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Biomedical subjects

H Dienemann

Publications and source records attributed to H Dienemann.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

[Plastic surgery coverage of osteocutaneous defects of the sternum area with the vertical and transversal rectus abdominis muscle (VRAM/TRAM) flap].

Longitudinal osteocutaneous defects of the sternal region including the caudal third were reconstructed in 15 patients during a 3-year period by using the "vertical (VRAM)- and transverse rectus abdominis muscle" (TRAM) flap. The majority of the defects resulted from chronic osteomyelitis after previous cardiothoracic surgery or were due to former therapy of breast cancer. Three VRAM/TRAM flaps were primarily transferred as free flaps with microvascular anastomosis in the axilla region. Nine out of 12 pedicled VRAM or TRAM flaps required an additional microvascular anastomosis because of imminent venous or arterial insufficiency ("supercharging"). Therefore, operative technique and operating time of the pedicled and free flap for reconstruction of longitudinal sternal defects are comparable. Adequate reconstruction and rehabilitation was achieved in 11 cases. In 2 patients revision and partial secondary defect coverage was required. Two male patients died postoperatively due to their preexisting condition.

Adult↗

[Extramedullary hematopoiesis as differential mediastinal space-occupying lesion diagnosis].

Intrathoracic extramedullary hematopoiesis is a rare disease in the differential diagnosis of mediastinal masses. It is suggested that asymptomatic masses should not be treated. A correct diagnosis can thus help to avoid an operation. The aim of this case report is to draw attention to this phenomenon as a cause of mediastinal masses and to provide information about diagnostic facilities available. We report the case of a 53-year-old male patient with hereditary spherocytosis as well as the case of a 59-year-old male patient with pyruvate kinase deficiency who showed intrathoracic paravertebral masses, that were identified in the first case by video-assisted thoracoscopic intervention (VATS) and in the second case by thoracotomy as a region of extramedullary hematopoiesis.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma of the uterus: documentation of clinical, immunohistochemical and lectin-histochemical data of ten cases.

The clinical histories of 10 women suffering from benign metastasizing leiomyoma (BML) after hysterectomy and information on lung lesions detected in these women are presented, together with corresponding data for 2 women with metastasizing leiomyosarcoma of the uterus for comparison: gross appearance, survival, and light microscopical, immunohistochemical and lectin-histochemical findings are reported. All patients with BML had undergone hysterectomy for uterus leiomyomatosus without any detection of sarcomatous lesions in the uterus wall. After a median period of 14.9 years intrapulmonary masses were detected by imaging techniques. On average, six nodules with a mean diameter of 1.8 cm were seen. Resection of the lesions was performed in all cases. The immunohistochemical and lectin-histochemical examination of the tumors included analysis of the proliferation-associated protein Ki-67, the p53 protein, estrogen and progesterone receptor, sarcolectin as an indicator of the presence of lymphokine macrophage migration inhibitory factor, antibodies and the labeled protein to assess galectin (galactoside-binding animal lectin)-dependent parameters, analysis of tumor vascularization (CD-34), and expression of bcl-2, vimentin, smooth muscle actin, desmin, and keratin. The lesions were characterized by low proliferation activity of 2.9% (measured with Ki-67), frequent hormone receptor expression (8 of the 10 cases presented hormone-specific receptors), low to moderate vascularization compared with metastases from the two uterine sarcomas, remarkable p53 overexpression and frequent expression of the lymphokine, the galectins and accessible binding sites. The median survival of the BML patients was 94 months after excision of the intrapulmonary lesions, and the maximum survival of the two sarcoma patients was 22 months. The results recorded in this patient sample with the methodology applied suggest that benign metastasizing leiomyomas are a slow-growing variant of leiomyosarcoma of the uterus, which becomes clinically apparent at a young age and progresses with low velocity.

