Secondary Alopecia Neoplastica Mimicking Alopecia Areata following Breast Cancer.

Cutaneous metastases from visceral carcinomas are relatively uncommon, with an overall incidence ranging from 0.7 to 9%. Diagnosis of scalp metastases usually escapes clinicians and dermatologists due to the fact that these metastases are mimicking other benign dermatological conditions. Herein, we present an uncommon case of scalp alopecia neoplastica mimicking alopecia areata due to breast cancer; a 43-year-old woman diagnosed with lobular cancer 3 years previously presented with acute loss of hair in well-circumscribed areas of the scalp and was diagnosed with alopecia areata by a private-practice dermatologist. She was then reevaluated, and due to her history of breast cancer, a biopsy from the scalp was performed and revealed alopecia neoplastica. At the same time that the skin lesions were recognized as disease involvement, the patient presented with dyspepsia, and endoscopy of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract also revealed metastasis to the stomach and bowel. Gastrointestinal metastasis may occur with several types of cancer, but the stomach and bowel are rare metastatic sites for breast cancer.

Recommendations for the definition, evaluation, and treatment of nail psoriasis in adult patients with no or mild skin psoriasis: A dermatologist and nail expert group consensus.

Nail involvement in psoriasis is common, and the severity of it does not always parallel the intensity of cutaneous disease. We created a consensus group, of which the aim was to provide practical recommendations for the treatment of nail psoriasis in patients without skin psoriasis or with mild skin lesions with no indication for a systemic treatment. This collaborative process was conducted by an international panel of dermatologists with special expertise in nail disorders, using formal consensus methods. During this process, the panel strived to establish an agreement regarding the definition of nail psoriasis, the severity of nail psoriasis, and treatment response. Treatment recommendations are provided regarding nail psoriasis severity and matrix or bed involvement. Few-nail disease was considered as nail psoriasis affecting ≤3 nails. In the case of matrix involvement only, intralesional steroid injections were considered the treatment of choice. Topical steroids alone or in combination with topical vitamin D analogues were suggested for nail psoriasis limited to the nail bed. For the systemic treatment of nail psoriasis acitretin, methotrexate, cyclosporine, small molecules, and biologics may be employed.

Anti-PD1/PDL1 induced psoriasis.

BACKGROUND: Immune checkpoint inhibitors are novel agents approved for the treatment of late-stage malignancies. Despite its important clinical benefits, checkpoint inhibition is associated with a unique spectrum of side effects known as immune-related adverse events. Skin toxicities are the most frequent immune-related adverse events during anti-PD1 blockade therapies. Among them, rare cases of psoriasis exacerbation have been reported. METHODS: We present the clinical characteristics of exacerbated psoriasis in 5 patients under anti-PD1/PDL1 therapy. RESULTS: A total of 5 patients were overall included (4 males, 1 female mean age 65.8 years). Among them, 3 were diagnosed with nonsmall cell lung cancer, 1 with papillary urothelial carcinoma, and 1 with squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil. Of all, 3 patients were treated with anti-PD1 (1 with pembrolizumab, 2 with nivolumab), whereas the remaining 2 with anti-PDL1 (durvalumab). Only 1 out of 5 patients had active psoriatic lesions at the time of treatment initiation, 2 shared a past history of psoriasis, and 1 reported a strong related family history (3/5 siblings). Four out of 5 patients experienced guttate lesions, though the most severe exacerbation was noted in the durvalumab group. Four out of 5 patients managed to continue treatment after close dermatologic monitoring, whereas 1 patient under durvalumab was forced to treatment delays owing to the severity of the skin reactions. Skin rashes appeared in all patients after the fourth cycle of immunotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Both anti-PD1 and anti-PDL1 therapies can lead to psoriasis exacerbation although more severe flares were noted in patients treated with durvalumab. Not only personal but also related family history of psoriasis are significant risk factors and need to be outlined before treatment initiation. If such related history exists, strict skin surveillance can lead to the early diagnosis and treatment of any psoriatic exacerbations that could otherwise severely affect quality of life or even compromise therapeutic protocols and final prognosis.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteraemia in patients with hematologic malignancies: risk factors, treatment and outcome.

