Additional Cancers Linked to Breast Implants

 The FDA issued a safety communication that cancer cases, including squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) and other lymphomas, have been linked to scar tissue around breast implants.

The pathology of these cases differs than that of anaplastic large lymphomas linked to breast implants a decade ago.

A preliminary review of published literature found fewer than 20 cases of SCC and fewer than 30 cases of various lymphomas in the scar tissue around the implant.

Women who have had implants should be aware of symptoms of cancer, which include swelling, pain, lumps or skin changes, the FDA said, noting that some cases emerged years after women received their implants. The SCC cases were linked to both textured and smooth implants, and saline and silicone implants.

Transplenic Portal Catheterization

The use of percutaneous trans-splenic access (TSA) of the portal system has grown for the treatment of chronic portal vein occlusion, placement of stents in cases of portal vein stenosis, portal vein embolisation of the liver, embolisation of gastric varices, placement of porto-systemic shunts, and interventions after liver transplants.  

The authors conclude that the use of percutaneous TSA access could be used for the treatment of many portal system abnormalities with high success and low complication rates.  

Brain Activity Immediately Before and After Death

A case report published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience describes EEG findings on an 87-year old man with epilepsy who died while an electroencephalogram was in process.  The patient's brain waves 30 seconds before and after death occurred were the same as those when we dream or recalling past memories.  This accidental finding suggests that a final "recall of life" may occur in a person's last moments.

Chest CT findings in patients with Omicron versus Delta variants in SARS-CoV-2 infection

The SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant shows fewer and less severe changes on chest CT than the delta variant, according to a paper published in Radiology.  However, it does have at least one distinct manifestation that of bronchial thickening.  More of the patients who contracted the omicron variant had normal results on computed tomography.  The SARS-CoV-2 omicron variant spreads rapidly but has lower rates of hospital admission and disease severity.

CT Contrast Shortage is Affecting Radiology

 A paper published in Radiology discusses the current shortage of CT contrast which is prompting Radiology departments to make dramatic changes in imaging protocols and patient triage.

Long-term Sequelae in Covid-19 patients; CT Findings

A study of 118 patients with Covid-19 had both baseline and six months follow-up computed tomograms.  At follow-up chest CT 72% of the patients showed fibrotic-like changes while 42% showed ground glass opacifications.  The researchers concluded that blending clinical data with baseline chest CT findings can effectively anticipate which Covid-19 patients are a higher risk of long-term sequelae. 

Preoperative CT-guided Localisation of Lung Nodules

A paper published in Radiology reported on a series of 198 preoperative CT-guided fiducial marker placement procedures that were performed on 190 patients to localise 205 nodules.  The technical success rate was 98.5%.  There were no major complications.  A total of 202 nodules were resected.  Of the resected nodules, 146 were lung cancers, 26 nodules were metastases, 2 were carcinoid tumors, and 28 were benign.

The authors concluded that CT-guided marker placement was an effective and resulted in a low localisation failure rate.