Adult↗

Differentiation of malignant from benign solitary pulmonary lesions using chest radiography, spiral CT and HRCT.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this prospective study was to summarize all of the qualitative and quantitative imaging criteria for the differentiation of solitary pulmonary lesions (SPLs) as malignant (MSPLs) or benign (BSPLs) described in the literature and to critically analyze the different characteristics in order to evaluate their clinical importance and usefulness as criteria for a discrimination during the primary diagnostic assessment of SPLs using chest radiography, spiral computed tomography (SCT) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: SPLs were examined, evaluated and then completely removed by surgery in 104 consecutive patients (MSPLs n=81, BSPLs n=23). No SPL was excluded by size. Chest radiography was performed with frontal and lateral views, SCT was carried out with a slice thickness of 8 mm and HRCT with a slice thickness of 1 mm and a 12-cm field of view. RESULTS: All the characteristics which enabled a reliable differentiation of MSPLs from BSPLs were characteristics which were observed significantly more frequently in MSPLs than BSPLs. Useful characteristics for the differentiation of MSPLs from BSPLs (1) using chest radiography were the indistinct edge (P<0.0001) and a ground-glass opacity of the lung parenchyma adjacent to the SPL (P<0. 05); (2) using SCT the presence of spicules (P<0.0005), the vessel sign (P<0.0005), necrotic areas (P<0.001), spicules extending to the visceral pleura (P<0.005), circumscribed pleural thickening (P<0. 005), inhomogeneity (P<0.01), a ground-glass opacity of the lung parenchyma adjacent to the SPL (P<0.01), the lesion density (P<0.05), pleural retraction (P<0.05) and the bronchus sign (P<0.05); and (3) using HRCT the presence of spicules (P<0.00005), spicules extending to the visceral pleura (P<0.0005), the vessel sign (P<0.0005), pleural retraction (P<0.001), circumscribed pleural thickening (P<0. 001), the bronchus sign (P<0.005), a ground-glass opacity of the lung parenchyma adjacent to the SPL (P<0.01), the lesion density (P<0.05) and the length of spicules (P<0.05). Using any one of the characteristics with a significance level of P<0.01, the identification of MSPLs (1) using chest radiography showed a sensitivity of 64.2% and a specificity of 82.6% (accuracy of 68.3%); (2) using SCT a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 60.9% (accuracy of 82.7%); and (3) using HRCT a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 56.5% (accuracy of 83.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Using chest radiography, SCT and HRCT, a precise morphological assessment of the periphery of the pulmonary lesion and the adjacent visceral pleura is necessary to distinguish MSPLs from BSPLs. In this respect SCT and HRCT are useful in differentiation of MSPLs from BSPLs. However, metastases strongly resembled benign lesions in terms of size and edge type and chronic inflammatory pseudotumors as a group mimic MSPLs.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

Diagnostic value of chest radiography, computed tomography and tumour markers in the differentiation of malignant from benign solitary pulmonary lesions.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this prospective study was to assess the diagnostic value of the imaging modalities (chest radiography, spiral computed tomography (SCT) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)) and the tumour markers (carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin marker (CYFRA 21-1) and neuron-specific enolase (NSE)) in the differentiation of malignant (MSPLs) from benign solitary pulmonary lesions (BSPLs). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Solitary pulmonary lesions (SPLs) were examined, evaluated and then completely removed by surgery in 104 consecutive patients (MSPLs n = 81, BSPLs n = 23). Chest radiography was performed with frontal and lateral views, SCT was carried out with a slice thickness of 8 mm and HRCT with a slice thickness of 1 mm and a 12-cm field of view. For the tumour marker analysis, serum concentrations were determined 1-3 days prior to surgery by ELISA for CEA and CYFRA 21-1 and by IRMA for NSE using commercially available assay kits. The cut-off values were set at 3 ng/ml (for non-smokers) and 5 ng/ml (for smokers) for CEA, at 3.3 ng/ml for CYFRA 21-1 and at 12.5 ng/ml for NSE. RESULTS: Using any one of the characteristics with a significance level of P <0.01, the identification of MSPLs using chest radiography showed a sensitivity of 64.2% and a specificity of 82.6%, using SCT a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 60.9% and using HRCT a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 56.5%. For the identification of MSPLs using CEA a sensitivity of 27.2% and a specificity of 87.0% (accuracy of 40.4%) was observed. Using CYFRA 21-1 a sensitivity of 19.8% and a specificity of 100.0% (accuracy of 37.5%) and using NSE a sensitivity of 13.6% and a specificity of 100. 0% (accuracy of 32.7%) was found. CONCLUSIONS: Using chest radiography, SCT and HRCT, a precise morphological assessment of the periphery of the pulmonary lesion and the adjacent visceral pleura is necessary to distinguish MSPLs from BSPLs. Tumour markers used alone or in combination with the imaging methods brought no additional benefits, in terms of sensitivity and accuracy, over the diagnostic imaging methods alone. However, the tumour markers exhibited a far superior specificity (100% for CYFRA 21-1 and NSE) compared with the imaging methods.

Aged↗

[Distribution pattern and involvement of regional lymph nodes in non-small-cell bronchial carcinoma].

