Diagnostic value of cytokeratin-1, survivin and TG expression in circulating tumor cells in the differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e17575-e17575
Author(s):  
Jie Liu ◽  
Siyuan Xu ◽  
Jinghua Luo ◽  
Yan Wang ◽  
Xia Liu ◽  
...  

e17575 Background: Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAB) has the advantages of minimal trauma, speed and accuracy, and is currently considered to be the most predictive screening technique before thyroid nodule surgery. However, there are several drawbacks to this method, including certain complications, a relatively high false negative rate, a low acceptance of invasive surgery among patients, and the fact that about 20% of the lesions cannot be clearly defined as benign or malignant. Blood-based noninvasive testing can be used to analyze circulating cancer cells (CTCs) for clinical testing. Here, we investigated the performance of CTCs in thyroid cancer screening. Methods: We established a multi-marker real-time quantitative PCR (CK-19/surviving/Tg) to detect and quantify CTCs in peripheral blood samples. 100 subjects who were diagnosed by ultrasound imaging as having thyroid nodules were enrolled. FNAB or surgical specimens were subjected to pathological tests to differentiate between the benign nodules and thyroid cancer. Meanwhile the CTCs in the blood were isolated and quantified by multi-marker qPCR. Results: Among 100 patients, 50 were diagnosed as Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma (PTC) by pathological test. The sensitivity of each single marker of CK19, Survivin and Tg were only 48%, 44%, and 50% respectively, with the specificity of 94%, 100% and 94%. However, the combination of these three markers results in the highest sensitivity and specificity of 86% and 90%. Thus, the combined marker could achieve the best diagnostic value. Conclusions: Compared with FNAB, CTC is minimally invasive. The performance of the multi-marker real-time quantitative PCR showed that CTC could be used as an adjunctive test after ultrasound evaluation. Our results indicated that CTCs have potential clinical value in the identification of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

Author(s):  
Brian M. Katt ◽  
Casey Imbergamo ◽  
Fortunato Padua ◽  
Joseph Leider ◽  
Daniel Fletcher ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction There is a known false negative rate when using electrodiagnostic studies (EDS) to diagnose carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). This can pose a management dilemma for patients with signs and symptoms that correlate with CTS but normal EDS. While corticosteroid injection into the carpal tunnel has been used in this setting for diagnostic purposes, there is little data in the literature supporting this practice. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of a carpal tunnel corticosteroid injection in patients with a normal electrodiagnostic study but exhibiting signs and symptoms suggestive of carpal tunnel, who proceed with a carpal tunnel release. Materials and Methods The group included 34 patients presenting to an academic orthopedic practice over the years 2010 to 2019 who had negative EDS, a carpal tunnel corticosteroid injection, and a carpal tunnel release. One patient (2.9%), where the response to the corticosteroid injection was not documented, was excluded from the study, yielding a study cohort of 33 patients. Three patients had bilateral disease, yielding 36 hands for evaluation. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square analysis for nonparametric data. Results Thirty-two hands (88.9%) demonstrated complete or partial relief of neuropathic symptoms after the corticosteroid injection, while four (11.1%) did not experience any improvement. Thirty-one hands (86.1%) had symptom improvement following surgery, compared with five (13.9%) which did not. Of the 32 hands that demonstrated relief following the injection, 29 hands (90.6%) improved after surgery. Of the four hands that did not demonstrate relief after the injection, two (50%) improved after surgery. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.03). Conclusion Patients diagnosed with a high index of suspicion for CTS do well with operative intervention despite a normal electrodiagnostic test if they have had a positive response to a preoperative injection. The injection can provide reassurance to both the patient and surgeon before proceeding to surgery. Although patients with a normal electrodiagnostic test and no response to cortisone can still do well with surgical intervention, the surgeon should carefully review both the history and physical examination as surgical success may decrease when both diagnostic tests are negative. Performing a corticosteroid injection is an additional diagnostic tool to consider in the management of patients with CTS and normal electrodiagnostic testing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwynngelle A Borillo ◽  
Ron M Kagan ◽  
Russell E Baumann ◽  
Boris M Fainstein ◽  
Lamela Umaru ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Nucleic acid amplification testing is a critical tool for addressing the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Specimen pooling can increase throughput and conserve testing resources but requires validation to ensure that reduced sensitivity does not increase the false-negative rate. We evaluated the performance of a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test authorized by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for emergency use for pooled testing of upper respiratory specimens. Methods Positive specimens were selected from 3 prevalence groups, 1%–3%, >3%–6%, and >6%–10%. Positive percent agreement (PPA) was assessed by pooling single-positive specimens with 3 negative specimens; performance was assessed using Passing-Bablok regression. Additionally, we assessed the distributions of RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values for 3091 positive specimens. Results PPA was 100% for the 101 pooled specimens. There was a linear relationship between Ct values for pooled and single-tested specimens (r = 0.96–0.99; slope ≈ 1). The mean pooled Ct shifts at 40 cycles were 2.38 and 1.90, respectively, for the N1 and N3 targets. The median Cts for 3091 positive specimens were 25.9 (N1) and 24.7 (N3). The percentage of positive specimens with Cts between 40 and the shifted Ct was 1.42% (N1) and 0.0% (N3). Conclusions Pooled and individual testing of specimens positive for SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated 100% agreement, which demonstrates the viability of pooled specimens for SARS-COV-2 testing using a dual-target RT-PCR system. Pooled specimen testing can help increase testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2 with a low risk of false-negative results.


2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 7894-7896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Bofill-Mas ◽  
Nestor Albinana-Gimenez ◽  
Pilar Clemente-Casares ◽  
Ayalkibet Hundesa ◽  
Jesus Rodriguez-Manzano ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Human adenoviruses (HAdV) and human polyomavirus JCPyV have been previously proposed as indicators of fecal viral contamination in the environment. Different wastewater matrices have been analyzed by applying real-time quantitative PCR procedures for the presence, quantity, and stability of a wide diversity of excreted HAdV and JCPyV. High quantities of HAdV and JCPyV were detected in sewage, effluent wastewater, sludge, and biosolid samples. Both viruses showed high stability in urban sewage. These results confirm the suitability of both viruses as indicators of human fecal viral pollution.


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