Our aims were to identify factors associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) bloodstream infection (BSI) in patients with hematological malignancies and evaluate the outcome of the affected patients. Consecutive patients with hematological malignancies who developed PA BSI were identified. Subsequently, two case-control studies were performed to evaluate the risk factors (i) for PA BSI and (ii) for carbapenem resistant (CR) PA BSI. Patients' outcome was evaluated at 28 days after the onset of bacteraemia. A total of 64 patients with PA BSI (45 caused by CS and 19 by CR organisms) and 128 without PA BSI were enrolled. Patients with rapidly fatal disease, steroid use, neutropenia or prior surgery were more likely to develop PA BSI, whereas patients with previous hospitalization and prior use of fluoroquinolones were more likely to develop CR PA BSI. The 28-day mortality rate was 35.9%. Severity of sepsis was the only independent predictor of adverse outcome.

Suicidal behaviour in HIV-infected patients in Greece.

This study investigated suicide completion and suicide attempts by HIV-infected patients in Greece, which, from the existing literature, are more frequent than those among the general population. The study sample comprised HIV-infected patients who had been monitored for a minimum period of six months from 1992 through 2012 at the "Andreas Sygros" University Hospital in Athens. Among the 1884 patients who were monitored during the study period, 37 suicides were attempted by 28 (1.48%) patients (27 men and 1 woman). Six of them were fatal (0.3%, 52/100,000 person-years) while over the study, 397 patients died. No significant differences concerning main characteristics were recorded among patients with an attempted and those with a completed suicide. Seventeen of the 28 patients (60.71%) demonstrated psychiatric morbidities. Suicide attempts were more numerous before the advent of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), whereas there was no difference in attempts before and after the Greek financial crisis in 2009. The suicide frequency was higher than that of the general population for the same period. However, it decreased after the introduction of cART. Special attention is required in recording coexisting mental disorders and providing specialized psychiatric care to HIV-infected patients.

Giant Onychomatricoma of the Great Toenail: Case Report and Review Focusing on Less Common Variants.

Onychomatricoma is a rare benign fibroepithelial filamentous tumor originating from the nail matrix. It typically presents with the clinical tetrad of xanthonychia, pachyonychia, proximal splinter hemorrhages and increased transverse overcurvature of the nail plate. The giant variant can easily confuse the clinician due to its extensive nail dystrophy that can mask the characteristic features of this tumor. Benign (fibrokeratoma, ungual fibroma, onycholytic matricoma) and malignant entities (Bowen's disease, squamous cell carcinoma, onycholytic carcinoma) are mimics of the disease. Nail surgery can facilitate the diagnosis, which should always be confirmed by histology, as rare variants do exist.

Validation of Concentric Rings Method as a Topographic Measure of Retinal Nonperfusion in Ultra-Widefield Fluorescein Angiography.

PURPOSE: To validate the use of concentric rings as a method to measure topographic area of retinal nonperfusion in ultra-widefield angiography with the ischemic index method, which is the most frequently used method to measure nonperfusion in ultra-widefield angiography. DESIGN: Validation study and reliability analysis. METHODS: setting: Single-center study performed at National Institute for Health Research Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre, London, United Kingdom. STUDY POPULATION: Twenty-eight ultra-widefield angiogram images of eyes with central retinal vein occlusion. OBSERVATION PROCEDURE: The concentric rings method consists of 6 macula-centered concentric rings divided into 12 segments each. Each image was graded by 5 graders using both the concentric rings and the ischemic index methods. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Agreement between the 2 methods was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Intertest agreement, intergrader agreement, test-retest reliability, and the time taken to grade using these 2 methods were compared. RESULTS: The intertest agreement between concentric rings method and ischemic index method was 0.965. The intergrader agreement was 0.910 for the concentric rings method and 0.898 with the ischemic index method. The test-retest reliability was 0.975 for the rings and 0.979 for the ischemic index. Average grading time per image was 187 s and 297 s for the concentric rings method and ischemic index method, respectively, P < .001. CONCLUSION: The concentric rings method has an "almost-perfect" intergrader agreement and intertest agreement with the ischemic index method, with a shorter grading time.

Diagnostic accuracy of disorganization of the retinal inner layers in detecting macular capillary non-perfusion in diabetic retinopathy.

