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Introduction:Intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVL) is an extremely rare malignancy, mainly studied through European and Asian series. Due to the low incidence of this condition, our understanding of the clinical presentation as well as the management of IVL relies on a limited number of patients.We report the largest North American study to date on IVL with 29 cases from Quebec hospital diagnosed between 1990 and 2016. The aim of our study is to describe the clinical presentations, diagnostic and staging procedures, therapeutic management and clinical outcomes of IVL patients in our population and compare the disease phenotype to European and Asian series reported.In our cohort, all patients had stage IV IVL at diagnosis, with a median age of 66.7 years (range 47.2–90.8). Clinical presentation was characterized by constitutional symptoms (100%), poor ECOG-PS (100% ≥ 2), cytopenias (93% anemia), and elevated lactate dehydrogenase (97%) and C-reactive protein (96%). Our cohort presented with mainly cutaneous and neurological symptoms. However, neurological involvement (75.9%) was predominant and no “cutaneous variant” was observed; this differs from European literature, where “classical” IVL is reported with mainly cutaneous involvement. Two of our Caucasian patients presented “Asian variant” IVL; this observation is not unusual, as cases of “classical” IVL have been reported in Asians and “Asian variant” IVL has been reported in Europeans. All patients were classified according to their immunophenotypic features in 3 different subgroups (CD5+ or CD5−CD10+, CD5−CD10−, CD5+CD10−) with no difference in outcome. Finally, 62% of our cohort received anthracycline-based chemotherapy and 53% of them achieved a complete response. After a median follow-up of 328 days, OS at 3 years was 42.7% for the entire cohort and 47.4% for the cases with in vivo diagnosis.Conclusion:Unlike European studies on “classical” IVL, our study showed that the French Canadian presentation of this subtype of IVL is more frequently observed with neurological rather than cutaneous involvement. Finally, an early diagnosis is of primary importance since almost a quarter of patients receive a post-mortem diagnosis. A prompt diagnosis allows the introduction of an early treatment, associated with a CR in 53% of patients.

RESULTSThe NF-k B subcellular localization was initially assessed in 45 specimens; in these samples a nuclear localization of NF-k B was specific to cancer tissues, but did not correlate with the Gleason score ( P = 0.089). NF-k B was then assessed as a prognostic marker to complement Gleason score in predicting cancer progression. Tumour tissues from 30 men with a known clinical outcome were included; 10 of 17 patients who had a poor outcome were positive for NF-k B nuclear staining, whereas only two of 13 with a good outcome were positive ( P = 0.026). When NFk B subcellular localization and Gleason score were combined, two risk categories of progression were defined. Eleven of 13 specimens from those with a good outcome were in the low-risk category (Gleason 2-4 or Gleason 5-7 with negative nuclear NF-k B)

Thirty adults with large cell lymphoma predominantly localized to the mediastinum diagnosed at the Massachusetts General Hospital between 1976 and 1985 were identified. The median age of the 20 females and 10 males was 34 years. All but one presented with symptoms due to an enlarging mediastinal mass, which was localized in 22 patients (73%) and exceeded 10 cm in maximal diameter in 65%. Superior vena cava syndrome and large pleural and pericardial effusions were common. Employing CHOP chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) and consolidation radiation therapy in most cases, 80% achieved a complete remission and 59% survive failure-free at 5 years by actuarial calculation. The size of the mediastinal mass adversely affected failure-free survival (89% vs. 40%, P less than 0.05). No other pretreatment risk factor predicted outcome, but more intense chemotherapy was associated with improved survival (P = 0.035). Large cell mediastinal lymphoma is a locally invasive, often bulky malignancy with a predilection for young women; disease of low or moderate bulk is curable with full dose CHOP chemotherapy and consolidation radiation, but bulky disease requires more aggressive treatment.

When aortic diameter is taken into consideration, there is no evidence that clinical outcome after secondary aortic stent placement would be poorer than technically successful PTAA.

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Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) results in a spectrum of hepatic abnormalities ranging from minimal liver dysfunction to severe liver failure. These patients provide an opportunity to examine the relationship between the evolution of the liver disease and the ability to metabolize drugs. We have examined hepatic drug disposition in patients with chronic persistent hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, and cirrhosis due to HBV infection. Four model drugs were used: two low-extraction capacity-limited drugs (antipyrine and aminopyrine) and two high-extraction flow-limited drugs (ICG and lidocaine). The disposition of the four drugs tested was comparable to that of healthy controls in patients with chronic persistent hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, and mild cirrhosis. In patients with severe cirrhosis (as defined by the presence of ascites, encephalopathy, or large esophageal varices), there was a significant impairment in the aminopyrine breath test (-31%) and in the clearance of antipyrine (-53%), lidocaine (-49%), and ICG (-54%). These results indicate that impairment of drug clearance occurs only late in the evolution of HBV-related chronic liver disease. This is in keeping with the known slow and insidious progression of the disease.

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