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Context.--Photobleaching artifact occurs when fluorescence intensity decreases following light exposure. Slides stained with fluorescent techniques may be stored in the dark until primary diagnostics. Experimental evidence suggesting the rate of photobleaching and necessity of dark storage is lacking. Objective.--To compare photobleaching rate on direct immunofluorescence and Thioflavin T slides stored in ambient room light conditions and exposed to excitatory wavelengths. Design.--During 2 iterations of the experiment, 45 slides were prepared, 42 with immunofluorescent antibodies plus 3 with thioflavin, from skin and kidney biopsies. The experimental group was stored in room light conditions in comparison to the control in the dark, at room temperature. Further, 1 immunofluorescence slide and 1 thioflavin slide were exposed to excitatory fluorescent light for several hours. Significant photobleaching was defined as an integer decrease in score (scale, 0-3). Results.--Exposure times ranged from 152 to 3034 hours. Nine of the 42 immunofluorescence slides (21%) photobleached after a minimum exposure of 152 hours to room light, with no significant difference between the experimental and control groups (all P values >.05). The immunofluorescence slide exposed to fluorescent light for 4 hours showed marked photobleaching in the exposed field but not elsewhere. No thioflavin slides showed clinically significant photobleaching under any conditions. Conclusions.--Clinically significant photobleaching of slides exposed to room light may occur after a few days, but not a few hours (unless exposed to excitatory fluorescent light). Conversely, thioflavin-stained slides did not photobleach when exposed to ambient room air and photobleached only negligibly when exposed to excitatory fluorescent light. doi: 10.5858/arpa.2022-0311-OA, Fluorescence is an event by which a substance is excited by short-wavelength radiation, such as blue or ultraviolet, and emits a longer wavelength, such as green. It is a very [...]

Patient prognoses have been significantly enhanced by immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), altering the standard of care in cancer treatment. These novel antibodies have become a mainstay of care for metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) patients. Several types of adverse events related to ICIs have been identified and documented as a result of the launch of these innovative medicines. We present here a 74-year-old female patient with a stage IV lung adenocarcinoma, treated with nivolumab plus ipilimumab, who developed perimyocarditis two weeks after receiving the third cycle of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. The patient was diagnosed using troponin levels, computed tomography (CT) angiography, and echocardiography. After hospitalization, her cardiac condition was successfully resolved with corticosteroids, colchicine, and symptomatic treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the rarest cases to be reported of perimyocarditis as a toxicity of immunotherapy in a patient treated for adenocarcinoma of the lung. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the following report, we describe a case of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) elevation occurring during treatment with alectinib (Alecensa™), which was administered for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) mutated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC). A 51 year-old female with widespread metastatic disease exhibited a rapid and significant response within a very short period to alectinib therapy, accompanied by a rapid increase of ALP to more than six times the upper limit of normal (grade 3) ALP, decreasing to within normal limits within 3 weeks after initiation of therapy without any dose modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]