Hospital das Clínicas da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, UFPE, Escola Paulista de Medicina, UNIFESP, Avenida Professor Moraes Rego, s/n, Cidade Universitária, 50670-420 Recife, PE, Brazil.
Paulo Borba-Filho studies how diseases like lymphoma and schistosomiasis mansoni affect the body, particularly how these conditions can be detected through imaging techniques like MRI (magnetic resonance imaging). He investigates how lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, can spread to different organs in the abdomen, and how schistosomiasis, a parasitic infection, can cause hidden brain damage in young people even if they don’t show any symptoms. His research aims to improve diagnosis and monitoring for these conditions by identifying specific patterns that doctors can recognize in imaging scans.
Key findings
In his research on lymphoma, he found that imaging scans often show spleen and liver involvement, but these cancers can appear in various abdominal locations such as the stomach, pancreas, and kidneys.
His study on young patients with schistosomiasis revealed that nearly 60% had abnormal brain scan results, indicating potential damage not visible through symptoms.
The abnormalities included small spots in the brain's white matter and changes in the basal ganglia, suggesting the need for careful brain monitoring in those infected.
Frequently asked questions
Does Dr. Borba-Filho study lymphoma?
Yes, he researches how lymphoma appears in imaging scans and its implications for diagnosis and treatment monitoring.
What conditions does Dr. Borba-Filho focus on?
He specializes in lymphoma and schistosomiasis mansoni, particularly looking at their impact on the abdominal organs and brain health.
Are his findings relevant for patients with schistosomiasis?
Yes, his work highlights that the disease can cause unnoticed brain damage, emphasizing the importance of monitoring even in asymptomatic individuals.
Publications in plain English
Abdominal manifestations of lymphoma: spectrum of imaging features.
2013
ISRN radiology
Manzella A, Borba-Filho P, D'Ippolito G, Farias M
Plain English Researchers reviewed imaging scans to document how lymphoma (a blood cancer) appears when it spreads to organs and tissues in the belly and pelvis. They found that lymphoma most commonly affects the spleen and liver, but can show up almost anywhere in the abdomen—including the stomach, pancreas, and kidneys—and that these cancers look different depending on where they appear.
Doctors need to recognize these different appearances on scans because imaging is how they diagnose lymphoma and track whether treatment is working, without needing to do surgery or biopsies.
Brain magnetic resonance imaging findings in young patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis mansoni without overt symptoms.
2012
The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene
Manzella A, Borba-Filho P, Brandt CT, Oliveira K
Plain English Researchers used brain scans to look for hidden damage in 34 young people who had been infected with a parasitic disease called schistosomiasis mansoni but had no obvious brain symptoms. They found that nearly 60% of these patients had abnormal patterns on their brain scans, including small spots of damage in the brain's white matter and changes in a deep brain region called the basal ganglia.
This matters because it shows that this parasitic infection can cause brain damage even when patients feel fine, suggesting doctors should monitor the brains of infected people more carefully and that the disease may cause more widespread harm than previously thought.