ABSTRACT
CONTEXT: Sarcomas are a rare group of malignancies. Very little is known about their risk factors. AIMS: The aim was to evaluate different risk factors in patients with sarcomas and to determine the median age at diagnosis, differences in race, gender, histological grades and staging in sarcoma patients. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A retrospective case‑control study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital in the USA. This included patients diagnosed with sarcomas from year 2000 to 2010. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data were extracted with the help of electronic medical records using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth revision codes. Healthy, matched controls were randomly selected from the same tertiary care hospital database. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Univariate comparisons between cases and controls were done using a two‑group independent t‑test for age and using Chi‑square tests for the categorical variables. In order to identify possible independent predictors of sarcomas, a multiple logistic regression model was constructed using sarcoma status as the dependent variable and using, initially, all variables with a univariate P < 0.2 as independent variables. Variables were reduced in a manual stepwise manner to arrive at a final model. Statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. All analyses were performed using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). RESULTS: A total of 425 sarcoma patients and 429 age, sex and race matched healthy controls were analyzed in this study. We found that a history of smoking and alcoholism was significantly associated with sarcomas. We also found that the history of cancer in first‑degree relatives had a significant relationship. In addition, patients with sarcomas are more likely to have a history of another malignancy when compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Smoking and alcohol are potential risk factors for sarcomas. In addition, a history of cancer in the first‑degree relative is also a potential risk factor. Patients with sarcomas are likely to have a history of another malignancy when compared with controls.
ABSTRACT
Sarcomas involving the lung are a rare occurrence, often a result of metastatic disease from primary malignancies involving the skin, liver, breast or heart. Primary pulmonary artery sarcomas are rarer still, with limited cases reported world-wide and consequently data regarding treatment modalities are sparse and largely experimental. These tumors are often mistaken for a pulmonary embolism and seemingly supported by radiological findings. Patients will often present without symptom resolution despite therapeutic anticoagulation. The following case illustrates how a soft tissue sarcoma of the pulmonary artery can mimic a pulmonary embolism, thus, resulting in both a diagnostic and therapeutic dilemma. A positron emission tomography scan was an invaluable tool in this case, showing increased radiotracer uptake and placing neoplasm at the top of the differential diagnosis. This ultimately led to a biopsy that was vimentin positive, cytokeratin negative and CD117 negative, thus consistent with soft tissue sarcoma.
ABSTRACT
This study was undertaken at the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, encompassing all patients of multiple myeloma presenting between January 01, 1982 and December 31, 1991. In all, 89 patients were included. The may Grunwald Giemsa stained bone marrow aspiration slides of each patient was examined under oil- immersion and a morphological grading made as mature (12 patients), immature (53) and plasmablastic (24). The estimated median survival for the mature category was 55 months, for immature 23 months and for plasmablastic two months. The estimated median survival on combining the mature of immature groups was 52 months, and on comparing this with the plasmablastic group, the difference in survival was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05).