Publications by authors named "Julie E Hallanger-Johnson"

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is an aggressive cancer that is often caused by driver mutations in . Splice site variants (SSV) reflect changes in mRNA processing, which may alter protein function. SSVs have been described in thyroid tumors in general but have not been extensively studied in MTC.

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Sex difference in the immune response may influence patients' response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). We conducted a prospective observation study to determine the correlation between pretreatment sex hormone levels and response to ICIs in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Pretreatment plasma samples from 61 patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC prior to ICI therapy were collected.

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Importance: In the United States, the most used molecular test for the evaluation of cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules is the Afirma gene expression classifier (GEC).

Objective: To evaluate the GEC's diagnostic performance through a novel approach to assess whether the findings of the initial validation study are consistent with the results of postmarketing studies.

Data Sources: PubMed was systematically searched from inception through October 26, 2017, using the terms gene expression classifier or Afirma or GEC and thyroid.

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Importance: Tens of thousands of unnecessary operations are performed each year for diagnostic purposes among patients with cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules. Whereas a diagnostic lobectomy is recommended for most patients with solitary indeterminate thyroid nodules, a total thyroidectomy is preferred for nodules larger than 4 cm.

Objective: To determine whether histologic or clinical outcomes of indeterminate thyroid nodules 4 cm or larger are worse than those for nodules smaller than 4 cm, thus justifying a more aggressive initial surgical approach.

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Background: The impact of oncogene panel results on the surgical management of indeterminate thyroid nodules (ITNs) is currently unknown.

Methods: Surgical management of 649 patients consecutively evaluated from October 2008 to April 2016 with a single nodule biopsied and indeterminate cytology (193 evaluated with and 456 without oncogene panels) was assessed and compared. Histological features of 629 consecutively resected ITNs (164 evaluated with and 465 without oncogene panels) were also characterized and compared.

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Background: Indeterminate categories of thyroid cytopathology (categories B-III and B-IV of the Bethesda system) are integrated by a heterogeneous spectrum of cytological scenarios that are generally clustered for analysis and management recommendations. It has been suggested that aspirates exhibiting nuclear atypia have a higher risk of malignancy. This study aimed to assess whether cytologically indeterminate thyroid nodules with nuclear atypia have a significantly higher cancer risk than those without nuclear atypia.

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Background: Management recommendations for thyroid nodules rely primarily on the cytological diagnosis. However, 25% of biopsies render an indeterminate cytology for which management decision is more challenging due to heterogeneity of the specimens. This study aimed to stratify the cancer risk through subcategorization of indeterminate cytology.

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ThyroSeq v2 claims high positive (PPV) and negative (NPV) predictive values in a wide range of pretest risks of malignancy in indeterminate thyroid nodules (ITNs) (categories B-III and B-IV of the Bethesda system). We evaluated ThyroSeq v2 performance in a cohort of patients with ITNs seen at our Academic Cancer Center from September 2014 to April 2016, in light of the new diagnostic criteria for non-invasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP). Our study included 182 patients (76% female) with 190 ITNs consecutively tested with ThyroSeq v2.

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Acquired osteosclerosis is a rare disorder of bone formation but an important consideration in adults with sclerotic bones or elevated bone density results. In such patients, malignancy, hepatitis C, and fluorosis should all be considered when making a diagnosis. We describe 4 patients evaluated at our Metabolic Bone Disease Clinic from May 1, 1997, to July 1, 2006, whose bone disorders resulted from chronic fluoride exposure due to excessive tea intake.

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