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Purpose: The prognostic importance of vitreous cells (VC) in patients with Behçet syndrome (BS) is unknown. We aimed to determine the frequency of developing posterior uveitis (PU) and any additional risk factors associated with the development of PU in BS patients with VC at diagnosis. Methods: The charts of 572 consecutive BS patients who were registered between 2010 and 2012 were reviewed. Among the patients with a follow-up of ≥2 years, we included 110 patients with VC in one or both eyes and 147 patients without any eye findings in both eyes at baseline and compared them for the development of PU. Results: Among the 110 included patients with VC, 61 had VC in both eyes, 34 had VC in only one eye, and 15 had VC in one eye and PU in the other eye. There was anterior uveitis (AU) in addition to VC in the same eye in 13 patients at baseline. PU developed in 24 (22%) of these patients during a mean follow-up of 1.9 ± 1.1 years. This was significantly more frequent than the 147 patients without any eye findings at baseline, among whom there were only 2 patients who developed PU (p < 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that having AU in addition to VC in the same eye (OR, 5.03, 95% CI; 1.37–18.47) was an independent risk factor for the development of PU in patients with VC. Conclusion: Careful follow-up is required for patients with VC at diagnosis, since 22% developed PU within 2 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It was our impression that safety outcome trials were getting more frequent, raising ethical issues mainly related to patient autonomy. We and others had also proposed this autonomy would be best served if wording of the informed consents would be in the public domain. Methods: Initially two observers and an arbiter tabulated the main aims of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in 1990–1991 vs. 2019–2020 as efficacy, safety, or undecided in four mainline medical journals, from the websites. A pragmatic design as well as other salient features was also tabulated. After noting too many trials were categorized as undecided, two additional independent observers and the arbiter did a reassessment. Results: In our reassessment of 889 RCTs, 309 in earlier and 580 in the later time period, 828 (93%) were categorized as efficacy and 47 (5%) as a safety trial. We were undecided in 14 (2%) trials. The proportion of safety outcome trials between the two time periods were similar [14/309 (5%) vs. 33/580 (6%)] while RCTs of any category conducted in the critical care settings notably increased in time [12/309 (4%) vs. 52/580 (9%) OR 2.4; 1.3–4.6]. Death was a primary outcome measure in 0/14 among the earlier and 16/33 (49%) among the later safety outcome trials. Stroke in 9 and myocardial infarction in 8 safety outcome trials were additional primary outcome measures in the same group. There were 2 pragmatic trials in the earlier and 93 in the later period. Conclusion: Although we did not observe a differential increase among the safety outcome trials of all categories, those in critical care settings had significantly increased in time. So did the safety outcome trials with primary outcome measures like death, myocardial infarction, and stroke as well as randomized controlled trials with a pragmatic design. These raise the issue of autonomy related to how clearly the sought-after safety through designing empirical studies primarily to quantitate harm had been worded to the trial participants in plain language. We maintain this issue cannot be adequately addressed unless the informed consent forms, especially for safety outcome trials, are in the public domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction/Objective: There is currently no tool available to assess the severity of damage in uveitis due to Behçet's syndrome (BS). In this preliminary study, we developed a new grading system to evaluate ocular damage and assessed it in a prospective cohort. Methods: A specialist in BS uveitis (YO) developed a grading system for ocular damage with five grades based on the extent of damage in the posterior segment. YO trained a senior and general ophthalmologist with sample fundus images. BS patients who had undergone color fundus photography during their routine visits in attack-free periods were included in the study. The color fundus photos of this prospective cohort were evaluated blindly by YO and his trainees using the new grading tool. Inter and intra-observer agreement between the graders were assessed by Cohen's kappa analysis. The evaluation of YO was considered as the gold standard. Results: One hundred eighty-five eyes of 108 (29 F/79 M) patients with BS uveitis were graded for damage by two investigators. Their mean age was 38,58 years and their median ocular disease duration was 13 years. The gold standard and the two investigators exhibited substantial concordance with the ocular damage grading system. The inter- and intra-observer agreement were also almost perfect. Conclusion: The newly developed ocular damage grading system enables the standardization of damage severity in BS uveitis. It is imperative to conduct internal and external validations across diverse cohorts. Furthermore, future studies should investigate its correlation with other multimodal imaging methods such as fluorescein angiography and optical coherence tomography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective A decline in the frequency of AA amyloidosis secondary to RA and infectious diseases has been reported. We aimed to determine the change in the frequency of AA amyloidosis in our Behçet's syndrome (BS) patients