Left ventricular diastolic performance in breast cancer survivors treated with anthracyclines.

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate left ventricular diastolic and systolic performance in women diagnosed with breast cancer and treated with low doses of anthracyclines (epirubicin).

Methods And Results: Thirty-four female patients with breast cancer treated with epirubicin up to 450 mg/m2 (study group), and a matched control group of 34 women diagnosed with breast tumours, who had not started chemotherapy, were assessed by echocardiography. Left ventricular diastolic function was evaluated by measuring Doppler transmitral flow: the maximal velocity of the E and A waves (rapid filling and atrial filling), the Emax/Amax ratio, the pressure half time (PHT) of the E wave and the isovolumic relaxation time (IVRT).

Malignant primary pulmonary tumor with hemangiopericytoma-like features: conventional hemangiopericytoma versus solitary fibrous tumor.

Although extremely rare, the primitive lung hemangiopericytoma in adults is similar to hemangiopericytomas with other soft tissue localizations. Although generally benign and curable after radical surgery, it might also have a malignant clinical course with dissemination in both lungs, infiltration of vital organs (heart, pulmonary artery), extension to the adjacent tissues, and even pulmonary metastases. The treatment of choice is the complete tumor resection with negative surgical margins after excision.

Severe paraneoplastic hyponatremia and hypoosmolality in a patient with small-cell lung carcinoma: syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion versus atrial natriuretic peptide or both?

It is well documented in literature that a majority of small-cell lung cancers are associated with paraneoplastic phenomena. We report the case of a 63-year-old man diagnosed with small-cell lung carcinoma, in whom a severe hyponatremia and renal sodium loss with inappropriate antidiuresis were also found during a routine laboratory testing. Syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion was first suspected in this patient, but another complex pathogenetic mechanism involving atrial natriuretic peptides could be associated, potentiating the deflation of the plasma sodium level.