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Abstract Background An earlier study from our group of long time survivors of head and neck cancer who had received a low radiation dose to the hypothalamic-pituitary region, with no signs of recurrence or pituitary dysfunction, had their quality of life (QoL) compromised as compared with matched healthy controls. Hippocampal changes have been shown to accompany several psychiatric conditions and the aim of the present study was to test whether the patients’ lowered QoL was coupled to a reduction in hippocampal volume. Methods Patients (11 men and 4 women, age 31–65) treated for head and neck cancer 4–10 years earlier and with no sign of recurrence or pituitary dysfunction, and 15 matched controls were included. The estimated radiation doses to the basal brain including the hippocampus (1.5 – 9.3 Gy) had been calculated in the earlier study. The hippocampal volumetry was done on coronal sections from a 1.5 T MRI scanner. Measurements were done by two independent raters, blinded to patients and controls, using a custom method for computer assisted manual segmentation. The volumes were normalized for intracranial volume which was also measured manually. The paired t test and Wilcoxon’s signed rank test were used for the main statistical analysis. Results There was no significant difference with respect to left, right or total hippocampal volume between patients and controls. All mean differences were close to zero, and the two-tailed 95% confidence interval for the difference in total, normalized volume does not include a larger than 8% deficit in the patients. Conclusion The study gives solid evidence against the hypothesis that the patients’ lowered quality of life was due to a major reduction of hippocampal volume.

Abstract Background Adult patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders have compromised quality of life (QoL). Whether this is due to their endocrine consequences (hypopituitarism), their underlying hypothalamic-pituitary disorder or both is still under debate. The aim of this trial was to measure quality of life (QoL) in long-term cancer survivors who have received a radiation dose to the basal part of the brain and the pituitary. Methods Consecutive patients (n=101) treated for oropharyngeal or epipharyngeal cancer with radiotherapy followed free of cancer for a period of 4 to10 years were identified. Fifteen patients (median age 56 years) with no concomitant illness and no hypopituitarism after careful endocrine evaluation were included in a case-control study with matched healthy controls. Doses to the hypothalamic-pituitary region were calculated. QoL was assessed using the Symptom check list (SCL)-90, Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), and Psychological Well Being (PGWB) questionnaires. Level of physical activity was assessed using the Baecke questionnaire. Results The median accumulated dose was 1.9 Gy (1.5–2.2 Gy) to the hypothalamus and 2.4 Gy (1.8–3.3 Gy) to the pituitary gland in patients with oropharyngeal cancer and 6.0–9.3 Gy and 33.5–46.1 Gy, respectively in patients with epipharyngeal cancer (n=2). The patients showed significantly more anxiety and depressiveness, and lower vitality, than their matched controls. Conclusion In a group of long time survivors of head and neck cancer who hade received a low radiation dose to the hypothalamic-pituitary region and who had no endocrine consequences of disease or its treatment QoL was compromised as compared with well matched healthy controls.

Objectives: To investigate the experiential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients with non-COVID, life-threatening disease and their family carers., Design: An interpretative qualitative design informed by phenomenological hermeneutics and based on data from in-depth interviews, performed between June and September 2020., Setting: Patients receiving specialised palliative home care and their family carers living in Sweden., Participants: 22 patients (male/female 11/11) and 17 carers (male/female 5/12) aged 50 years and older. All the patients received specialised palliative home care and most were diagnosed with cancer., Inclusion Criteria: aged 18 years or older, diagnosed with an incurable life-threatening, non-COVID disease, sufficient strength to participate and capacity to provide informed consent. Participants were selected through a combination of convenient and consecutive sampling., Results: The significance of the pandemic for both patients and carers showed a continuum from being minimally affected in comparison to the severe underlying disease to living in isolation with constant fear of becoming infected and falling ill with COVID-19, which some likened to torture.The imposed restrictions on social contact due to the pandemic were particularly palpable for this group of people with a non-COVID-19, life-limiting condition, as it was said to steal valuable moments of time that had already been measured.Most patients and carers found access to specialised palliative home care was maintained despite the pandemic. This care was of paramount importance for their sense of security and was often their sole visiting social contact., Conclusions: In the pandemic situation, highly accessible support from healthcare and social care at home is particularly important to create security for both patients and carers. Thus, to provide appropriate support, it is important for healthcare and social care personnel to be aware of the great diversity of reactions patients in palliative care and their carers may have to a pandemic threat., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

