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The complex pathobiology of lung cancer, and its spread worldwide, has prompted research studies that combine radiomic and genomic approaches. Indeed, the early identification of genetic alterations and driver mutations affecting the tumor is fundamental for correctly formulating the prognosis and therapeutic response. In this work, we propose a radiogenomic workflow to detect the presence of KRAS and EGFR mutations using radiomic features extracted from computed tomography images of patients affected by lung adenocarcinoma. To this aim, we investigated several feature selection algorithms to identify the most significant and uncorrelated sets of radiomic features and different classification models to reveal the mutational status. Then, we employed the SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) technique to increase the understanding of the contribution given by specific radiomic features to the identification of the investigated mutations. Two cohorts of patients with lung adenocarcinoma were used for the study. The first one, obtained from the Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA), consisted of 60 cases (25% EGFR, 23% KRAS); the second one, provided by the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria ’Ospedali Riuniti’ of Foggia, was composed of 55 cases (16% EGFR, 28% KRAS). The best-performing models proposed in our study achieved an AUC of 0.69 and 0.82 on the validation set for predicting the mutational status of EGFR and KRAS, respectively. The Multi-layer Perceptron model emerged as the top-performing model for both oncogenes, in some cases outperforming the state of the art. This study showed that radiomic features can be associated with EGFR and KRAS mutational status in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

COVID-19 patients may experience a hypercoagulable condition, leading to thrombotic events. We describe a patient with COVID-19, carrying a rare homozygous mutation of the prothrombin gene, who developed a severe systemic vein thrombosis. In COVID-19 patients with hypercoagulability disorders the most common inherited and acquired risk factors should be investigated.

Preoperative autologous blood donation (PABD) is a well established transfusion practice in elective orthopaedic surgery, involving immunologic and infective advantages but also involving exposure to not negligible risks, and costs as well. The aim of this study was to assess the real need for blood transfusions in primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Between January 2000 and July 2005, 214 patients underwent primary unilateral TKA. Altogether, 416 autologous blood units were collected, however only 47 (11.3%) were transfused. Thirty-eight patients (17.8%) received autologous blood, while 4 of them (10.5%) also received allogeneic blood. Based on the results of this study, PABD should be recommended in well selected patients undergoing TKA: older female patients with a low basal haemoglobin level.

Background and Objectives Although preoperative autologous blood donation (PABD) is a widespread practice in elective orthopedic surgery, it is controversial whether this procedure avoids allogeneic blood transfusions in patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Patients and Methods We performed a retrospective study on 214 consecutive patients undergoing PABD before elective primary TKA. Results Thirty-eight patients (17·8%) were transfused with autologous red blood cells (RBC), while four of them (10·5% of those requiring transfusions, 1·9% of all patients) also received allogeneic RBC. The transfused patients were, in most cases, female and had significantly lower basal and preoperative haemoglobin levels. Conclusions Based on the results of this study, PABD is not necessary in most patients undergoing TKA, although older female patients with low basal haemoglobin levels could benefit from a predeposit programme and/or erythropoietin support in order to reduce the risk of exposure to allogeneic blood.

A 67-year-old woman underwent revision total hip replacement with a long, distally fixed uncemented stem inserted through a transfemoral approach. Initial stability was not achieved and the stem subsided early. Probably due to a conflict with the minor trochanter, the prosthetic head detached from its neck. Instead of a re-revision of the stem, a proximal spacer was inserted to restore stability and to compensate for leg-length discrepancy. This has proved to be a stable and satisfactory solution after three years follow-up.