Despite the important role of lymph node infiltration for the classification and prognosis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), no standards exist to evaluate the quality of mediastinal lymphadenectomy. Researches at several centers are not convinced that complete ipsilateral lymphadenectomy is necessary. We investigated 270 consecutive patients undergoing a potential curative operation for NSCLC including complete ipsilateral lymph node dissection in order to ascertain whether or not there is a correlation between tumor localization and lymph node infiltration. Patients were classified into the UICC (1987) stages I (n = 115), II (n = 42), and IIIa (n = 113). In patients with N1-positive lymph nodes (n = 61) we found higher 5-year survival for patients with only intrapulmonary lymph node infiltration (39%) than for patients with hilar infiltration (21%). Patients with N2 disease showed skip metastases in up to 81% of cases. We found that no tumor location predicted the lymph node infiltration. Due to the variability of lymph node infiltration and the frequently occurring skip metastases, complete ipsilateral lymphadenectomy should be the standard for curative operations for NSCLC.

Aged↗

Usefulness of morphological characteristics for the differentiation of benign from malignant solitary pulmonary lesions using HRCT.

The aim of this study was to analyze different characteristics on high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) that help differentiate benign solitary pulmonary lesions (BSPLs) from malignant solitary pulmonary lesions (MSPLs). High-resolution computed tomography was performed on 104 consecutive patients with SPLs. The whole lesion was examined with a slice thickness of 1 mm and a 12-cm field of view. All lesions were surgically excised within 24 h of the CT examination. Satellite nodules, cavitations, and necrosis were found only in MSPLs. Useful characteristics for the differentiation of BSPLs from MSPLs were the presence of spicules (p < 0.00005), spicules extending to the visceral pleura (p < 0.0005), the vessel sign (p < 0.0005), pleural retraction (p < 0.001), circumscribed pleural thickening (p < 0.001), the bronchus sign (p < 0.005), the presence of ground-glass attenuation adjacent to the SPL (p < 0.01), the density of the lesion (p < 0.05), and the length of spicules (p < 0.05). Using the significant characteristics p < 0.01 for the identification of MSPLs, a sensitivity of 91.4 % and a specificity of 56.5 % (accuracy of 83.7 %) was found. A precise morphological assessment of the periphery of the pulmonary lesion is necessary. The HRCT technique is useful in differentiation of BSPLs from MSPLs. However, metastases strongly resembled benign lesions in terms of size and edge type, and chronic inflammatory pseudotumors as a group mimic MSPLs.

Biopsy, Needle↗

Mediastinal lymph node infiltration in non-small cell lung cancer and its role in curative surgery.

Despite the importance of lymph node infiltration for the classification and prognosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), there are no accepted standards for quality of mediastinal lymphadenectomy. In 270 consecutive patients undergoing potentially curative surgery for NSCLC, including complete ipsilateral lymph node dissection, we investigated the possibility of a correlation between tumour location and lymph node infiltration. The tumours were classified as UICC stage I (n = 115), II (n = 42) or IIIa (n = 113). Patients with N2-disease (n = 68) showed up to 81% skip metastasis. Because of the observed dissemination of lymph node metastasis, tumour location could not predict nodal infiltration. The variability of nodal involvement and the frequent occurrence of skip metastasis thus make complete ipsilateral lymphadenectomy mandatory for curative management of NSCLC.

Adenocarcinoma↗

[Lymph node dissection during surgery for lung cancer. Solely staging or therapy?].

The accuracy of staging of lung cancer is reflected by the extent of mediastinal lymph node sampling. The more extensively a patient is tested, the more likely there will be the accurate N-stage diagnosed. Adequate lymph node dissection during surgery for lung cancer therefore requires complete dissection of all three ipsilateral mediastinal compartments including the infracarinal region. Additional contralateral mediastinal lymph node exploration may not be justified. A direct therapeutic effect of mediastinal lymph node removal may be attributed to the prevention of local tumor growth. However, its overall prognostic significance remains unclear because it must be assumed that proven tumor within the mediastinal lymph nodes reflects the state of tumor generalization that may not be cured by localized therapeutic means. New systemic interventions are clearly warranted to significantly improve prognosis in stage II and III lung cancer patients.

Humans↗

[Pulmonary nodule. The surgeon's approach].

