Background: Various studies suggest that perioperative concentrations of high-sensitivity troponins are incremental and predictive factors of a major adverse cardiac event (MACE) and all-cause mortality. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the predictive value of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI) in the development of MACE and all-cause mortality, within 30-days and 1-year follow-up after noncardiac surgery. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, we included men ≥ 45 years and women ≥ 55 years with ≥ 2 cardiovascular risk factors and undergoing intermediate or high-risk noncardiac surgery. Demographic and clinical information was collected from clinical charts. We measured baseline hs-cTnI 24 h before surgery, and its post-operative concentration 24 h after surgery. Results: In the entire sample, 8 patients (8.6%) developed MACE at 30-days follow-up (4 deaths), 12 (12.9%) within the 1 st year (7 deaths), and 17 (18.2%) after complete post-surgical follow-up (10 deaths). We observed higher baseline and post-operative concentrations in patients who presented MACE (12 pg/ml vs. 3.5 pg/ml; p = 0.001 and 18.3 pg/ml vs. 5.45 pg/ml; p = 0.009, respectively). The hazard ratios (HRs) calculated by Cox regression analysis between the hs-cTnI baseline concentration and the post-operative development of MACE at 30-days and 1-year were 5.70 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-29.40) with hs-cTnI > 6.2 pg/ml and 12.86 (95% CI, 1.42-116.34) with hs-cTnI > 3.3 pg/ml, respectively. The estimated post-operative HR death risk at 1-year was 14.43 (95% CI, 1.37-151.61) with hs-cTnI > 4.5 pg/ml. Conclusions: Pre-operative hs-cTnI was an independent predictive risk factor for MACE at 30-days and 1-year after noncardiac surgery and for all-cause mortality at 1-year after noncardiac surgery. (REV INVEST CLIN. 2020;72(2):110-8)

The clinical utility of serum immunoglobulin free light chains (sFLC) in IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is unknown. Herein we evaluated their association with clinical phenotypes, serology and activity in patients with IgG4-RD. Cross-sectional study that included 45 patients with IgG4-RD, and as controls 25 with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and 15 with sarcoidosis. IgG4-RD patients were classified in clinical phenotypes: pancreato-hepato-biliary, retroperitoneum/aorta, head/neck-limited and Mikulicz/systemic; as well as proliferative vs. fibrotic phenotypes. We assessed the IgG4-RD Responder Index (IgG4-RD RI) at recruitment and measured IgG1, IgG4, κ and λ sFLC serum levels by turbidometry. sFLC levels were similar among IgG4-RD, SS and sarcoidosis groups. Regarding the IgG4-RD patients, the mean age was 49 years, 24 (53.3%) were men and 55.5% had activity. Eight (17.7%) belonged to pancreato-hepato-biliary, 6 (13.3%) to retroperitoneum/aorta, 14 (31.1%) to head/neck-limited, 16 (35.5%) to Mikulicz/systemic phenotypes, whereas 36 (80%) to proliferative and 9 (20%) to fibrotic phenotypes. High κ sFLC, λ sFLC and κ/λ ratio were present in 29 (64.4%), 13 (28.9%) and 13 (28.9%) of IgG4-RD patients, respectively. There were no differences in sFLC among IgG4-RD phenotypes. κ sFLC and κ/λ ratio correlated positively with the number of involved organs and IgG4-RD RI. Patients with renal involvement had higher κ sFLC and λ sFLC. The AUC for κ sFLC and λ sFLC, for renal involvement was 0.78 and 0.72, respectively. Active IgG4-RD had higher levels of κ sFLC and more frequently a high κ/λ ratio. The AUC for κ sFLC and κ/λ ratio for predicting active IgG4-RD was 0.67 and 0.70, respectively. sFLC correlated positively with IgG1 and IgG4 levels. sFLC may be useful as a biomarker of disease activity as well as multiorgan and renal involvement. In particular, a high κ/λ ratio may identify patients with active disease.

