Plasma proteoglycan 4: a novel biomarker for acute lung injury after pediatric cardiac surgery

Background

Identification of biological molecules related to post cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) lung injury could help diagnose, predict and potentially impact patient's clinical course after cardiac surgery. Proteoglycan 4 (PRG4) initially identified as potential biomarker for patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation following CPB in a prior study. To further validate these findings, we sought to understand the association of lower plasma PRG4 with prolonged mechanical ventilation and worse lung compliance in a larger cohort of pediatric patients post CPB.

Methods

Retrospective chart review study. Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Tertiary Hospital. Infants <1 year old with tetralogy of Fallot, ventricular septal defect, or atrioventricular septal defect who underwent surgical repair 2012-2020 and had stored plasma samples in our biorepository were screened for inclusion. Patients with mechanical ventilation before surgery were excluded. Patients were divided into quartiles based on postoperative duration of mechanical ventilation (control <25th percentile, study >75th percentile). Preoperative and 48-hour postoperative samples for each cohort (20 patients each) were tested for PRG4 level using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique.

Results

Study group had lower lung compliance, higher mean airway pressure and higher oxygen need postoperative when compared to control group. Plasma PRG4 levels before surgery and 48 hours postoperative were lower in study group compared to control group (P=0.0232 preoperative; P=0.0016 postoperative). Plasma PRG4 levels were compared preoperative to PRG4 levels postoperative in both group, there was no statistically significant difference (study group: P=0.0869; control group: P=0.6500).

Conclusions

Lower levels of plasma PRG4 is associated with longer duration of mechanical ventilation, worse ventilator compliance and higher oxygen requirement after cardiac surgery in our patient population. Further validation of this finding in a larger and more diverse patient population is necessary prior to its application at the bedside.

[Sociodemographic, clinical and ultrasound characterization of thyroid nodule pathology and its association with malignancy in a Colombian high-complexity center]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Thyroid nodules are among the most frequent conditions, with a 10% risk of malignancy. The objective is to describe the frequency of demographic, clinical, and ultrasonographic characteristics of thyroid nodule pathology in adults and to explore the relationship with tumor malignancy.

METHODS

An analytical, retrospective cross-sectional study in adults with thyroid nodules and nodular fine-needle aspiration performed in adult patients from a Colombian reference center between 2009-2019. Data were obtained from the clinical history, descriptive measures of the patient's demographic, clinical, and ultrasound variables were estimated, and their relationship with the malignancy of the tumor was explored.

RESULTS

A total of 445 patients and 515 nodules were included. The median age was 55 years (IQR 44-64), 86.8% of women, and 54.8% had a single lesion. Percentages of 80.2 and 19.8 were benign and malignant nodules, with a median of 15.7mm (IQR 11-25) and 12.7mm (IQR 8.5-18.3), respectively (p<0.001). Hypothyroidism and levothyroxine consumption were higher in those with malignant nodules (p<0.001). The echographic characteristics were statistically different between the nodules. In the malignant ones, there was a higher frequency of solid composition, hypoechogenicity, and irregular margins. In contrast, in the benign ones, the absence of echogenic focus stood out (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The ultrasound characteristics are essential to define the risk of malignancy of a thyroid nodule. Therefore, considering the most frequent ones can help in the most appropriate approach to primary care.

Safety and Efficacy of Early Vitamin D Supplementation in Critically Ill Extremely Preterm Infants: An Ancillary Study of a Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND

Despite substantial evidence that vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent among infants born extremely preterm (≤28 weeks' of gestation), several consensus statements do not recommend vitamin D doses >400 IU/day for these infants. Safety remains a concern.

OBJECTIVE

The study aim was to determine safety and efficacy profiles of enteral vitamin D in Black and White infants randomized to three different vitamin D doses soon after birth.

DESIGN

Ancillary study of a masked randomized clinical trial.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING

Seventy-three infants born extremely preterm between 2012 and 2015 at a southern US academic neonatal unit (33' latitude) who had >90% compliance with the assigned intervention were included.

INTERVENTION

Infants were randomized to receive placebo (placebo group), 200 IU/day vitamin D (200 IU group), or 800 IU/day vitamin D (800 IU group) during the first 28 days after birth.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Safety outcomes included serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25[OH]D) and calcium concentrations. Efficacy outcomes included the predictive risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Per-protocol analysis using unadjusted, repeated-measures mixed models.

