ONTRAST NEPHROPATHY IS A recognized complication after coronary angiography and intervention that has been associated with prolonged hospitalization and adverse clinical outcomes. 1-3 It is reported that 14.5% of patients develop a 25% increase in serum creatinine levels following cardiac catheterization. 2 This problem assumes greater and greater importance with increased use of invasive radiological procedures to diagnose and treat coronary artery disease. Contrast nephropathy is potentially preventable because the administration of radiocontrast agent is predictable and high-risk populations also have been identified. 4 Patients at greatest risk are those with impaired renal function, 5 particularly that caused by diabetic nephropathy. 6 However, other than the use of intravenous hydration 2 and lowosmolality contrast media, 7 no previ-Author Affiliations:
Real-world data sources, including electronic health records (EHRs) and personal digital device data, are increasingly available, but are often siloed and cannot be easily integrated for clinical, research, or regulatory purposes. We conducted a prospective cohort study of 60 patients undergoing bariatric surgery or catheter-based atrial fibrillation ablation at two U.S. tertiary care hospitals, testing the feasibility of using a patient-centered health-data-sharing platform to obtain and aggregate health data from multiple sources. We successfully obtained EHR data for all patients at both hospitals, as well as from ten additional health systems, which were successfully aggregated with pharmacy data obtained for patients using CVS or Walgreens pharmacies; personal digital device data from activity monitors, digital weight scales, and single-lead ECGs, and patient-reported outcome measure data obtained through surveys to assess post-procedure recovery and disease-specific symptoms. A patient-centered health-data-sharing platform successfully aggregated data from multiple sources.
Kimura's disease is a chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, presenting usually as painless subcutaneous swellings in the head and neck region or in the salivary glands. The cytologic features of fine-needle aspirates of eight cases of Kimura's disease were studied with reference to the histologic appearance of the subsequent surgical specimens. In the cytologic smears, the prominent feature was the presence of significant numbers of eosinophils in a background of lymphoid cells. Fragments of collagenous tissue and Warthin-Finkeldey polykaryocytes occasionally were seen. In the cell block, vascular proliferation and fibrosis were useful features, providing further support to the diagnosis. The constellation of these features is characteristic of Kimura's disease and should suggest this diagnosis in the appropriate clinical setting. For initial diagnosis, excisional biopsy is important for the exclusion of malignant lymphoma, histiocytosis X, angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia and other reactive lymphadenopathies. Nonetheless, fine-needle aspiration cytology may be valuable in the diagnosis of recurrent lesions of Kimura's disease and may spare the patient from repeated biopsies.
Lymphoepithelioma is a term used to describe an undifferentiated carcinoma with prominent lymphoid infiltration in the nasopharynx. Recently, tumors with similar histology, designated as lymphoepithelioma-like carcinomas, have been described in other sites including the lung. The authors report two cases of pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma that were correctly diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration cytology. The distinctive cytologic features consist of cohesive sheets and clusters of spindle tumor cells, which possess moderately pleomorphic vesicular nuclei and prominent nucleoli that are intimately intermixed with numerous small lymphocytes. Immunohistochemical study, performed on the cell block preparation, revealed strong positive staining of these tumor cells for epithelial markers. In both cases, the cytologic diagnosis were confirmed subsequently by histologic examination of the resected surgical specimens. Cytologically, the differential diagnoses include granulomatous inflammatory diseases (especially tuberculosis), malignant lymphoma, melanoma, and metastatic sarcoma. The characteristic cytology of the tumor cells, together with their pattern of immunohistochemical staining, are helpful to distinguish lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma from the differential diagnoses. In these cases, careful examination of the nasopharynx, preferably with multiple random mucosal biopsies, is essential for the exclusion of nasopharyngeal undifferentiated carcinoma because of the obvious differences in treatment and prognosis.
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