BACKGROUND: Disorganization of the retinal inner layers (DRIL) on optical coherence tomography (OCT) is thought to represent retinal capillary non-perfusion (CNP) in eyes with diabetic retinopathy. This study was designed to evaluate the ability of DRIL to accurately predict CNP. DESIGN: Retrospective masked reliability and diagnostic accuracy study performed in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre, London, UK SAMPLES: Retinal images of patients with diabetic retinopathy METHODS: The OCT images from 90 separate areas of angiographically confirmed perfused and non-perfused areas of the macula from 37 eyes of 31 patients were anonymized and coded. Two masked graders independently graded these OCT scans for the presence or absence of DRIL to determine the intergrader reliability. The diagnostic accuracy of DRIL in identifying CNP was evaluated from the results obtained. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Sensitivity and specificity of DRIL in accurately detecting CNP RESULTS: The intergrader agreement was high with a Cohen's kappa of 0.909. DRIL was present in 84.4% (38/45) of non-perfused retina and none in perfused retina (0/45). The sensitivity and specificity of DRIL in detecting angiographic evidence of CNP was 84.4% and 100%, respectively. The positive predictive value was 100% and the negative predictive value was 86.5%. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of DRIL is a reliable predictor of areas of macular CNP. However, DRIL is not a universal finding of non-perfusion, with some cases exhibiting absence of DRIL despite angiographic CNP.

The role of anti-tubercular therapy in patients with presumed ocular tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the factors affecting the treatment outcome in patients with presumed ocular tuberculosis on anti-tubercular therapy (ATT). METHODS: Retrospective chart review of patients with presumed ocular tuberculosis seen at a tertiary referral eye care center in the United Kingdom. Failure was defined as recurrence of inflammation within 6 months of completion of ATT. RESULTS: There were a total of 175 patients with presumed ocular tuberculosis who had ATT. Patients with intermediate uveitis or panuveitis and those on immunosuppressive therapy had higher odds of treatment failure (p < 0.05) while those with more than 9 months of ATT (77, 79.38%) had less likelihood of failure. CONCLUSION: We present the largest case series of patients with presumed ocular tuberculosis in a low endemic area treated with ATT. Longer duration of treatment resulted in reduced risk of recurrence of inflammation, whereas immunosuppression adversely affected the final treatment outcome.

Nail Psoriasis in Children: Common or Uncommon? Results from a 10-Year Double-Center Study.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Our aim was to perform an extensive search of the literature on the prevalence of nail psoriasis in the pediatric population and to estimate it on our own database. PROCEDURES: Searching the most important databases yielded results of 16 papers published in a 40-year period which reported the prevalence of nail psoriasis in children. Furthermore, data gathered between 2004 and 2013 at two centers specialized in nail disorders were analyzed. RESULTS: The selected papers encompassed a total of 4,853 psoriatic children, of whom 762 (15.7%) had nail involvement. Concerning our data, a total of 68,839 children were seen in pediatric skin consultation in both clinics over a period of 10 years, 0.11% of which had nail involvement. The rate of psoriatic children presenting nail alterations was 19.4% in the Greek and 15.5% in the Italian patient groups. CONCLUSIONS AND MESSAGE: This is the retrospective study including the largest number of cases of nail psoriasis in the pediatric population. Our data are in line with the incidence estimation of the rest of Europe.

Laparoscopic repair of giant paraesophageal hernia with synthetic mesh: 45 consecutive cases.

Giant paraesophageal hernias (PEHs) are associated with progression of symptoms in up to 45 per cent of patients. Recently, many series have reported that laparoscopic repair of PEH is technically feasible, effective, and safe. A retrospective review of the University of Athens tertiary care hospitals patient database and the patient medical records identified 45 patients who underwent elective repair of a giant PEH between 2002 and 2009. Elective laparoscopic repair of a giant PEH was attempted in 45 patients who were treated with Gore-Tex dual mesh with or without Nissen fundoplication. They all had a mesh repair. Intraoperative complications included one pulmonary embolism and one recurrent hernia. The use of a mesh seems to be effective in the treatment of large hernias. It appears to offer the benefit of a shorter hospital stay and a quicker recovery.