Clinical and imaging characteristics of patients with primary cardiac angiosarcoma / 中华心血管病杂志

Objective: To investigate the clinical, cardiac imaging characteristics and prognosis of patients with primary cardiac angiosarcoma. Methods: The clinical data of 14 patients hospitalized with primary cardiac angiosarcoma from January 2001 to December 2017 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were collected and analyzed. Metastatic cardiac angiosarcoma was not included in this study. Patients were followed up post discharge per telephone call or clinical visit. Results: Of the 14 patients, 8 were males and 6 were females, average age was 48 years. The main clinical symptoms were shortness of breath (8/14), hemoptysis (6/14), fever (5/14), chest pain (4/14) and cough (3/14). Imaging examinations showed that the tumors of 8 patients were located in the right heart and 6 in the pericardial cavity. Tumors in the right heart often infiltrate the atrial wall and cause pericardial effusion (7/8). Tumors in the pericardium were characterized by recurrent bloody pericardial effusion (6/6), prone to progressive constrictive pericarditis (3/6), pericardial fluid cytology was often negative (6/6). MRI showed heterogeneous high signal intensity (cauliflower aspect) on T2-weighted image and heterogeneous enhancement with a"sunray" aspect at the perfusion study. At the time of diagnosis, 8 patients developed lung or adrenal metastasis (8/14). The median survival was only 305 days. Conclusions: Primary cardiac angiosarcoma is a rare disease with non-specific clinical manifestation and poor prognosis. Imaging examinations may help diagnosis. The high invasiveness and the easy-to-metastasis feature of the tumor contribute to the poor prognosis of cardiac angiosarcoma.

Simultaneous determination of thirteen constituents in Pientzehuang by UPLC-QQQ-MS / 中成药

AIM To establish a ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadruple mass spectrometry (UPLC-QQQ-MS) method for the simultaneous content determination of notoginsenoside R1,ginsenoside Re,ginsenoside Rg1,ginsenoside Rb1,ginsenoside Rd,taurine,taurocholic acid,cholic acid,glycocholic acid,glycodeoxycholicacid,chenodeoxycholic acid,deoxycholic acid and muscone in Pientzehuang (Bovis Calculus,Moschus,Notoginseng Radix et Rhizoma,etc.).METHODS The analysis of methanol extract of this drug was performed on a 40 ℃ thermostatic Waters CORTECS UPLC C18column (100 mm × 2.1 mm,1.6 μm),with the mobile phase comprising of acetonitrile-water (containing 0.1％ formic acid) flowing at 0.25 mL/min in a gradient elution manner.RESULTS Thirteen constituents showed good linear relationships within their own ranges (r ＞0.998 5),whose average recoveries were 91.1％-105.3％ with the RSDs of 2.4％-4.6％.CONCLUSION This accurate,simple,sensitive and reproducible method can be used for the quality control of Pientzehuang.

Lupus Myocarditis: A Case-Control Study from China / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Myocarditis is an uncommon but serious manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study aimed to investigate clinical characteristics and outcomes of lupus myocarditis (LM) and to determine risk factors of LM in hospitalized Chinese patients with SLE.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We conducted a retrospective case-control study. A total of 25 patients with LM from 2001 to 2012 were enrolled as the study group, and 100 patients with SLE but without LM were randomly pooled as the control group. Univariable analysis was performed using Chi-square tests for categorical variables, and the Student's t-test or Mann-Whitney U-test was performed for continuous variables according to the normality.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>LM presented as the initial manifestation of SLE in 7 patients (28%) and occurred mostly at earlier stages compared to the controls (20.88 ± 35.73 vs. 44.08 ± 61.56 months, P = 0.008). Twenty-one patients (84%) experienced episodes of symptomatic heart failure. Echocardiography showed that 23 patients (92%) had decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (<50%) and all patients had wall motion abnormalities. A high SLE Disease Activity Index was the independent risk factor in the development of LM (odds ratio = 1.322, P < 0.001). With aggressive immunosuppressive therapies, most patients achieved satisfactory outcome. The in-hospital mortality was not significantly higher in the LM group than in the controls (4% vs. 2%,P = 0.491).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>LM could result in cardiac dysfunction and even sudden death. High SLE disease activity might potentially predict the occurrence of LM at the early stage of SLE. Characteristic echocardiographic findings could confirm the diagnosis of LM. Early aggressive immunosuppressive therapy could improve the cardiac outcome of LM.</p>