Malignancy must be suspected with any pulmonary nodule detected on radiologic examination of the chest until its benign origin has been proven. This requires further evaluation of the patient. The non invasive diagnostic steps include patient's history, clinical examination, lung function testing, and standard radiographs and a computed tomography (CT) of the chest. Based on these findings the presumed diagnosis claims the next appropriate diagnostic steps. If lung cancer is the most likely diagnosis and lung function testing revealed that the patient is a candidate for lung resection than surgery may be the next step. Preoperative proof of the histologic diagnosis is not mandatory. It is the less required the more surgery may be curative. If curative resectability is indoubt or the patient is not candidate for lung resection than histologic diagnosis should be confirmed prior to introduction of radiotherapy or chemotherapy by the least invasive procedure (bronchoscopy < lymph node biopsy < needle biopsy < mediastinoscopy/-tomy < VATS). If metastatic disease must be suspected, staging should be completed as required for the primary malignancy. With local recurrence and other metastases excluded the number of pulmonary nodules detected on CT scan points to the appropriate surgical approach. In case of a solitary nodule or multiple but resectable nodules, complete (wedge) resection with lymph node dissection through a lateral thoracotomy will be the procedure of choice. With multiple and unresectable nodules, surgery allows definitive diagnosis and videothoracoscopy affords the opportunity to accomplish wedge resection of the lung along with low morbidity. When lesions are deemed indeterminate, definitive diagnosis should nevertheless be attempted. If there is no history of malignancy routine evaluation for such in asymptomatic patients is not indicated. With small nodules (less than 3 cm in diameter) located in the periphery of the lung, videothoracoscopic wedge resection is indicated without preoperative sputum cytology, bronchoscopy or transthoracic needle biopsy. The histologic diagnosis obtained by intraoperative frozen sections than determines the further surgical approach. Benign lesion: completion of surgery; lung cancer: proceed to thoracotomy with anatomic lung resection and mediastinal lymph node resection; metastatic disease: completion of surgery and further search for primary malignancy.

Diagnostic Techniques and Procedures↗

Pulmonary metastases of breast carcinomas: ligandohistochemical, nuclear, and structural analysis of primary and metastatic tumors with emphasis on period of occurrence of metastases and survival.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pulmonary metastases of breast carcinomas have a high frequency and are often subject to surgical intervention. To contribute to advances in the knowledge about morphometric and biochemical parameters of primary tumors and their metastatic lesions, analysis of syntactic structure and thermodynamic aspects as well as of expression of distinct glycohistochemical features with respect to period of metastasis occurrence and patient survival is desirable. METHODS: Clinical history, surgical findings, histopathological reports, survival of the patients with a maximum follow-up of 15 years, and paraffin blocks of 32 breast carcinoma specimens and their pulmonary metastases were examined. Only potentially curative resections of both the breast carcinoma and their metastases have been included for analysis. The following markers were applied: neoglycoconjugates with histoblood group A- and H-trisaccharides, lactose, alpha-N-acetyl-D-galactosamine and the Forssman disaccharide, a polyclonal immunoglobulin G fraction from human serum with specificity for 9-0-acetylated sialic acid, which is a tumor marker for melanomas, the serum lectins serum amyloid P component and mannan-binding lectin, the mannose-specific plant lectin concanavalin A, and monoclonal antibodies specific for estrogen and progesterone receptors, respectively. In addition, measurements of the integrated optical density (IOD) and tissue structure were performed. RESULTS: The frequency of expression of hormone receptors and expression of binding capacities to most of the applied probes was similar between the primary and metastatic tumors; however, it varied markedly between different patients. For the IOD parameters, a close association between the primary tumors and their metastases was seen, especially a rather low S-phase-related tumor cell fraction and a high percentage of tumor cells with an IOD >5C. The mean time for the development of intrapulmonary metastases measured 43 months. It was considerably longer in progesterone receptor-negative tumors (49.7 months) and those with a lack of expression of sites with specificity for the Forssman disaccharide (48.7 months). The survival was positively correlated with the presence of binding capacity of histoblood group A-trisaccharide and certain structural parameters, especially the structural entropy and its current. The presence of estrogen and progesterone receptors was not associated with the total survival at a statistically significant level. CONCLUSIONS: Histochemical features between the primary breast carcinoma and their intrapulmonary metastases can evidently vary. Analysis of the hormone receptor status in metastatic lesions seems to be useful for diagnostic purposes only in rare cases, i.e., distinguishing metastases from primary lung carcinoma. Nonetheless, the survival of patients with metastasizing breast carcinoma is associated with features of the primary tumors, especially the detection of binding capacities for the Forssman disaccharide and the histoblood group A-trisaccharide. Extent of lymph node involvement of the breast carcinoma is not prognostic for later pulmonary involvement.

Adult↗

[Technique and rationale of lymph node dissection in bronchial carcinoma].