RESULTS

Mean birth weight was 815 ± 199 g. Half were male and 56% were Black. Of 58 infants with 25(OH)D measurements at birth, 40 (69%) had vitamin D deficiency (<20 ng/mL). The mean difference in 25(OH)D in nanograms per milliliter between Postnatal Day 28 and Postnatal Day 1 was +9 in the placebo group, +23 in the 200 IU group, and +62 in the 800 IU group (P < 0.0001). The increase observed in 25(OH)D was more significant among Black infants. The predictive risk of severe bronchopulmonary dysplasia in the 200 IU and 800 IU groups was lower, but this difference did not reach statistical significance. No vitamin D or calcium toxicity was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

A vitamin D dose of 800 IU/day safely corrected vitamin D deficiency by Postnatal Day 14.

LBODP074 Autoimmune Hypophysitis: Diagnosis Beyond Imaging

Background

Lymphocytic (LH) or autoimmune hypophysitis (AH) is a rare inflammatory disorder of the hypophyseal gland, often miss-diagnosed. LH is predominant in females, occasionally related with other rheumatic disorders (1-20%). The disease can lead to pituitary dysfunction and symptoms of hypopituitarism, the most affected axes are the ACTH and TSH. Definitive diagnosis of AH can be based only on pathological examination of a pituitary biopsy sample but such invasive procedure is seldom needed. Different imaging modalities, especially MRI, can be useful but up to 30% can be unremarkable, thus clinical manifestations and biochemical evaluation is of great importance in guiding the diagnosis. Hormonal replacement therapy is the main treatment strategy. Immunosuppressive drugs are indicated by the severity of the symptoms and the underlying autoimmune disease.

Clinical Case

A 36 year old patient with active lupus and Sjogren disease presented to the emergency department with syncope and hypotension preceded by a 6 month history of intense fatigue. She did not take any steroids in the 6 months prior. Initial tests were consistent with secondary adrenal insufficiency; low plasma cortisol (<1ug/dl n 5-23 ug/dl) and ACTH-concentrations below detection (< 4 ng/l), central hypothyroidism; abnormal low TSH (0. 04uU/ml n 0.4-4.5 uU/ml) and low free T4 (0.56 ng/dl n 0.8-2 ng/dl), and growth hormone deficiency (IGF1 below age and sex normal values). Craneal CT and pituitary MRI didn't show any anomaly. Based on symptoms, clinical context and test results the pressumtive diagnosis was AH related to her lupus. The patient was treated with hydrocortisone and levothyroxine with excellent response and complete resolution of her symptoms. Clinical Lesson: This case demonstrates that hypophysitis is a clinical entity that can be suspected and treated based on clinical and past medical history even in the context of normal imaging were an invasive procedure such as a biopsy would likely not change the final outcome.

Presentation: No date and time listed

LBODP013 Hypophysitis And Adrenalitis Associated With The Use Of Immunotherapy "clinical Case Report"

Background

we present a case of hypophysitis with gonadotropic and somatotropic axis compromise and adrenalitis secondary to the use of nivolumab and ipilimumab.

Clinical Case

A 74-year-old woman with a history of metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab for 10 months, suspended treatment due to pneumonitis. Three months later, she consulted the emergency department due to limitations in daily activities, asthenia, and drowsiness. physical examination was unremarkable except for hypotension. Laboratory studies showed profound hyponatremia (106 mEq/l, n: 135 a 145 mEq/l), low serum osmolality (236 mmol/kg n: 275 - 295 mmol/kg) and a basal cortisol (5 μg/dL n: 3.7 - 19.4 μg/dL). Hypophysitis was suspected and a pituitary profile revealed low somatomedin C (25 ng/ml n: 54 204 ng/ml), FSH (20.6 UI/L n: 26.7 -133.4 UI/L), and strikingly elevated ACTH (91.9 pg/mL n: 4.7 - 48.5 pg/mL). Pituitary MRI had no structural anomaly. A diagnosis of hypophysitis and primary adrenal insufficiency secondary to adrenalitis due to the use of immunotherapy was made. The compromise of the gonadotropic and somatotropic axis with a normal image can occur in up to 23% of patients with this clinical entity. The patient had significant clinical improvement with glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement.

Conclusions

To our knowledge this is the first reported case of hypophysitis and adrenalitis secondary to immunotherapy. Hypophysitis has a prevalence up to 8% with the combination of ipilimumab plus nivolumab. It should be considered despite a normal pituitary MRI. However, adrenalitis associated with the use of these drugs has only been reported in 2.6% and the coexistence of both entities is even rarer

Presentation: No date and time listed

Ectopic Cushing syndrome in Colombia

OBJECTIVE

The aim was to describe the clinical features of patients with ectopic Cushing syndrome (ECS) from Colombia and compare these findings with other series to provide the best management for these patients.

METHODS

Records of patients with ECS from 1986 to 2017 were retrospectively reviewed; patients with a diagnosis of adrenal or pituitary Cushing syndrome (CS) were excluded.

