RESUMEN
The management of advanced metastasized breast cancer (BC) is a clinically challenging entity with a wide spectrum of novel therapeutics being introduced to the market. Such agents have remodeled BC treatment landscape and prolonged patients' survival. Over the past decade, a growing body of literature has shed lights on CDK4/6 involvement in oncogenesis and the role of its inhibitors in clinical use with palbociclib being the prototype drug. We present a case of a 58-year-old post-menopausal Middle-Eastern woman diagnosed with stage IV HR+/HER2- breast cancer with extensive bone metastasis. The lesions were widely distributed across the axial skeleton including base of the skull, sternum, ribs, left iliac bone, right inferior pubic ramus, cervical, thoracic, and lumbosacral vertebrae. The patient was started on therapeutic doses of letrozole and zoledronic acid in conjunction with adjuvant radiotherapy. A significant partial response was achieved reaching 70% remission followed by sternum disease progression. A decision was made to switch letrozole for tamoxifen which resulted in disease stability. Due to postmenopausal bleeding, tamoxifen was held and letrozole was reintroduced leading to regimen failure and disease advancement. Palbociclib and fulvestrant were started accordingly, yielding a remarkable metabolic response of all bone metastatic lesions (stable disease) after three months of the regimen initiation. The aforementioned stable disease status continued for approximately three years up to this point.
RESUMEN
A scar ectopic pregnancy exhibiting hydatidiform features is an extremely rare and clinically challenging entity. Delayed diagnosis and failure to treat such cases promptly can lead to devastating consequences. In this report, we present a case of cesarean scar ectopic partial molar pregnancy in a 37-year-old woman who presented with complaints of vaginal discharge with streaks of blood and lower abdominal pain. Diagnostic laparoscopy revealed an abnormal mass of brown soft tissue in the anterior wall of the uterus, measuring 13.0 × 9.0 × 2.0 cm, raising suspicion (in the context of elevated serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels) of a scar ectopic pregnancy. Open laparotomy was performed, and the scar ectopic mass was successfully removed. The histologic examination of the tissue revealed a partial hydatidiform mole. The patient experienced a full recovery postoperatively, with serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels gradually declining to normal values. This report is unique in its presentation of the clinicopathological features of cesarean scar ectopic molar pregnancy and the successful management of the condition.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by episodes of depression and mania, associated with impaired emotion processing. Several functional MRI (fMRI) studies have been used to investigate the structural and functional alteration in BD. Here, we aim to investigate the current fMRI findings of brain activation during emotion-regulation tasks between BD patients and healthy controls (HC). METHODS: A systematic search through PubMed database for fMRI studies on bipolar patients and HC yielded 685 studies. We performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) on 21 studies for emotion regulation in BD patients and HC. Furthermore, we performed subgroup analyses for task performances in response time and accuracy between bipolar patients and HC. RESULTS: The total sample included 21 fMRI studies, comprising 543 BD patients, compared to 565 HC. ALE maps for emotion-related tasks showed hyperactivation in BD patients in the caudate, amygdala, precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyri, and sub-gyrus. Whereas hypoactivation was seen in the inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate gyrus. LIMITATIONS: We could not apply a correction for p-value thresholds, as it needs large number of foci. Second, functional abnormalities were investigated for adult BD patients only, as BD patients have functional differences correlated with age. CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that limbic and cortical regions can represent a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and management of BD, by showing clustered brain regions of abnormal patterns of increased activation between BD patients and HC.
Asunto(s)
Trastorno Bipolar , Regulación Emocional , Adulto , Humanos , Trastorno Bipolar/diagnóstico , Encéfalo , Amígdala del Cerebelo/diagnóstico por imagen , Neuroimagen , Emociones/fisiología , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética/métodosRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Migraine is a primary headache disorder that causes debilitating throbbing pain. Several functional MRI (fMRI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have been used to investigate the structural and functional alteration in migraine. Here, we aim to study the converged brain regions of functional and structural abnormalities in gray matter volume (GMV) associated with pain processing and management in migraineurs and healthy controls (HC). METHODS: A systematic search through PubMed and Sleuth was carried out for peer-reviewed functional and structural neuroimaging studies on migraine patients and HC yielded a total of 1136 studies. We performed an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on VBM and pain stimulation task-based fMRI studies to investigate the converged areas of GMV and functional abnormalities between migraineurs and HC. We performed two subgroup analyses between migraine with aura (MwA) and migraine without aura (MwoA) relative to HC, and between chronic migraine (CM) and episodic migraine (EM) compared to HC. RESULTS: The total sample included 16 fMRI and 22 VBM studies, consisting of 1295 migraine patients, compared to 995 HC. In fMRI analysis, ALE maps for pain stimulation tasks revealed hyperactivation in migraineurs in the substantia nigra compared to HC, whereas hypoactivation was seen in the cerebellum. For the VBM analysis, ALE clusters of increased GMV in migraineurs were observed in the parahippocampus and putamen nucleus. Whereas clusters of reduced GMV in migraineurs were seen in the frontal gyri. Compared to HC, MwoA patients showed a GMV reduction in the insula, and anterior cingulate, whereas MwA patients showed GMV reduction in the cerebellum, cingulate gyrus, and insula. CM patients showed decreased GMV in the precentral gyrus, whereas EM patients showed decreased GMV in the parahippocampus, and inferior frontal gyrus when compared to HC. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings represent a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and management of migraine, by showing clustered brain regions of abnormal patterns of activation and GMV changes between migraineurs and HC which might be associated with hyposensitivity to pain in migraineurs. Further studies are required to determine disease progression or therapeutic interventions' effect on migraine.