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Evidence of woven bone formation in carotid artery plaques

Published on: 5th January, 2021

OCLC Number/Unique Identifier: 8877223434

Objective: Plaque morphology plays an important prognostic role in the occurrence of cerebrovascular events. Echolucent and heterogeneous plaques, in particular, carry an increased risk of subsequent stroke. Depending on the quality of the plaque echogenicity based on B-mode ultrasound examination, carotid plaques divide into a soft lipid-rich plaque and a hard plaque with calcification. The aim of this study was to investigate structural changes in the basement membrane of different carotid artery plaque types. Patients and methods: Biopsies were taken from 10 male patients (average age; 75 + 1 years) and 7 females (68 + 3 years). The study population included patients suffering from a filiform stenosis of the carotid artery, 8 patients with acute cerebrovascular events and 9 with asymptomatic stenosis. Scanning electron and polarised light microscopic investigations were carried out on explanted plaques to determine the morphology of calcified areas in vascular lesions. Results: By means of scanning electron microscopy, multiple foci of local calcification were identified. The endothelial layer was partially desquamated from the basement membrane and showed island-like formations. Polarised light microscopy allows us to distinguish between soft plaques with transparent structure and hard plaques with woven bone formation. Conclusion: The major finding of our study is the presence of woven bone tissue in hard plaques of carotid arteries, which may result from pathological strains or mechanical overloading of the collagen fibers. These data suggest a certain parallel with sclerosis of human aortic valves due to their similar morphological characteristics.
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Induction therapy with Erlotinib (E) and Gemcitabine/Platinum (GP) in stage III NSCLC

Published on: 28th January, 2021

OCLC Number/Unique Identifier: 8913463613

Background: In 2004 we started a phase II trial in non-small lung cancer (NSCLC), stage III, with erlotinib followed by a combination with a platinum-based doublet in unselected patients to identify molecular subgroups benefitting from an EGFR targeting approach. Patients and methods: Induction with erlotinib (E, 150 mg, d1-42) was followed by three cycles of gemcitabine (G, 1250 mg/m², d1+d8, q3w) and cisplatin (P, 80 mg/m², d1, q3w). Patients with at least stable disease after E were treated with a GP + E combination. Induction was followed by surgery and radiation. The trial was conducted as a prospective, multi-center, open label, exploratory phase II study to determine pathological response rate (pRR), as well as secondary endpoints disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Results: Of 38 prescreened patients 16 were included in the main study. Due to slow recruitment the study had to be terminated early. Combination of E and GP was well tolerated, surgery was feasible after induction therapy in 12 of 16 patients, 7/12 (58%) patients had a major pathological response (MPR). Median overall survival for patients with MPR was 57.7 months (confidence interval (CI), 37.4 to 78.0; n = 7) and for patients without MPR 11.9 months (CI, 6.4 to 17.4; n = 5). 2/16 patients had an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation. Conclusion: Before discovery of distinct molecular mechanisms in NSCLC our study was an attempt to identify clinical and pathological subgroups that would benefit from E induction. Two patients with an EGFR mutation were identified. MPR was a predictor of long term disease free and overall survival.
Cite this ArticleCrossMarkPublonsHarvard Library HOLLISGrowKudosResearchGateBase SearchOAI PMHAcademic MicrosoftScilitSemantic ScholarUniversite de ParisUW LibrariesSJSU King LibrarySJSU King LibraryNUS LibraryMcGillDET KGL BIBLiOTEKJCU DiscoveryUniversidad De LimaWorldCatVU on WorldCat
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