Head and neckClinical utility of an ultrasensitive thyroglobulin assay in the follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer: can the stimulation test be avoided in patients with an intermediate recurrence risk?Utilità clinica del dosaggio ultrasensibile della tireoglobulina nel follow-up dei pazienti con carcinoma differenziato della tiroide: il test di stimolazione potrebbe essere evitato nei pazienti con rischio di recidiva intermedio?

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Introduction: The clinical utility of serum immunoglobulin free light chains (sFLC) in IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is unknown. Herein we evaluated their association with clinical phenotypes, serology and activity in patients with IgG4-RD.Methods: Cross-sectional study that included 45 patients with IgG4-RD, and as controls 25 with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) and 15 with sarcoidosis. IgG4-RD patients were classified in clinical phenotypes: pancreato-hepato-biliary, retroperitoneum/aorta, head/neck-limited and Mikulicz/systemic; as well as proliferative vs. fibrotic phenotypes. We assessed the IgG4-RD Responder Index (IgG4-RD RI) at recruitment and measured IgG1, IgG4, κ and λ sFLC serum levels by turbidometry.Results: sFLC levels were similar among IgG4-RD, SS and sarcoidosis groups. Regarding the IgG4-RD patients, the mean age was 49 years, 24 (53.3%) were men and 55.5% had activity. Eight (17.7%) belonged to pancreato-hepato-biliary, 6 (13.3%) to retroperitoneum/aorta, 14 (31.1%) to head/neck-limited, 16 (35.5%) to Mikulicz/systemic phenotypes, whereas 36 (80%) to proliferative and 9 (20%) to fibrotic phenotypes. High κ sFLC, λ sFLC and κ/λ ratio were present in 29 (64.4%), 13 (28.9%) and 13 (28.9%) patients, respectively. There were no differences in sFLC among phenotypes. κ sFLC and κ/λ ratio correlated positively with the number of involved organs and IgG4-RD RI. Patients with renal involvement had higher k sFLC and λ sFLC. The AUC for k sFLC and λ sFLC, for renal involvement was 0.78 and 0.72, respectively. Active IgG4-RD had higher levels of κ sFLC and more frequently a high κ/λ ratio. The AUC for k sFLC and k/λ ratio for predicting active IgG4-RD was 0.67 and 0.70, respectively. sFLC correlated positively with IgG1 and IgG4 levels.Conclusions: sFLC may be useful as a biomarker of disease activity as well as multiorgan and renal involvement. In particular, a high κ/λ ratio may identify patients with active disease.

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Background: Urine osmolarity (OsmU) is the gold standard for the evaluation of the kidney's urine concentration capacity; nevertheless, urinary density (UD) is often used as a surrogate for its estimation. Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the accuracy of UD in estimating OsmU. Materials and Methods: A transversal study including patients with simultaneous determination of UD measured with refractometry and OsmU measured by osmometer (OsmUm). We multiplied the last two digits of the UD by 35, 30, 32, 33.5, and 40 to estimate OsmU; the estimates were considered precise if the value was ± 30 mOsm/kg from the OsmUm. A Bland-Altman analysis was conducted. Results: Among 205 patients, there was no difference between OsmUm and the estimated form when using a factor of 33.5 (p = 0.578). When analyzing by the absence or presence of proteinuria and/or glycosuria, there were no differences when using the factors 35 (p = 0.844) and 32 with adjusted UD (p = 0.898). In the linear correlation analysis, values for Pearson's r = 0.788 and r 2 = 0.621 were obtained (p < 0.001). The areas under the curve obtained by the receiver operating characteristics curves to estimate urine osmolarity values < 100 and > 600 mOsm/kg were > 0.90. Conclusion: The estimation of the OsmU from UD showed adequate performance. If an osmometer is unavailable, we recommend using the factor 35 for clean samples and 32 with adjusted UD for samples with proteinuria and/or glycosuria.