Extramedullary haematopoiesis in patients with thalassemia: a cross-sectional description of its prevalence, clinical features and survival

INTRODUCTION

Despite knowledge advances on extramedullary haematopoiesis (EMH) in thalassemic patients, the real picture remains an open issue.

OBJECTIVES

To assess EMH prevalence in patients with thalassemia major (TM) and intermedia (TI), to describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and to explore clinical risk factors.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, images and clinical records of 184 consecutive patients with thalassemia who underwent T2* MRI between 2004 and 2011 were reviewed. Association of EMH with survival was investigated for patients with available follow-up charts.

RESULTS

EMH was detected in 16/168 (9.5%) patients with TM (aged 19-49 years) and in 3/16 (18.8%) with TI (aged 36-41 years). Most (88%) had paravertebral thoracic and/or abdominal masses. Age was significantly associated with EMH risk (hazard ratio, [HR] 1.10/year; confidence interval [CI]: 1.03-1.18; p-value < 0.001), while lower pancreatic iron content by T2*MRI (HR: 0.94/ms; CI: 0.89-0.99; p-value = 0.049) was a protective factor. Estimated survival rate was superior for EMH-positive (n = 19) when compared to EMH-negative patients (n = 75) (p-value = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of EMH was 10.3% (19/184), presented mainly as tumoral masses of 3 to 10 cm. Age was a risk factor for EMH development, while lower pancreatic iron might be a protective factor in this cohort.

Complicações dos transplantes pulmonares na tomografia computadorizada: ensaio iconográfico

Resumo Transplantes pulmonares são procedimentos progressivamente mais realizados em todo o mundo como opção para tratamento de doenças pulmonares em estágio terminal. Apesar dos avanços laboratoriais, da técnica cirúrgica e da seleção de doadores e receptores, a mortalidade nesses procedimentos ainda é significativa, em razão de complicações típicas dos pacientes transplantados. Este trabalho consiste em uma revisão da literatura acerca do tema, ilustrando as complicações abordadas por meio de imagens de tomografia computadorizada.

Complications of lung transplantation on computed tomography: pictorial essay

Lung transplantation is becoming increasingly more common as an alternative treatment for end-stage lung disease. Despite advances in laboratory testing, surgical technique, and donor/recipient selection, lung transplantation is still associated with significant mortality, due to postoperative complications. This paper consists of a brief review of postoperative complications in lung transplant recipients, illustrating those complications with computed tomography images.

Cardiac iron overload evaluation in thalassaemic patients using T2* magnetic resonance imaging following chelation therapy: a multicentre cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) T2* technique is used to assess iron overload in the heart, liver and pancreas of thalassaemic patients. Optimal iron chelation and expected tissue iron response rates remain under investigation. The objective of this study was to analyse serum ferritin and the iron concentration in the heart, liver and pancreas measured by MRI T2*/R2* during regular chelation therapy in a real-world cohort of patients with thalassemia.

METHODS

We evaluated thalassaemic patients ≥ 7 years old undergoing chelation/transfusion therapy by MRI and assessed serum ferritin at baseline and follow-up from 2004-2011.

RESULTS

We evaluated 136 patients, 92% major thalassaemic, with a median age of 18 years, and median baseline ferritin 2.033ng/ml (range: 59-14,123). Iron overload distribution was: liver (99%), pancreas (74%) and heart (36%). After a median of 1.2 years of follow-up, the iron overload in the myocardium reduced from 2,63 Fe mg/g to 2,05 (p 0.003). The optimal R2* pancreas cut-off was 148 Hertz, achieving 78% sensitivity and 73% specificity. However, when combining the R2* pancreas cut off ≤ 50 Hertz and a ferritin ≤ 1222 ng/ml, we could reach a negative predictive value (NPV) of 98% for cardiac siderosis. Only 28% were undergoing combined chelation at baseline assessment, which increased up to 50% on follow up evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

Chelation therapy significantly reduced cardiac siderosis in thalassaemic patients. In patients with moderate/severe liver iron concentration undergoing chelation therapy, ferritin levels and myocardium iron improved earlier than the liver siderosis.

