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Background: The efficacy and safety evidence of bortezomib in multiple myeloma (MM) patients with hepatitis B is vacant. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of bortezomib in MM patients with hepatitis B in China. Methods: From 2006 to 2011, 739 newly diagnosed MM patients were screened for serum hepatitis B virus (HBV) biomarkers. HBV-infected patients were followed for HBV reactivation by monitoring of serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and HBV DNA load. The pattern of HBV reactivation in relation to bortezomib was evaluated. Seven hundred thirty-nine MM patients were included in this study. Results: The prevalence of MM patients infected with HBV was 3.4% ( n = 25), of which 17 cases were treated with bortezomib. Bortezomib had no significant influence on liver function (ALT before and after treatment: 36.69 ± 8.90 U/L vs. 11.31 ± 2.74 U/L, P = 0.19) and HBV DNA of MM patients with HBV (detectable HBV DNA percentage: 5.9% vs. 11.8%, P = 0.12). Conclusions: Bortezomib can be used safely and effectively in MM patients with hepatitis B. HBV prophylaxis and surveillance are recommended during the MM treatment.

The degree of pathological microvascular proliferation is an important element in evaluation of the astrocytoma grade. This study was aimed to quantitatively assess the microvascular permeability of brain astrocytoma with the volume transfer constant (K(trans)) and volume of extravascular extracellular space per unit volume of tissue (Ve) from dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and to evaluate the effectiveness of the K(trans) and Ve in the grading of astrocytoma.The highest values of the K(trans) and Ve of 67 patients with astrocytoma (27 with grade II, 12 with grade III, and 28 with grade IV) were obtained. The comparisons of the differences of the K(trans) and Ve between the different grades were conducted using the Mann-Whitney rank-sum tests. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were determined between K(trans) values, Ve values and astrocytoma grades. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were performed to determine the cut-off values for the K(trans) and Ve to distinguish between the different grades of astrocytoma.There were significant differences (P0.001) between the different grades in the K(trans) values and Ve values, except for grades III and IV. The K(trans) values and Ve values were both correlated with astrocytoma grades (both P0.001). The ROC curve analyses showed that the cut-off values for the K(trans) and Ve provided the best combination of sensitivity and specificity in distinguishing between grade II and grade III or IV astrocytomas.DCE-MRI can play an important role in assessing the microvascular permeability and the grading of brain astrocytoma.

Retroperitoneal hemangiopericytoma is a kind of uncommon tumor. We report a case of 41-year-old man who was diagnosed retroperitoneal tumor without significant symptoms by abdominal ultrasonography. Abdominal CT and MRI scans show a 6 cm × 5 cm solid tumor delineated clearly from adjacent organs. Excision of the tumor was performed and the histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of hemangiopericytoma.

Hemangiopericytomas (HPCs) have a relentless tendency for local recurrence and metastases, differentiating between benign meningiomas and HPCs before surgery is important for both treatment planning and the prognosis appraisal. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the correlations between CT perfusion parameters and microvessel density (MVD) in extra-axial tumors and the possible role of CT perfusion imaging in preoperatively differentiating benign meningiomas and HPCs.Seventeen patients with benign meningiomas and peritumoral edema, 12 patients with HPCs and peritumoral edema underwent 64-slice CT perfusion imaging pre-operation. Perfusion was calculated using the Patlak method. The quantitative parameters, include cerebral blood volume (CBV), permeability surface (PS) of parenchyma, peritumoral edema among benign meningiomas and HPCs were compared respectively. CBV and PS in parenchyma, peritumoral edema of benign meningiomas and HPCs were also compared to that of the contrallateral normal white matter respectively. The correlations between CBV, PS of tumoral parenchyma and MVD were examined.The value of CBV and PS in parenchyma of HPCs were significantly higher than that of benign meningiomas (P0.05), while the values of CBV and PS in peritumoral edema of benign meningiomas and HPCs were not significantly different (P0.05). MVD in parenchyma of HPCs were significantly higher than that of benign meningiomas (P0.05). There were positive correlations between CBV and MVD (r = 0.648, P0.05), PS and MVD (r = 0.541, P0.05) respectively. Furthermore, the value of CBV and PS in parenchyma of benign meningiomas and HPCs were significantly higher than that of contrallateral normal white matter (P0.05), the value of CBV in peritumoral edema of benign meningiomas and HPCs were significantly lower than that of contrallateral normal white matter (P0.05), while the value of PS in peritumoral edema of benign meningiomas and HPCs were not significantly different with that of contrallateral normal white matter (P0.05).CT perfusion imaging can provide critical information on the vascularity of HPC and benign meningiomas. Determination of maximal CBV and corresponding PS values in the parenchyma may be useful in the preoperative differentiating HPC from benign meningiomas.