No abstract

This study aimed to describe comorbidities and symptoms of asymptomatic HTLV-1-infected patients according to the proviral load. Medical records were revised and patients categorized in high and low proviral load groups: >5% and <5% -infected cells, respectively. Frequency of symptoms was quantified. A total of 64 patients were evaluated. Twenty three (36%) patients had high proviral load. All patients had clinical abnormalities reported in the medical records. The most frequently comorbidities were hypertension (37.5%) and depression (25%) and the most frequent symptoms were neurological (82.8%) and ophthalmologic (65.6%). There were no differences in the frequencies of clinical manifestations in patients with low and high proviral load, except for urinary retention, that was more prevalent in the group with high proviral (34.8%). In summary, patients infected with HTLV-1 asymptomatic have a wide spectrum of clinical abnormalities and should be closely followed in order to identify the development of HTLV-1-associated diseases.

Background: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe and effective minimally invasive treatment for primary or secondary malignancies of the lung. This study aims to describe imaging features on chest computed tomography (CT) after RFA of primary and secondary lung tumors, and their frequency over the time after the procedure.Methods: In this double-center retrospective study, we reviewed 69 patients with primary and secondary lung tumors who underwent percutaneous RFA. Patients were excluded if they had received concomitant radiation therapy or chemotherapy, and if there was no CT follow-up. The imaging features were assessed in four different time points: immediate post-procedure, <4 weeks, 5-24 weeks, 25-52 weeks and >52 weeks. Late follow-up (3 and 5 years after procedure) was assessed clinically in 48 patients.Results: The study population consisted of 69 patients and 144 pulmonary tumors. Six out of 69 (8.7%) patients had primary lung nodules (stage I) and 63/69 (91.3%) had metastatic pulmonary nodules. Based on per patient analysis, immediately after lung RFA, the most common CT features were consolidation (56/69, 81.1%), reversed halo (55/69, 79.7%), and hyperdensity (47/69, 68.1%). Less than 4 weeks, reversed halo was demonstrated in 19/22 (86.3%) patients, and consolidation and pleural thickening in 17/22 (77.2%). Between 5-24 weeks, 25-52 weeks and after 52 weeks, the most common imaging features were parenchymal bands. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the expected CT features after lung RFA, a procedure which use has been progressively growing. Diagnostic and interventional radiologists should be familiar with the expected imaging features immediately after RFA and their change during follow-up in order to avoid misinterpretation and inadequate treatments.

The authors have withdrawn this preprint due to erroneous posting.