We aimed to identify plasma biomarkers that predict changes in bone mineral density (BMD) and increase the understanding of impaired BMD after heart transplantation (HT). Twenty-eight adult patients were included. Data, including densitometry and 29 plasma proteins, before and 1 year after HT were analyzed. Pre-HT plasma levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) correlated with post-HT T score in lumbar spine, adjusted for age, gender, and BMI (1.72 [95% CI 1.33; 2.22], p = 0.011). Change (∆; post-HT-pre-HT) in plasma levels of melusin correlated to ∆T score from the lumbar spine ( p = 0.028). ∆plasma levels of TR-AP, ITGB2, and Stromelysin-1 correlated to ∆T score from the femoral neck ( p < 0.05). However, no correlations remained after adjustments for age, gender, and BMI. In conclusion, elevated plasma FGF23 pre-HT predicted an increase in lumbar BMD after HT. However, the results are surprising since FGF23 is known to be inversely correlated with BMD. This may partly be explained by the complex pathophysiology in this particular cohort. Due to the explorative nature of the study and the small sample size, further investigations of biochemical markers on bone metabolism in this patient population are encouraged., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Löfdahl, Ahmed, Ahmed and Rådegran.)

Background: Our aim was to investigate the bone mineral density (BMD) evolution and incidence of osteoporosis in relation to chronic kidney disease (CKD) up to 10 years after heart transplantation (HT)., Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 159 HT patients at Skåne University Hospital in Lund 1988-2016., Results: The median follow-up time was 6.1 years (interquartile range = 7.5 y). HT patients with CKD stage <3 or normal kidney function before HT exhibited a greater mean BMD loss in the lumbar spine, compared to patients with CKD stage ≥3 before HT, at the first (-6.6% versus -2.5%, P = 0.029), second (-3.7% versus 2.1%, P = 0.018), and third (-2.0% versus 4.1%, P = 0.047) postoperative years, respectively. All included HT patients exhibited a BMD loss in the femoral neck at the first postoperative year (-8.8% [-10.3 to -7.3] in patients with CKD stage <3 or normal kidney function and -9.3% [-13.2 to -5.5] in patients with CKD stage ≥3 before HT), which was not fully reversed up to 10 years after HT. In adjusted models, CKD stage <3 before HT did not predict osteopenia and osteoporosis in the lumbar spine or femoral neck., Conclusions: CKD before HT did not predict BMD loss or osteoporosis development after HT. The study is, however, limited by a lack of data on fractures, and further studies on the relationship between CKD and postoperative bone strength are encouraged., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Transplantation Direct. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

We aimed to study the incidence, predictors and outcome of chronic kidney disease (CKD) after heart transplantation (HT). All our HT patients 1988-2010 were considered for inclusion. Of these, 134 came for annual follow-ups including evaluation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using iohexol clearance measurements, and the CKD-EPI (adults) or Schwartz (children) formulae. Median GFR (Q1-Q3) (ml/min/1.73 m(2) ) declined from 67.0 (50.0-82.0) during transplant assessment (TA) to 56.0 (45.0-69.0) at year 1, 53.0 (41.0-68.0) at year 5 and 44.5 (25.0-57.3) at year 10. The cumulative incidence of CKD ≥ stage 4 was 25% at 5 years and 41% at 10 years after transplantation. Proteinuria the first year post-HT was the only predictor related (P < 0.05) to a higher rate of GFR decline (HR 5.15, 95% CI 1.23-21.55). GFR ≥60 as compared to <60 before HT, or a first-year GFR decline <30% as compared to >30%, was moreover associated (P < 0.05) with a lower risk of death (HR 0.30, 95% CI 0.12-0.76 and HR 0.35, 95% CI 0.13-0.90, respectively). Notably, the CKD-EPI and Schwartz formulae overestimated GFR by 28 ± 29% and 26 ± 33%, respectively. In conclusion, CKD in HT patients is common and associated with worse outcome. To avoid diagnostic delay, GFR estimating equations' validity in HT patients needs further study., (© 2015 Steunstichting ESOT.)