Publications by authors named "Ethan Gantana"

Article Synopsis
  • This text talks about how important it is to measure plasma cells in bone marrow for diagnosing certain blood cancers.
  • It mentions different methods used to count these cells, like special staining and imaging techniques, and how some methods are better than others.
  • The study highlights that using a mix of different techniques can help create a more accurate diagnosis, and discusses the future role of digital tools in helping doctors.
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Introduction: The diagnosis of plasma cell neoplasms depends on the accurate quantification of plasma cells, traditionally done by immunohistochemical CD138 staining of bone marrow biopsies. Currently, there is no fully satisfactory reference method for this quantification. In our previous study, we compared the commonly used overview estimation method (method A) with a novel method for counting plasma cells in three representative areas (method B).

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Aim: To compare the frequently used CD138 immunohistochemistry-based method of plasma cell quantitation, to a proposed new method, using interobserver and intraobserver concordance parameters.

Methods: Archival CD138 immunohistochemically stained slides made from paraffin-embedded bone marrow biopsies of 33 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of multiple myeloma were used. Light microscopic examination was performed using low magnification lenses (10×) for both the overview estimation method (method A) and the new method (method B), and high magnification lenses (50×), for method B only.

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Background: Bone marrow examination is a useful diagnostic tool in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients presenting with cytopenias and fever. However, its role in the afebrile and asymptomatic patient presenting with an isolated cytopenia is not well established. This study was conducted to determine the indications for bone marrow examination and its diagnostic yield, in HIV-positive patients at Tygerberg Hospital.

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