Background/Objectives: Sepsis is defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Identifying reliable biomarkers that reflect the underlying immune pathophysiology of sepsis and support early risk stratification remains a major clinical priority. This prospective study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of interleukin-6 (IL-6) measured at ICU admission in patients with sepsis and septic shock. Methods: This prospective observational study included adult patients with sepsis and septic shock admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases Constanța between 2021 and 2025. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with DeLong comparisons, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards regression modeling were performed to assess the association between baseline IL-6 levels, in-hospital mortality, and time to death. Results: Among the analyzed biomarkers, IL-6 demonstrated the highest discriminatory performance for in-hospital mortality (AUC = 0.956; 95% CI: 0.893–0.987; p < 0.0001). The optimal cut-off value (>135.14 pg/mL) yielded a sensitivity of 87.65% and specificity of 92.86% (Youden index = 0.805). However, despite this excellent discrimination between survivors and non-survivors, baseline IL-6 levels were not significantly associated with time-to-death in Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Conclusions: Admission IL-6 showed excellent discriminatory performance for mortality risk stratification but was not associated with survival duration in time-to-event analyses. These findings suggest that IL-6 should be interpreted primarily as an early risk stratification biomarker rather than a predictor of survival duration in patients with sepsis.
Background/Objectives: The most common soft tissue sarcomas in adults are liposarcomas, a heterogeneous group of malignant tumors. A structured literature search was conducted to better understand the clinical-imaging aspects and molecular behavior underlying the therapeutic approach. Methods: A scoping review was performed according to the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Web of Science Core Collection, and Google Scholar for the period of 1 January 2016–27 March 2026. Studies that addressed liposarcomas and their subtypes were included. Data were extracted descriptively and synthesized narratively. Results: We identified 113 studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Most studies have focused on a subtype of liposarcomas or on aspects such as clinical, imaging, histopathological, molecular, therapeutic, or prognostic features. The collected data identify, in each case, the need to develop new techniques useful for their identification and deeper molecular analysis. These needs arise from the need to improve treatment and to provide better prognosis, especially in rare or high-grade subtypes. Conclusions: The heterogeneity of these tumors requires the provision of a diagnosis that takes into account all possible instruments: clinical, imaging, and histo-molecular. Therefore, further research and translational medicine are needed to discover new pathogenic mechanisms in order to develop individualized therapies that increase quality of life.
Purpose and background: The trigeminal artery is a rare anatomical variant, representing an embryonic vestige of the anastomosis between the internal carotid artery and the posterior circulator system, that can be asymptomatic or could have vast clinical manifestations produced by insufficient flow or by vascular nervous conflicts. This study is an anatomical presentation of 3 trigeminal artery cases observed at Medimar Imagistic Services Constanta. Methods: The 3 trigeminal artery cases were discovered on a 860 magnetic resonance angiographies (0.35% of cases), made on a GE HD/e 8ch 1.5 T. Results: In all 3 cases, the arteries were rising from the right internal carotid artery and one from the left internal carotid artery, in 2 cases the origin was on the superior surface, and in one case, on the anterolateral surface, in all 3 cases from C4 horizontal cavernous segment. The artery caliber was between 2.7 mm and 5.1 mm; the artery length was between 26 and 32 mm. Other associated vascular malformations were: partial or total basilar artery hypoplasia, in one case posterior communicant artery agenesis, contralateral vertebral artery hypoplasia, posterior cerebral artery hypoplasia (in 2 cases), and no anastomosis between the P1 segment of the posterior cerebral artery with the posterior communicating artery (one case). Conclusions: While the trigeminal artery is a rare anatomical variant, it’s still a very important vessel situated in the posterior cerebral fossa, which needs to be taken into account in the case of neurosurgical interventions.