Computed tomography angiography in the planning of transcatheter aortic valve replacement: a step-by-step approach

Aortic valve stenosis is the most common acquired valvular heart disease. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation, also known as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), is an important treatment option for symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients at any level of surgical risk. The role of computed tomography angiography (CTA) has expanded considerably in recent years, and it has now become the imaging method of choice for the planning of TAVR. Therefore, radiologists should understand the main aspects of this imaging modality, including the appropriate technique and protocol to acquire reliable CTA images and to create a useful radiology report. The aim of this study was to review the most important aspects of CTA for TAVR planning.

Differential diagnoses of acute ground-glass opacity in chest computed tomography: pictorial essay

Ground-glass opacity is a very frequent and unspecified finding in chest computed tomography. Therefore, it admits a wide range of differential diagnoses in the acute context, from viral pneumonias such as influenza virus, coronavirus disease 2019 and cytomegalovirus and even non-infectious lesions, such as vaping, pulmonary infarction, alveolar hemorrhage and pulmonary edema. For this diagnostic differentiation, ground glass must be correlated with other findings in imaging tests, with laboratory tests and with the patients' clinical condition. In the context of a pandemic, it is extremely important to remember the other pathologies with similar findings to coronavirus disease 2019 in the imaging exams.

Performance of Chest Computed Tomography in Differentiating Coronavirus Disease 2019 From Other Viral Infections Using a Standardized Classification

BACKGROUND

An expert consensus recently proposed a standardized coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) reporting language for computed tomography (CT) findings of COVID-19 pneumonia.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the performance of CT in differentiating COVID-19 from other viral infections using a standardized reporting classification.

METHODS

A total of 175 consecutive patients were retrospectively identified from a single tertiary-care medical center from March 15 to March 24, 2020, including 87 with positive reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test for COVID-19 and 88 with negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test, but positive respiratory pathogen panel. Two thoracic radiologists, who were blinded to RT-PCR and respiratory pathogen panel results, reviewed chest CT images independently and classified the imaging findings under 4 categories: "typical" appearance, "indeterminate," "atypical," and "negative" for pneumonia. The final classification was based on consensus between the readers.

RESULTS

Patients with COVID-19 were older than patients with other viral infections (P=0.038). The inter-rater agreement of CT categories between the readers ranged from good to excellent, κ=0.80 (0.73 to 0.87). Final CT categories were statistically different among COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 groups (P<0.001). CT "typical" appearance was more prevalent in the COVID-19 group (64/87, 73.6%) than in the non-COVID-19 group (2/88, 2.3%). When considering CT "typical" appearance as a positive test, a sensitivity of 73.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 63%-82.4%), specificity of 97.7% (95% CI: 92%-99.7%), positive predictive value of 97% (95% CI: 89.5%-99.6%), and negative predictive value of 78.9% (95% CI: 70%-86.1%) were observed.

CONCLUSION

The standardized chest CT classification demonstrated high specificity and positive predictive value in differentiating COVID-19 from other viral infections when presenting a "typical" appearance in a high pretest probability environment. Good to excellent inter-rater agreement was found regarding the CT standardized categories between the readers.

COVID-19 myocarditis: a case report

A male patient with flu-like symptoms and tomography and laboratory diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome. He developed acute cardiac dysfunction during admission and was submitted to a cardiac magnetic resonance imaging examination, which confirmed acute myocarditis, indicating cardiac involvement by coronavirus disease 2019. A review and discussion about coronavirus disease 2019-related cardiac manifestations are reported, focusing on the imaging findings to make diagnosis.

COVID-19 findings identified in chest computed tomography: a pictorial essay

The disease caused by the new coronavirus, or COVID-19, has been recently described and became a health issue worldwide. Its diagnosis of certainty is given by polymerase chain reaction. High-resolution computed tomography, however, is useful in the current context of pandemic, especially for the most severe cases, in assessing disease extent, possible differential diagnoses and searching complications. In patients with suspected clinical symptoms and typical imaging findings, in which there is still no laboratory test result, or polymerase chain reaction is not available, the role of this test is still discussed. In addition, it is important to note that part of the patients present false-negative laboratory tests, especially in initial cases, which can delay isolation, favoring the spread of the disease. Thus, knowledge about the COVID-19 and its imaging manifestations is extremely relevant for all physicians involved in the patient care, clinicians or radiologists.