and to summarize the clinical characteristics of and outcomes for our patients, and also those identified by a systematic review. Methods We identified patients with amyloidosis in our BS cohort (as well as their clinical and laboratory features, treatment, and outcome) through a chart review. The primary end points were end-stage renal disease and death. The prevalence of AA amyloidosis was estimated separately for patients registered during 1976–2000 and those registered during 2001–2017, in order to determine whether there was any change in the frequency. We searched PubMed and EMBASE for reports on BS patients with AA amyloidosis. Risk of bias was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) tool. Results The prevalence of AA amyloidosis was 0.62% (24/3820) in the earlier cohort and declined to 0.054% (3/5590) in the recent cohort. The systematic review revealed 82 cases in 42 publications. The main features of patients were male predominance and a high frequency of vascular involvement. One-third of patients died within 6 months after diagnosis of amyloidosis. Conclusion The frequency of AA amyloidosis has decreased in patients with BS, which is similar to the decrease observed for AA amyloidosis due to other inflammatory and infectious causes. However, AA amyloidosis is a rare, but potentially fatal complication of BS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Infliximab (IFX) is increasingly being used for the treatment of severe manifestations of Behçet's syndrome (BS). However, emergence of new manifestations has also been occasionally reported during IFX treatment. We aimed to assess the frequency of new manifestations in our BS patients treated with IFX. Methods A chart review was conducted to identify all BS patients treated with IFX in our clinic between 2004 and 2020. Demographic data, indications for IFX initiation, concomitant treatments and outcomes were recorded. A new manifestation was defined as the emergence of a new organ involvement or mucocutaneous manifestation developing for the first time during IFX treatment or within 12 weeks after the last infusion of IFX. Results Among our 282 patients who used IFX, 19 (7%) patients had developed a total of 23 new manifestations during a mean follow-up of 20.0 (15.3) months. Patients with vascular involvement were more likely to develop a new manifestation (12/19, 63%). Initial manifestations that required IFX were in remission at the time of new manifestation in 14/19 patients. IFX treatment was intensified (n  = 6) and/or glucocorticoids, immunosuppressives or colchicine was added to IFX (n  = 21). IFX was switched to another agent for the remaining manifestations (n  = 8). These treatment modifications led to remission in 17/19 patients. Conclusion New manifestations developed during IFX treatment in 7% of our patients with BS. They could be managed by intensifying IFX treatment or adding other agents in the majority of these manifestations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to current advances and growing experience in the management of coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the outcome of COVID-19 patients with severe/critical illness would be expected to be better in the second wave compared with the first wave. As our hospitalization criteria changed in the second wave, we aimed to investigate whether a favorable outcome occurred in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with only severe/critical illness. Among 642 laboratory-confirmed hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the first wave and 1121 in the second wave, those who met World Health Organization (WHO) definitions for severe or critical illness on admission or during follow-up were surveyed. Data on demographics, comorbidities, C-reactive protein (CRP) levels on admission, and outcomes were obtained from an electronic hospital database. Univariate analysis was performed to compare the characteristics of patients in the first and second waves. There were 228 (35.5%) patients with severe/critical illness in the first wave and 681 (60.7%) in the second wave. Both groups were similar in terms of age, gender, and comorbidities, other than chronic kidney disease. Median serum CRP levels were significantly higher in patients in the second wave compared with those in the first wave [109 mg/L (interquartile range [IQR]: 65-157) vs. 87 mg/L (IQR: 39-140); p < 0.001]. However, intensive care unit admission and mortality rates were similar among the waves. Even though a lower mortality rate in the second wave has been reported in previous studies, including all hospitalized COVID-19 patients, we found similar demographics and outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe/critical illness in the first and second wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Introduction Schwannomas are mostly benign tumors arising from Schwann cells of the nerve sheaths. Breast schwannomas are very rare and account for only 2.6% of cases. As far as we know this is the first reported case of breast schwannoma discovered in a patient with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The breast schwannoma was evaluated with positron emission tomography and it exhibited moderate 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake. Case presentation We present the case of a breast schwannoma in a 63-year-old Caucasian woman who was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Conclusion Imaging modalities including positron emission tomography-computed tomography failed to distinguish breast schwannoma from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma involvement of the breast.