Ferritin - novel uses of a well-known marker in paediatrics

Serum ferritin is one of the most widely used laboratory tests and is associated with both iron deficiency and iron overload. Currently, more and more attention is paid to the involvement of ferritin in processes other than iron metabolism. Low serum ferritin is unanimously associated with iron deficiency, while elevated serum ferritin may be a consequence of various medical conditions such as iron overload, an inflammatory process, SARS-CoV-2, organ failure, cancer, and endocrine disorders, including metabolic syndrome. We present a review of the literature on the role of ferritin in a variety of less obvious disease states in children.Copyright © 2023 Termedia Publishing House Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Parathyroid carcinoma presenting as severe hypercalcaemia responding to steroids.

A man in his 50s was referred with profound, symptomatic hypercalcaemia. He was diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism, confirmed on 99mTc-sestamibi scan. He was treated for the hypercalcaemia and referred to ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons for parathyroidectomy, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the ensuing 18 months, he had five hospital admissions with severe hypercalcaemia requiring intravenous fluids and bisphosphonate infusions. During the last admission, hypercalcaemia was resistant to maximal medical management. Emergency parathyroidectomy was planned, but delayed due to intervening COVID-19 infection. Due to persistent severe hypercalcaemia (serum calcium: 4.23 mmol/L), he was commenced on intravenous steroids, following which serum calcium normalised. Subsequently, he underwent emergency parathyroidectomy, which normalised his serum parathyroid and calcium levels. On histopathological examination, a diagnosis of parathyroid carcinoma was made. On follow-up, patient remained well and normocalcaemic. In patients with primary hyperparathyroidism unresponsive to standard therapy, but responsive to steroids, underlying parathyroid malignancy should be considered.

Impact of Telemedicine on Financial Burden to Patients and Carbon Footprint at an Endocrine Oncology Clinic

Introduction: Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has become an increasingly utilized resource in all fields of medicine, allowing greater access to and efficiency of medical care. This study seeks to quantify the average reduction in cost to patients and carbon footprint attributable to telemedicine for endocrine cancer care. Method(s): This retrospective cohort study includes telemedicine visits for in-state patients from April 1, 2020, to June 20, 2021, at the endocrine oncology clinic of a single National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. The primary outcome is cost savings of endocrine cancer care with use of telemedicine. This includes 2 components: (1) direct costs of travel (round-trip distance of car travel) and (2) loss of productivity due to the clinic visit (loss of income from travel and in-office visit time). The secondary outcome is reduction of carbon footprint (kg CO2 emissions) with use of telemedicine. Result(s): There were 3171 telemedicine visits for 2921 patients conducted within the designated time frame. Telemedicine was associated with total savings of 494,895 round-trip travel miles for patients (9734 hours total drive time). An additional 3613 hours were saved in accounting for time to park, enter the building, and wait. Telemedicine resulted in an average savings of $145/visit for patients under 65 years old and $111/visit for patients greater than 65 years old. Additionally, telemedicine reduced the carbon footprint by an average of 46.18 kg CO2 emissions per visit. Conclusion(s): As the costs of medical care continue to rise, further implementation of telemedicine may result in significant savings for patients. This study found that telemedicine is associated with reduction in financial burden caused by both travel and time costs. Additionally, implementation of telemedicine may significantly reduce the carbon footprint of endocrine cancer care. These data need to be interpreted in the context of clinical efficacy of the telemedicine visit, which will require additional study of clinical impact, patient satisfaction, and oncological outcomes.

Concomitant malignancies in the neck: follicular dendritic cell sarcoma; a rare tumour presenting as a right-sided neck nodal mass and papillary carcinoma thyroid.

Follicular dendritic cell sarcoma is a rare low-grade sarcoma of mesenchymal origin. It involves the lymph nodes more commonly and rarely extranodal sites. The most common lymph node is cervical and usually presents as a painless asymptomatic mass. More often, it is a misdiagnosis, and there is a delay in treatment. It is rarely associated with Castleman disease, myasthenia gravis. Diagnosis of this condition is by histopathology and immunochemistry. Surgery is the primary modality of treatment, and adjuvant therapy has been tried with no definite trials due to the rarity of the disease. Here, we report a case of concomitant follicular dendritic sarcoma of the right cervical lymph node and papillary carcinoma of the thyroid managed in our institute. There was a line of investigations approaching towards a diagnosis, and she underwent total thyroidectomy and right modified radical neck dissection.

Leiomyosarcoma of the inferior vena cava posing as an adrenal incidentaloma.

Adrenal incidentalomas are incidentally detected adrenal lesions on imaging, which have a variety of differential diagnoses, the most common being a non-functioning adenoma. Surgical intervention for these lesions is needed when there is hypersecretion, for lesions larger than 4 cm and smaller lesions with suspicious characteristics. Here we present a young woman who was incidentally found to have a right suprarenal mass with loss of fat planes with the inferior vena cava (IVC). She underwent resection of the tumour along with the posterior wall of IVC, which was primarily repaired. Her postoperative biopsy was suggestive of leiomyosarcoma arising from the IVC. In the absence of distant metastasis, the sole prognostic factor for this tumour is achieving negative margins through radical resection of the tumour with IVC resection. Retroperitoneal leiomyosarcomas should be considered as a differential diagnosis for larger lesions, especially those more than 10 cm.