RESULTS

Fourteen patients with ECS were analyzed in this study. The mean age was 54.4 (SD 17.1) years, and the female to male ratio was 1.33:1. Regarding the etiology of ECS, four patients had lung carcinoids (28.6%), three had small-cell lung carcinoma (21.4%), three had pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (21.4%), one had medullary thyroid cancer (7.1%), one had non-metastatic pheochromocytoma (7.1%), one had metastatic thymoma (7.1%) and one patient had an occult source of ACTH (7.1%). The most common clinical features at presentation were moon-face, muscle weakness, diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Hyperpigmentation was present in 36% of patients, and 12 patients had hypokalemia with a mean value of 2.3 mEq/L (SD 0.71). The median basal cortisol, 24-hour urinary free cortisol (UFC) and ACTH were 30.5 ug/dL (IQR 21-59 ug/dL), 2,600 ug/24 h (IQR 253-6,487 ug/24 h) and 91 pg/mL (IQR 31.9-141.9), respectively. Thirteen patients (92.8%) had the site of the primary lesion identified. Six patients had undergone a surgical intervention to address the primary tumor. Resection was curative in 28.5% of patients. Death occurred in 57.1% of patients, and the median overall survival was 27 months. Intrathoracic tumors had the most aggressive behavior.

CONCLUSION

ECS is a rare disease; however, it is associated with high morbidity and mortality. A rapid intervention supported by an interdisciplinary group is required to improve overall survival and quality of life.

Clinical Outcomes After 1 Year of Augmented Insulin Pump Therapy in Patients with Diabetes in a Specialized Diabetes Center in Medellín, Colombia

BACKGROUND

Type 1 diabetes can be difficult to control. Augmented pump therapy (CSII-rtCGM) has become an important tool for controlling blood glucose and decreasing hypoglycemia.

METHODS

Describe the results 1 year after starting CSII-rtCGM in patients with diabetes in Medellín, Colombia. This is an observational, retrospective study. Patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes started on CSII-rtCGM between January 2008 and June 2015 were included. Qualitative variables were analyzed as absolute or relative frequencies. Quantitative variables were obtained through central tendency and dispersion according to the normal distribution of the analyzed variable using Kolmogorov-Smirnov. SPSS 19 from IBM was used.

RESULTS

Two hundred forty-seven patients were identified, of those 183 were included. The starting HbA1C was 8.7% ± 1.7% and 7.4% ± 0.8% (P < 0.05) 1 year later. 16.5% of patients had been admitted to the hospital before starting CSII-rtCGM, after 1 year the admission rate was 6.0% (P < 0.05). The incidence of severe hypoglycemia at the beginning was 32%, 1 year later it was 7.1%.

CONCLUSION

CSII-rtCGM therapy improves glucose control and decreases severe hypoglycemic events and hospital admission rate.

Clinical efficacy of infliximab in moderate to severe ulcerative colitis in a latin american referral population

BACKGROUND

Previous research has shown that infliximab (IFX) is effective in the management of moderate to severe active ulcerative colitis (UC). Latin American studies are lacking.

AIM

To evaluate the efficacy of IFX treatment (including corticosteroid withdrawal, complete mucosal healing, colectomy and hospitalization rates) in patients with moderate to severe UC.

METHODS

A retrospective and descriptive study was conducted on patients with UC in Medellín (Colombia). We included patients steroid dependent or refractory to conventional treatment.

RESULTS

Between October 2005 and July 2011, 28 patients with moderate to severe UC received IFX infusions; the median of the follow-up was 27.4 months (range: 1-69 months). Twenty-four patients (86%) had a short-term primary response, whilst 19 (68%) achieved initial clinical remission. After 1 year, 17 (71%) out of the 24 patients who had an initial response were also showing a sustained response, and 10 (42%) remained in clinical remission. At 6 months, complete mucosal healing was observed in 29% of patients and endoscopic improvement in 57%.

CONCLUSIONS

This is the first study to evaluate the IFX use in patients with moderate to severe active UC in a Latin American population. We found that IFX therapy is effective for inducing clinical remission, and that most patients who had an initial response showed a long-term sustained response.

Difficulty in elucidating the male role in cervical cancer in Colombia, a high-risk area for the disease

BACKGROUND

Epidemiologic evidence has been inconclusive in linking men's sexual behavior and genital human papillomaviruses (HPVs) with cervical cancer risk in their sexual partners in areas with a high incidence of cervical cancer.

PURPOSE

This study assesses the role of men's sexual behavior and the presence of penile HPV DNA on the risk of their wives' developing cervical neoplasia in an area in Colombia with a high incidence of cervical cancer.

