scholarly journals The Positive Predictive Value of Onconeural Antibody Testing: A Retrospective Review

Author(s):  
Adrian Budhram ◽  
Michael W. Nicolle ◽  
Liju Yang

AbstractParaneoplastic syndromes (PNS) are immune-mediated neurologic diseases that occur as an indirect effect of malignancy, and can be challenging to diagnose. Onconeural antibodies have a greater than 95% association with cancer, and their presence in a patient with neurologic symptoms is reportedly highly indicative of PNS. However, we performed a single-centre retrospective review to determine the positive predictive value of onconeural antibody testing, and found it to be concerningly low (39%). Recognising the limitations of onconeural antibody testing is critical to ensure accurate test interpretation, avoid unnecessary repeated malignancy screening and prevent the use of potentially hazardous immunotherapy.

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-363
Author(s):  
Adam W Nelson ◽  
Richard A Parker ◽  
Karan Wadhwa ◽  
Alexandra J Colquhoun ◽  
William H Turner

Objective: To determine the incidence of prostatic urethral involvement in our patient population and how prostatic urethral biopsy correlates with final cystectomy pathology. Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective review of prostatic urethral biopsies (PUB) performed between February 2008 and April 2012 in a single centre. PUB pathology was correlated with cystectomy pathology. Results: PUB was undergone by 172 patients with a median age of 70 years (range: 37–84 years): There were 35 (20%) patients having a positive PUB and 137 (80%) who were negative. Of the 94 patients who underwent cystectomy, we found that when the entire prostatic urethra was sectioned, 20 (21%) patients had cancer in the prostatic urethra. Cancer was found in 17 (77%) of 22 patients with a positive PUB and in three (4%) out of the 72 with a negative PUB (positive predictive value (PPV) 77%, negative predictive value (NPV) 96%, sensitivity 85% and specificity 93%). In all 94 patients, the prostatic apical margin was negative. Conclusion: Disease in the prostatic urethra affected 20% of patients, consistent with published data. Prostatic urethral apical margins were all negative. Intra-operative frozen section would have missed cancer in the 20 patients with prostatic urethral cancer, whereas PUB identified 17 (85%) of the 20 patients. These data confirm the value of using PUB before cystectomy, in our UK population.


2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (7) ◽  
pp. 757-760
Author(s):  
Michael Farrell ◽  
Thomas Marconi ◽  
John Getchell ◽  
Raymond Green ◽  
Mark Cipolle ◽  
...  

Thromboelastography (TEG) has become a critical tool for the diagnosis, assessment, and management of hyperfibrinolysis and coagulopathy in trauma. In 2015, Chapman et al. of the Denver group coined the term “Death Diamond” (DD) to describe a TEG tracing identified in a unique trauma population. The DD was associated with a 100 per cent positive predictive value for mortality. Given the potential prognostic implications and resource savings associated with validating the DD as a marker of futile care, we sought to further evaluate DD outcomes. A retrospective review of 6850 TEGs, 34 patients (24 trauma and 10 nontrauma), displayed a DD tracing. Through invasive procedures and transfusions, nine DD tracing “normalized,” but, ultimately, this did not impact the outcome because the DD had a positive predictive value of 100 per cent for mortality in both populations. The median survival time in trauma patients was two hours compared with seven hours in nontrauma patients. Overall, this study further validates the predictive value of the DD in a trauma population while also serving as an assessment of the DD in a nontrauma population. Given these findings, a DD may prove to be an indicator of futile care. Further multicenter studies should be conducted to confirm these results.


1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (9) ◽  
pp. 2872-2876 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike J. Loeffelholz ◽  
Curt J. Thompson ◽  
Karla S. Long ◽  
Mary J. R. Gilchrist

We prospectively compared the performance of culture, direct fluorescent-antibody testing (DFA), and an in-house-developed PCR test targeting the repeated insertion sequence IS481 for the detection of Bordetella pertussis in nasopharyngeal swab specimens. We tested 319 consecutive paired specimens on which all three tests were performed. A total of 59 specimens were positive by one or more tests. Of these, 5 were positive by all three tests, 2 were positive by culture and PCR, 16 were positive by PCR and DFA, 28 were positive by PCR only, and 8 were positive by DFA only. Any specimen positive by culture was considered to be a true positive, as were specimens positive by both PCR and DFA. Specimens positive only by PCR or DFA were considered discrepant, and their status was resolved by review of patient histories. Patients with symptoms meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention clinical case definition for pertussis and who had a specimen positive by PCR or DFA were considered to have true B. pertussis infections. Of the 28 patients positive by PCR only, 20 met the clinical case definition for pertussis, while 3 of the 8 patients positive by DFA only met the clinical case definition. After resolution of the status of discrepant specimens, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 15.2, 100, 100, and 87.5%, respectively, for culture; 93.5, 97.1, 84.3, and 98.9%, respectively, for PCR; and 52.2, 98.2, 82.8, and 92.4%, respectively, for DFA. The actual positive predictive value of PCR was probably greater, as several PCR-positive patients who did not meet the clinical case definition had symptoms consistent with typical or atypical pertussis. PCR is a sensitive and specific method for the detection of B. pertussis.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 1443
Author(s):  
Stephen I. Johnson ◽  
Daniel Fort ◽  
Kenneth J. Shortt ◽  
George Therapondos ◽  
Gretchen E. Galliano ◽  
...  

