic imaging biomarker than the cerebral blood volume (CBV) value in distinguishing true progression from pseudoprogression in glioblastoma patients. Materials and Methods: Forty-nine glioblastoma patients who had undergone MRI after concurrent chemoradiotherapy with temozolomide were enrolled in this retrospective study. Twenty features were extracted from the normalized relative CBV (nCBV) and extraction fraction (EF) map of the contrast-enhancing region in each patient. After univariable analysis, we used multivariable stepwise logistic regression analysis to identify significant predictors for differentiating between pseudoprogression and true progression. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was employed to determine the best cutoff values for the nCBV and EF features. Finally, leave-one-out cross-validation was used to validate the best predictor in differentiating between true progression and pseudoprogression. Results: Multivariable stepwise logistic regression analysis showed that MGMT (O 6 -methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase) and EF max were independent differentiating variables (P = 0.004 and P = 0.02, respectively). ROC analysis yielded the best cutoff value of 95.75 for the EF max value for differentiating the two groups (sensitivity, 61%; specificity, 84.6%; AUC, 0.681 ± 0.08; 95% CI, 0.524-0.837; P = 0.03). In the leave-one-out cross-validation of the EF max value, the cross-validated values for predicting true progression and pseudoprogression accuracies were 69.4% and 71.4%,respectively. Conclusion We demonstrated that contrast leakage information parameter from DSC MRI showed significance in differentiating true progression from pseudoprogression in glioblastoma patients.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) of the breast is a very rare and indolent tumor with a favorable prognosis, despite its triple-negative status. Due to its rarity, there has been no consensus regarding treatments, and treatment guidelines have not been established. Here, we report on six patients with ACC of the breast. All of the patients initially presented with localized disease and no axillary lymph node metastases. Although some of our patients developed local recurrence or distant metastases, all patients had a favorable clinical course, and to date, none of the patients has died from complications of her disease. Here, we described the clinicopathologic features of ACC of the breast and review the current literature.
Adenoids* ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast* ; Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic* ; Consensus ; Glycogen Storage Disease Type VI ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Prognosis ; Recurrence