We studied the reliability of teledermatology diagnoses made using a Web-based system. Clinical photographs and information relating to 125 patients were placed on a Web server. Three dermatologists made the most likely diagnosis via a Web interface. The reference diagnosis was made in a face-to-face consultation with a fourth dermatologist; where appropriate it was confirmed histologically. The teledermatologists were correct in 57% of cases when viewing the images alone. Their diagnostic accuracy improved to 70% when additional clinical information was available. The rate of agreement between the teledermatologists ranged from 44% to 70% (kappa= 0.22-0.32). Seventy-seven per cent of the patients were correctly diagnosed by at least two dermatologists when clinical information was provided. A Web-based system appears to be reliable for teledermatology. A single well trained teledermatologist may give better results than a group of less well trained clinicians.
Cardiac myxoma is the most common benign heart tumor. Cardiac myxoma can be a sporadic lesion (93% of cases) and usually occurs in women over 30 years. Complete surgical removal of the myxoma and its cardiac attachment is usually curative. The frequency of recurrences in cardiac myxomas varies between 3% for sporadic cases and 22% for cases of Carney complex. Recurrence has been related to incomplete excision, multifocality, and embolism of tumor fragments. We report a case with multiple brain metastases presumably due to tumor embolization from previously operated cardiac myxoma.
We performed retrospective review of 29 adult patients with cerebellar medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) who received craniospinal radiotherapy in Ankara Oncology Hospital between years 2000 and 2005. All patients were operated followed by craniospinal irradiation; 11 of 29 patients also received chemotherapy. All patients had no distant or spinal metastases at the time of diagnosis. Median follow up time was 26 months. Progression-free survival was 86% at 2 years, 55% at 5 years. Mean progression-free survival was 25 months in patients with PNET; 61.4 months in patients with medulloblastoma (P = 0.0016). Mean survival was 61.33% months in patients <25 age, 38 months in patients >25 age. (P = 0.04). Overall mean survival was 59.80 months in patients who received chemotherapy and 41.4 months in patients who did not have chemotherapy (P = 0.15). Cranial relapses were observed in 3 of 29 patients, and 3 of 29 patients had distant metastases. The mean time to cranial recurrence was 19 months; to distant metastases was 18 months. In conclusion, adult patients with PNET have worse survival rates than patients with medulloblastoma, like in childhood patients. Patients younger than 25 years of age also had statistically significant better survival.
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