Clinical analysis of 32 primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma / 中华肿瘤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the clinical and pathological features, optimal treatment and prognostic factors in primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The clinical presentations, pathological features and therapeutic results of 32 primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were retrospectively analyzed. Statistical analyses were performed with SSPS 10.0 software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The most frequently site of the lesions in the 32 patients was the large intestine (n = 16, 50.0%), followed by small intestine (n = 8, 25.0%), ileocaecal region (n = 6, 18.8%) and multiple intestinal sites (n = 2, 6.2%). Clinical presentations were as follows: abdominal pain and/or distention (n = 26, 81.2%); abdominal mass (n = 14, 43.8%); diarrhea (n = 12, 37.5%); melena (n = 10, 31.3%); weight loss (n = 10, 31.3%) and fever (n = 8, 25.0%). Twenty-one patients (65.6%) were diagnosed as B-cell lymphoma, 15 (46.9%) were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Ten patients (31.2%) were diagnosed as T-cell lymphoma and one (3.1%) as histiocytic lymphoma. Twenty-nine patients were treated initially by surgery with or without chemotherapy, 19 of them (59.4%) achieved complete response. Based on Cox multivariate analysis, stage III - IV, B symptoms and T cell phenotype of the disease were the independent adverse prognostic factors (P < 0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The clinical presentation of primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are not specific clinically. Most of the histological types are diffuse large B-cell type lymphoma. Complete resection combined with chemotherapy may be the best effective approach for treatment of this disease. The prognosis of this disease are correlated with the stage, B symptoms and T cell phenotype.</p>

Antiphospholipid syndrome: clinical and immunologic manifestation and patterns of disease expression in a cohort of 100 patients / 中华风湿病学杂志

Objective To analyze the clinical and immunological manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome(APS)in a cohort of 100 patients.Methods The clinical and serologic features of APS(Sapporo preliminary criteria)in 100 patients were analyzed retrospectively.Results The cohort consisted of 79 female patients and 21 male patients witb a mean age of 36?13 years at diagnosis.Primary APS was presented in 37% of patients;APS was secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE)in 46%,lupus-like syndrome in 14%. Eighty percent of the patients had thrombosis,43(54%)patients had venous thrombosis,18(22%)had arterial thrombosis,15(19%)had both arterial and venous thrombosis.4(5%)had thrombosis of microcirculation. Forty-two(52%)patients presented thrombosis at a single site,26(32%)at two sites,12(15%)at three or more sites.Forty-five(56%)patients experienced one thrombotic episode,20(25%)patients had only one re- currence,and 15(19%)had more thrombosis.The most common manifestations of thrombosis were deep vein thrombosis(36%),pulmonary embolism(30%)and stroke(26%),with heart,kidney,gastrointestinal tract and other organs involvements.Thirty-four(51%)female patients had spontaneous fetal losses including intrauter- ine fetus death and recurrent spontaneous abortion.Seventy-one(71%)patients developed thromboeytopenia. The presence of antieardiolipin antibody(ACL)was detected in 84 patients(84%).Among 90 patients with APS,alone ACL was detected in 38 patients(42%),both ACL and lupus anticoagulant(LA)were detected in 36(40%),LA alone in 16(18%).Patients with APS associated with SLE or lupus-like syndrome had higher frequency of arthritis,leukopenia,antinuclear antibodies(ANA)and low complement levels.Female patients had a higher frequency of leukopenia,ANA and ACL.Male patients had a higher prevalence of deep venous thrombosis in the lower limbs and LA.Conclusion APS is an autoimmune disorder characterized by recurrent arterial and venous thrombosis,fetal loss,or thrombocytopenia with the presence of ACL and/or LA.In APS secondary to with SLE,the patient's sex can modify the disease expression and define specific subsets of APS.