The American journal of the medical sciences
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Letter Case Reports
Left pleural low-fat angiomyolipoma: A rare presentation.
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Review Case Reports
Pulmonary artery intimal sarcoma: a rare cause of filling defects in pulmonary arteries.
Pulmonary artery intimal sarcomas are very rare and arise from primitive pluripotent mesenchymal cells. They are often misdiagnosed as pulmonary thromboembolism, leading to futile anticoagulation treatment and delayed diagnosis. ⋯ Progressive symptoms and additional imaging led to the suspicion of a pulmonary artery intimal sarcoma, which was finally confirmed by pathological biopsy. This case serves as a reminder to consider pulmonary artery intimal sarcomas in the differential diagnosis of patients with dyspnea and filling defects on computed tomography pulmonary angiography or contrast-enhanced computed tomography.
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Hypereosinophilic syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by excessive peripheral eosinophilia and eosinophil associated end-organ damage. Clinical presentations are heterogenous and can involve skin, pulmonary, cardiac and neurologic dysfunction. ⋯ Secondary to changes in blood viscosity, impaired clearance of microemboli, impaired cerebral blood flow, and pro-thrombotic conditions in the setting of hypereosinophilia, infarcts often present in vascular border zone regions. Here we present two cases of cardioembolic strokes involving borderzone regions in the setting of hypereosinophilic syndrome.
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Prediabetes versus type 2 diabetes in patients with acute myocardial infarction and current smoking.
Smoking is linked with increased risk of cardiovascular events among diabetic patients. Prediabetes is associated with increased risk for microvascular and macrovascular complications. We compared the 2-year clinical outcomes of current smoking between prediabetic and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after newer-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation. ⋯ Current smoking leads to worse clinical outcomes in patients with AMI and prediabetes, and thus, similarly to T2DM patients, more attention and more intensive treatment strategy including quitting smoking would be advantageous.
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In regards to breast cancer (BC), survival or disease-free periods are still compromised mainly in Triple Negative (TN) and HER2 tumors. The participation of estrogen receptor (ER) has been reported as crucial in the signaling pathways, including the NOTCH pathway. The study was aimed to evaluate the expression of NOTCH1 and NOTCH3 in BC and its relationship with the presence of ER, as well as with relapses. ⋯ NOTCH1 and NOTCH3 were found to be overexpressed mainly in ERN tumors. HER2 and TN groups, are related to higher relapse rates. Therefore, anti-NOTCH therapy could be justified and implemented in conventional treatments of high-risk BC groups.