Any operation for lung cancer that is planned as curative includes dissection of the lymph nodes in the mediastinum in order to allow correct staging of the disease. It is well known that ipsilateral lymph node metastases (N2) mean a poor prognosis. Since most patients with this finding die from metastatic tumor progression within 3 years after the operation, it can be assumed that positive findings in the mediastinal lymph nodes represent generalization of the cancer. Therefore, the probability of a therapeutic effect from more radical removal of lymph nodes in the mediastinum is rather low. On the other hand, it is justified to apply and evaluate additional systemic treatment in these tumor stages.

Carcinoma, Bronchogenic↗

Aerosol bolus dispersion in patients with bronchiolitis obliterans after heart-lung and double-lung transplantation. The Munich Lung Transplantation Group.

Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is one of the main late complications in patients after lung transplantation. Because BO is located in small airways, conventional lung function tests are supposed to be rather insensitive to detect early stages of this disease. In this study, the capability of the aerosol bolus dispersion test to detect BO was tested in 12 subjects with heart-lung and double-lung transplantation. Four of these patients had histological evidence of BO. The broadening (dispersion) of inhaled boluses consisting of monodispersed inert test particles during respiration was repeatedly measured in each subject. Additional measurements of spirometric and bodyplethysmographic measurements were performed. Patients with evidence of BO showed significantly increased aerosol bolus dispersion and significantly reduced maximal airflow parameters. Calculation of receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) revealed that from all lung function parameters under consideration, aerosol bolus dispersion divided by the maximum expiratory flow rate at 50% of vital capacity (MEF50) and MEI50 had the highest sensitivity and specificity for the detection of BO. Both parameters showed a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. Therefore, it may be speculated that even in early stages of disease, the combination of MEF50 measurement with aerosol bolus dispersion measurements may be a powerful tool for the detection of BO in patients with lung transplantation.

Adolescent↗

[Lung metastases: tumor reduction as an oncologic concept].

The principle of surgery for lung metastases is the removal of all lesions in the lung that are either visible or detectable by palpation. This may be combined with complete dissection of all ipsilateral lymph nodes. Therefore, "tumor reduction" rather than "complete" or "radical resection" may be an adequate description of this surgical approach. Since the dissemination of--macroscopically not detectable--tumor cells represents the major mannerism of every metastatic disease, any local therapy appears to be a discrepancy. However, in most cases the rationale of surgery for lung metastases is the lack of effective systemic therapy and the low morbidity of surgery, along with up to 60% 5-year survival rates.

Combined Modality Therapy↗

[Treatment strategy in pleural mesothelioma].

The development of diffuse malignant pleural mesothelioma is associated with exposure to asbestos. The surgical treatment comprises a radical pleuropneumonectomy with resection of the pericardium and diaphragm (P3D) or palliative pleurectomy/decortication of the tumor. The prognosis in general is poor. P3D is most effective in patients with epithelial mesothelioma at an early stage. Complete resection has the best prognosis. Palliative tumor decortication is restricted to symptomatic patients with acceptable performance status. The prognosis of patients after radical resection is not significantly different from patients with pleurectomy/decortication. Preliminary results of multimodal therapy concepts, including additional chemo- and/or radiotherapy, suggest an improvement in survival. Nevertheless, so far treatment has been focused on the palliation of clinical symptoms like pain and dyspnee.

Adult↗

Hypothermic storage alone in lung preservation for transplantation: a metabolic, light microscopic, and functional analysis after 18 hours of preservation.

BACKGROUND: Current lung preservation consists of flushing of the donor organs, with successive hypothermic storage in an inflated state. Recently, hypothermic storage alone was reported to be superior in terms of functional recovery. This study was designed to investigate the metabolic, morphologic, and functional consequences of hypothermic storage alone, in experimental lung preservation. METHODS: Orthotopic left-sided lung transplantation was performed in pigs. Donor lungs were flushed with Euro-Collins solution (n=6) or simply explanted (n=6) and stored for 18 hr at 4 degrees C. After this, left-sided single lung transplantation was performed. Sham-operated animals (n=6) served as control. Morphology and metabolism were analyzed in normal lungs, after ischemia and at the end of reperfusion. Gas exchange and pulmonary hemodynamics of the transplanted organs were measured, after exclusion of the native lung from perfusion and ventilation. RESULTS: Metabolic and morphologic evaluation did not show a significant difference between the groups at the end of ischemia. Lungs preserved by hypothermia alone showed a functional recovery close to sham-operated animals and superior to flushed organs. CONCLUSIONS: Hypothermia alone is a sufficient means of preservation for explanted lungs for at least 18 hr.

Animals↗