Giant haemorrhagic hepatic cyst with flame-like morphology in a patient with polycystic kidney and liver disease.

Introduction: Intracystic haemorrhage is a rare complication of hepatic cysts, and is often mistaken for a malignant lesion.

Case Report: A 55-year-old female with a history of polycystic kidney and liver disease presented with a six-month history of abdominal distension, abdominal pain, early satiety, shortness of breath and 5 kg of weight loss. Imaging revealed a 20 cm mixed solid-cystic hepatic lesion containing peripheral avascular mobile echogenic material with a flame-like morphology.

Dural venous sinus tumour thrombus from metastatic thymoma.

Thymomas are the most common primary tumours of the anterior mediastinum. While intrathoracic disease progression through local invasion is well described in the literature, extrathoracic extension of disease is uncommon and intracranial metastases have seldom been reported. We present a case of extensive dural venous sinus tumour thrombus in a patient with metastatic invasive thymoma.

Deep infiltrating endometriosis: Can magnetic resonance imaging anticipate the need for colorectal surgeon intervention?

Objective: To identify magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features associated with colorectal surgical bowel resection for treatment of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE).

Materials And Methods: 122 preoperative pelvic MRIs in women with laparoscopically-proven DIE and subsequent surgery (2006-2015) were identified, and retrospective cohort analysis performed. MRIs were reviewed independently by two radiologists blinded to surgical/histopathological outcomes.

Autologous CLL cell vaccination early after transplant induces leukemia-specific T cells.

Background: Patients with advanced hematologic malignancies remain at risk for relapse following reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We conducted a prospective clinical trial to test whether vaccination with whole leukemia cells early after transplantation facilitates the expansion of leukemia-reactive T cells and thereby enhances antitumor immunity.

Methods: We enrolled 22 patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), 18 of whom received up to 6 vaccines initiated between days 30 and 45 after transplantation.

Detecting T-cell reactivity to whole cell vaccines: Proof of concept analysis of T-cell response to K562 cell antigens in CML patients.

BCR-ABL(+) K562 cells hold clinical promise as a component of cancer vaccines, either as bystander cells genetically modified to express immunostimulatory molecules, or as a source of leukemia antigens. To develop a method for detecting T-cell reactivity against K562 cell-derived antigens in patients, we exploited the dendritic cell (DC)-mediated cross-presentation of proteins generated from apoptotic cells. We used UVB irradiation to consistently induce apoptosis of K562 cells, which were then fed to autologous DCs.

Enhancing graft-versus-leukemia after transplant: the rise of anti-cancer vaccines.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the only truly effective curative treatment for refractory hematological malignancies. Unfortunately, relapse and transplant rejection continue to be of major concern. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the HSCT, various strategies have been explored to amplify the graft versus leukemia (GvL) effect.