Hepatorenal index (HRI) has been shown to be an effective, noninvasive ultrasound tool to screen patients for those with or without >5% hepatic steatosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to further refine this HRI tool in order to stratify patients according to their degree of liver steatosis and give direction as to which patients should undergo random liver biopsy. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of 267 consecutive patients from 2015 to 2017 who had abdominal ultrasounds and a subsequent random liver biopsy within one month. The HRI was calculated and compared with the percent steatosis as assessed by histology. Results: An HRI of ≤1.17 corresponds with >95% positive predictive value of ≤5% steatosis. Between HRI values 1.18 and 1.39, performance of steatosis prediction is mixed. However, for values <1.37 there is an increased likelihood of steatosis ≤5% and likewise the opposite for values >1.37. An HRI of ≥1.4 corresponds with >95% positive predictive value of ≥10% steatosis. Conclusion: HRI is an accurate noninvasive tool to quantify degree of steatosis and guide who should undergo random liver biopsy, potentially significantly reducing the total number of necessary liver biopsies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (12/2021) ◽  
Author(s):  
Margot Thiaucourt ◽  
Catharina Gerhards ◽  
Maximilian Kittel ◽  
Volker Ast ◽  
Nandhini Santhanam ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (1103) ◽  
pp. 20190177
Author(s):  
Linda Metaxa ◽  
Nuala A Healy ◽  
Sylvia A O’Keeffe

Objective: In the UK RCR 5-point breast imaging system (UKS), radiologists grade mammograms from 1 to 5 according to suspicion for malignancy, however unlike BI-RADS, no lexicon of descriptors is published. The aim of this study was to determine whether strict categorisation of microcalcifications (MCC) according to BI-RADS was a better predictor of malignancy than the UKS and whether these descriptors could be used within the UKS. Methods: A retrospective review of 241 cases, with MCC on mammography, who underwent biopsy was performed. Morphology, distribution, extent, UKS score, BI-RADS category and pathology were recorded. The positive predictive value (PPV) of each classification system for malignancy was calculated. Results: 28.6% were diagnosed with DCIS/IDC. The PPV for malignancy using the UKS was 18.9%, 69.4%, 100% for M3-5 respectively (p < 0.001) and using ΒI-RADS morphology was amorphous: 7.1%, coarse heterogeneous: 33.3%, fine pleomorphic: 48.1% and fine linear/fine linear branching: 85.2% (p < 0.001). The PPV based on distribution was grouped: 14.2%, regional: 32.3%, diffuse: 33.3% and linear/segmental: 77.8% (p < 0.001). Combining all cases of benign-appearing, amorphous and grouped coarse heterogenous and grouped fine pleomorphic MCC gave a PPV of 12.8%. Combining regional, linear or segmental coarse heterogenous and fine pleomorphic and all fine linear/branching MCC resulted in a PPV of 83.3% for malignancy. Conclusion: Combining morphology and distribution of MCC is accurate in malignancy prediction. Use of BI-RADS descriptors could help standardise reporting within the UKS and an algorithm using these within the UKS is proposed. Better prediction would enable more appropriate counselling and help to identify discrepancies. Advances in knowledge: No guidance exists on scoring of suspicious MCC in the UK breast imaging system. Use of BI-RADS morphologic/distribution descriptors can aid malignancy prediction. Findings other than morphology of MCC are important in malignancy prediction. An algorithm for use by the UK radiologist when evaluating MCC is provided.


2013 ◽  
Vol 154 (44) ◽  
pp. 1743-1746
Author(s):  
Gergely Hofgárt ◽  
Rita Szepesi ◽  
Bertalan Vámosi ◽  
László Csiba

Introduction: During the past decades there has been a great progress in neuroimaging methods. Cranial computed tomography is part of the daily routine now and its use allows a fast diagnosis of parenchymal hemorrhage. However, before the availability of computed tomography the differentiation between ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke was based on patient history, physical examination, percutan angiography and cerebrospinal fluid sampling, and the clinical utility could be evaluated by autopsy of deceased patients. Aim: The authors explored the diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid examination for the diagnosis of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Method: Data of 200 deceased stroke patients were retrospectively evaluated. All patients had liquor sampling at admission and all of them had brain autopsy. Results: Bloody or yellowish cerebrospinal fluid at admission had a positive predictive value of 87.5% for hemorrhagic stroke confirmed by autopsy, while clear cerebrospinal fluid had positive predictive value of 90.7% for ischemic stroke. Patients who had clear liquor, but autopsy revealed hemorrhagic stroke had higher protein level in the cerebrospinal fluid, but the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.09). Conclusions: The results confirm the importance of pathological evaluation of the brain in cases deceased from cerebral stroke. With this article the authors wanted to salute for those who contributed to the development of the Hungarian neuropathology. In this year we remember the 110th anniversary of the birth, and the 60th anniversary of the death of professor Kálmán Sántha. Professor László Molnár would be 90 years old in 2013. Orv. Hetil., 154 (44), 1743–1746.


2019 ◽  
pp. 96-100
Author(s):  
Thi Ngoc Suong Le ◽  
Pham Chi Tran ◽  
Van Huy Tran

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an acute inflammation of the pancreas, usually occurs suddenly with a variety of clinical symptoms, complications of multiple organ failure and high mortality rates. Objectives: To determine the value of combination of HAP score and BISAP score in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis of the Atlanta 2012 Classification. Patients and Methods: 75 patients of acute pancreatitis hospitalized at Hue Central Hospital between March 2017 and July 2018; HAP and BISHAP score is calculated within the first 24 hours. The severity of AP was classified by the revised Atlanta criteria 2012. Results: When combining the HAP and BISAP scores in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis, the area under the ROC curve was 0,923 with sensitivity value was 66.7%, specificity value was 97.1%; positive predictive value was 66.7%, negative predictive value was 97.1%. Conclusion: The combination of HAP and BISAP scores increased the sensitivity, predictive value, and prognostic value in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis of the revised Atlanta 2012 classification in compare to each single scores. Key words: HAPscore, BiSAP score, acute pancreatitis, predicting severity


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