METHODS

A total of 210 husbands of women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade III (n = 118) or invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix (n = 92) and a total of 262 husbands of women recruited as control subjects (173 and 89, respectively) were interviewed. Questionnaires included detailed information on sexual behavior. Exfoliated cells were obtained from the glans penis and from the distal urethra of the penis. The specimens were analyzed for HPV DNA by use of a polymerase chain reaction-based assay that included a generic probe and 25 type-specific probes. Serum specimens were collected and analyzed for antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis, Treponema pallidum, herpes simplex virus type II, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

RESULTS

Limited education (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 4.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.9-9.8; for no schooling versus secondary or higher education) and presence of antibodies to C. trachomatis (adjusted OR = 2.5; 95% CI = 1.5-4.4) in husbands were the only identified risk factors for cervical neoplasia in their wives. The prevalence of HPV DNA in the penis was 25.7% among husbands of case women and 18.9% among husbands of control women (adjusted OR = 1.2; 95% CI = 0.6-2.3). Neither the lifetime number of female sexual partners (adjusted OR = 1.0; 95% CI = 0.4-2.6; for > 50 partners versus one to five) nor the lifetime number of female prostitutes as sexual partners (adjusted OR = 1.2; 95% CI = 0.7-2.0; for > or = 21 prostitutes versus one to five) was associated with the risk of cervical cancer.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results are compatible with the hypothesis that in the population of Cali, whose women are at high risk of developing cervical cancer, exposure to HPV among young men is a common occurrence and is mediated by contacts with large numbers of female sexual partners and prostitutes. These widespread sexual practices limit the power of case-control studies to detect significant associations between men's sexual behavior and the cervical cancer risk in their sexual partners. HPV DNA detection in the penis of adult men is a poor reflection of lifetime exposure or of etiologically relevant exposure to HPV. The role of C. trachomatis in cervical carcinogenesis deserves further investigation.

IMPLICATIONS

Further research is needed to elucidate the male's role in cervical carcinogenesis in populations at high risk for cervical cancer. HPV DNA prevalence surveys and studies of the natural history of HPV in young men will be of great value.

Inter-observer variation in cytological and histological diagnoses of cervical neoplasia and its epidemiologic implication

Inter-observer variation in cytohistological diagnosis was assessed for 1506 cervical smears and 883 histological slides from four case-control studies on cervical neoplasia. The kappa statistic among a panel of three cytopathologists was highest for diagnosis of invasive cancer (0.70 for cytology and 0.74 for histology), followed by normal/inflammatory in cytology (0.68) and CIN III in histology (0.58). There was also nearly perfect agreement between the final panel diagnoses and the original diagnoses made by local cytopathologists, except for those of CIN III. Inter-observer variation in diagnosis for CIN III was inversely associated with age, number of children (in histology) and sexual activity (in cytology). However, the odds ratios for CIN III calculated by each cytopathologist's diagnosis were not different from each other for any etiologic factor. These results indicate that the diagnoses of invasive cancer and of normal/inflammatory changes are highly reproducible and that the inter-observer variation does not have much impact on the etiologic risk estimates.

The impact of vaginal cytology on cervical cancer risks in Cali, Colombia

The role of vaginal cytology screening in preventing invasive carcinoma of the cervix was investigated in Cali, Colombia. The history of previous participation in screening programs was obtained from 204 patients with invasive carcinoma and from 2 sets of age-matched controls: one from the same health center and one for the same neighborhood of the patient. Our results show that the risk of developing invasive carcinoma is at least 10 times greater in non-screened than in screened women.

Echinococcus vogeli in man, with a review of polycystic hydatid disease in Colombia and neighboring countries

Three cases of polycystic hydatid disease (PHD) from Colombia are reported and 11 others from the region are reviewed. When cysts from two patients were fed to a dog and an ocelot about 250 mature and gravid specimens of Echinococcus vogeli and two poorly developed strobilae, respectively, were recovered. These human cases constitute the first record of the larval stage of E. vogeli, previously known only from the strobilar stage in the type host, the bush dog (Speothos venaticus). Based on the morphological characteristics of the protoscolex rostellar hooks from other PHD cases (6 Colombian, 1 Ecuadorian, and 1 Panamanian), it was concluded that all were also due to E. vogeli, rather than to E. oligarthrus as had been previously suggested. Although E. oligarthrus is or may be present in the same areas, so far no human infection due to this parasite has been confirmed. Of the 14 cases reported, 13 were pathologically proven to be PHD. Clinically, eight had an undiagnosed tumor-like mass in or near the liver, one had a subcutaneous mass in the anterior sixth intercostal space, and in two the cysts were in the chest. Two were autopsy findings. In contrast to E. multilocularis, the cysts produced by E. vogeli were found to be relatively large and filled with fluid; brood capsules and protoscolices were numerous. Focal necrosis was commonly observed but large necrotic cavities were not seen. The main natural intermediate host is the paca (Cuniculus paca); man probably obtains the infection by contamination from feces of infected hunting dogs.