Introduction: Early detection of cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is crucial due to its association with severe complications such as ventricular arrhythmias, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death. Advanced imaging techniques like cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (FDG-PET/CT) are effective in detecting CS but not easily accessible. The optimal method for selecting patients for advanced screening remains uncertain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Methotrexate (MTX), a folate antagonist, is often used as second-line treatment in patients with sarcoidosis. Effectiveness of MTX has large inter-patient variability and at present therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of MTX is not possible. Upon administration, MTX is actively transported into cells and metabolized to its active forms by adding glutamate residues forming MTXPG resulting in enhanced cellular retention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: No single injection therapy has been proven to be superior in the treatment of lateral epicondylitis. In most studies, the injection technique is not standardized, which makes it challenging to compare outcomes.
Questions/purposes: (1) Does injection with autologous blood, dextrose, or needle perforation only at the extensor carpi radialis brevis tendon origin produce better VAS pain scores during provocation testing at 5 months of follow-up? (2) Which percutaneous technique resulted in better secondary outcome measures: VAS during rest and activity, VAS during maximum grip, Oxford elbow score (OES), QuickDASH, Patient-related Tennis Elbow Evaluation (PRTEE), or EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D)?
Methods: In this multicenter, randomized controlled trial performed from November 2015 to January 2020, 166 patients with lateral epicondylitis were included and assigned to one of the three treatment groups: autologous blood, dextrose, or perforation only.
Introduction: Immune-mediated interstitial pneumonitis may be treated with anti-CD20 therapy after failure of conventional therapies. However, clinical response is variable. It was hypothesized that autoreactive CD20-positive cells may play an important role in this variability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Side effects limit the long-term use of glucocorticoids in cardiac sarcoidosis (CS), and methotrexate has gained attention as steroid sparing agent although the supporting evidence is poor. This study compared prednisone monotherapy, methotrexate monotherapy or a combination of both, in the reduction of myocardial Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake and clinical stabilization of CS patients.
Methods And Results: In this retrospective cohort study, 61 newly diagnosed and treatment naïve CS patients commenced treatment with prednisone (N = 21), methotrexate (N = 30) or prednisone and methotrexate (N = 10) between January 2010 and December 2017.
Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging
March 2023
Purpose: The study aimed to provide a comprehensive bibliometric overview of the current scientific publications on fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) positron emission tomography imaging and radionuclide therapy.
Methods: A PubMed search was performed to identify all MEDLINE-indexed publications on FAPI imaging and radionuclide therapy. The last update was performed on 31 May 2022.
Background: In LE (Lateral Epicondylitis) otherwise known as Tennis Elbow, the Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis (ECRB) tendon is most commonly involved. In the majority of studies, injections are performed with a lack of standardization. The Instant Tennis Elbow Cure (ITEC) device has been developed to perform reproducible and standardized perforations by multiple needles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) diagnosis is usually based on advanced imaging techniques and multidisciplinary evaluation. Diagnosis is classified as definite, probable, possible or unlikely. If diagnostic confidence remains uncertain, cardiac imaging can be repeated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Immunosuppressive therapy in active cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) might prevent potential life-threatening complications. Infliximab (IFX) is a tumor necrosis factor alpha monoclonal antibody proven to be effective in refractory extracardiac sarcoidosis. It is sparsely used in CS, because of its association with worsening heart failure in prior studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRituximab (RTX) for immune-mediated inflammatory disease (IMID) with interstitial pneumonitis (IP) results in non-response in about a third of patients for reasons not well understood. Complete peripheral B-cell depletion in IMID-IP does not seem to correlate with successful treatment outcome. A hypothesis is that splenic B cells might play a role in B-cell recovery and attraction of naïve B cells in non-responsive patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Lateral epicondylitis (LE) most commonly affects the Extensor Carpi Radialis Brevis (ECRB) tendon and patients are generally treated with injection therapy. For optimal positioning of the injection, as well as an estimation of the surface area and content of the ECRB tendon to determine the volume of the injectable needed, it is important to know the exact location of the ECRB in relation to the skin as well as the variation in tendon length and location. The aim of this study was to determine the variation in location and size of the ECRB tendon in patients with LE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSarcoidosis is a granulomatous disease of which the etiology remains unknown. The diverse clinical manifestations may challenge clinicians, particularly when conventional markers are inconclusive. From various studies, it has become clear that fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT aids in sarcoidosis care.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent studies on immune-mediated inflammatory lung diseases show encouraging treatment results with rituximab, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) against CD20-expressing B lymphocytes. The present pilot study aimed to explore the possibility to image CD20-expression in the lungs as future early predictor of treatment response. We describe a series of 10 patients with therapy refractory interstitial pneumonitis who were treated with rituximab (1000 mg at day 0 and day 14) and underwent PET/CT after the administration of [Zr]Zr--suc-DFO-rituximab abbreviated as [Zr]Zr-rituximab.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTennis elbow is the most common cause of lateral-sided elbow pain with a major socioeconomic impact. The etiology of tennis elbow is not completely understood, but there are many different treatment options. This review gives an overview of the current concepts of diagnosis and treatment of tennis elbow and the impact on work participation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Musculoskelet Disord
July 2019
Background: In the treatment of Lateral Epicondylitis (LE) no single intervention concerning injection therapies has been proven to be the most effective with regard to pain reduction. In this trial 3 injection therapies (perforation with application of autologous blood, perforation with application of dextrose and perforation only) will be compared in a standardized and ultrasound guided way. The objective is to assess the effectiveness of these 3 injection therapies on pain, quality of life and functional recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: F-FDG PET/CT has proven to be a reliable tool for therapy monitoring in sarcoidosis. Previous PET studies investigated the SUVmax as a marker for disease activity. Total lung glycolysis (TLuG) is a new tool, quantifying the glycolysis of the entire lung.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vascular changes, that is, functional and cellular endothelial changes, are of essential importance in healing. Alongside these vascular changes, inflammatory factors and hypoxia may play an important role in recovery.
Objectives: To investigate the dynamics of functional and cellular endothelial changes and hypoxia in vivo following standardized skin damage caused by tape stripping.
Background: Diagnosing capitellar osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) can be difficult, causing delay in treating young athletes. The main aim of this retrospective diagnostic study was to determine which radiological technique is preferred to identify and classify elbow OCD.
Methods: We identified young patients who underwent elbow arthroscopy because of symptomatic OCD.
Introduction: Range of motion (ROM) is closely monitored before and after surgery for stiff elbow and during rehabilitation. Measurements in the home environment may be helpful to increase involvement and adherence of the patient. Therefore, our objective is to investigate the validity and inter- and intraobserver reliability of 3 alternative methods to assess the ROM by the patient in a home-based situation, in comparison to the universal goniometer (UG).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Infliximab, a monoclonal antibody against tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is effective third-line therapy in severe sarcoidosis. The originator product of Infliximab, Remicade, is expensive, limiting universal access. Recently, a less expensive biosimilar of infliximab, Inflectra, has become available, but the efficacy and tolerability has not been studied in sarcoidosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis
April 2018
Currently FDG PET/CT is used as a tool for detection of active sites of sarcoidosis. Routine clinical practice relies on qualitative assessment with visual interpretation. When semi quantitatively expressed, e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vascular changes, both endothelial and functional, are crucial events in inflammatory responses.
Objectives: To investigate the dynamics of endothelial cell (EC) and functional changes during acute inflammation in an in vivo model of the skin using leukotriene B4.
Methods: EC proliferation, vascular network size, vessel diameter (VD), and hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α were studied by immunohistochemical CD31/Ki67 double staining and single staining of HIF-1α.