Lean body mass wasting and toxicity in early breast cancer patients receiving anthracyclines Lean body mass wasting and toxicity in early breast cancer patients receiving anthracyclines

Iannicelli E, et al. Korean J Radiol. 2014 Jan-Feb;15(1):37-44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3348/kjr.2014.15.1.37

Insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease with a complex multifactorial etiology and a poorly understood pathogenesis. Genetic and environmental factors cause an autoimmune reaction against pancreatic β-cells, called insulitis, confirmed in pancreatic samples obtained at autopsy. The possibility to noninvasively quantify β-cell mass in vivo would provide important biological insights and facilitate aspects of diagnosis and therapy, including follow-up of islet cell transplantation. Moreover, the availability of a noninvasive tool to quantify the extent and severity of pancreatic insulitis could be useful for understanding the natural history of human insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes mellitus, to early diagnose children at risk to develop overt diabetes, and to select patients to be treated with immunotherapies aimed at blocking the insulitis and monitoring the efficacy of these therapies. In this review, we outline the imaging techniques currently available for in vivo, noninvasive detection of β-cell mass and insulitis. These imaging techniques include magnetic resonance imaging, ultrasound, computed tomography, bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging, and the nuclear medicine techniques positron emission tomography and single-photon emission computed tomography. Several approaches and radiopharmaceuticals for imaging β-cells and lymphocytic insulitis are reviewed in detail.

In December 2019 a novel coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was identified and the disease associated was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Fever, cough, myalgia, fatigue associated to dyspnea represent most common clinical symptoms of the disease. The reference standard for diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection is real time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction test applied on respiratory tract specimens. Despite of lower specificity, chest computed tomography (CT), as reported in manifold scientific studies, showed high sensitivity, therefore it may help in the early detection, management and follow-up of COVID-19 pneumonia. Patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia usually showed on chest CT some typical features, such as: Bilateral ground glass opacities characterized by multilobe involvement with posterior and peripheral distribution; parenchymal consolidations with or without air bronchogram; interlobular septal thickening; crazy paving pattern, represented by interlobular and intralobular septal thickening surrounded by ground-glass opacities; subsegmental pulmonary vessels enlargement (> 3 mm). Halo sign, reversed halo sign, cavitation and pleural or pericardial effusion represent some of atypical findings of COVID-19 pneumonia. On the other hand lymphadenopathy’s and bronchiectasis’ frequency is unclear, indeed conflicting data emerged in literature. Radiologists play a key role in recognition of high suspicious findings of COVID-19 on chest CT, both typical and atypical ones. Thus, the aim of this review is to illustrate typical and atypical CT findings of COVID-19.

Lip augmentation with injectable materials is a popular aesthetic procedure. When complications occur, patients often ignore which material was implanted, thus making subsequent treatments difficult. This study aims to present the diagnosis and management of dermal filler complications in the perioral region. The Medical charts of 26 patients with filler complications in the oral region were reviewed. All patients were submitted to High Frequency Ultrasound, often complemented by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and White Blood Cell Scintigraphy, to evaluate filler characteristics and complication types. Antibiotic, corticosteroid or surgical treatment was therefore planned. Imaging always identified dermal fillers in the oral region, distinguishing among infections, fibrosis, granulomatous inflammation and product migration. Nine patients received surgery, ten received medical treatments, six received both, and one refused treatment. Eighty percent of the patients presented an improvement after three- year follow-up. Complications of oral region fillers are similar in clinical presentation but differ in etiology, therefore necessitating different clinical approaches. Imaging techniques add useful information for treatment planning.