1/4137. Systemic infection with Alaria americana (trematoda). Alaria americana is a trematode, the adult of which is found in mammalian carnivores. The first case of disseminated human infection by the mesocercarial stage of this worm occurred in a 24-year-old man. The infection possibly was acquired by the eating of inadequately cooked frogs, which are intermediate hosts of the worm. The diagnosis was made during life by lung biopsy and confirmed at autopsy. The mesocercariae were present in the stomach wall, lymph nodes, liver, myocardium, pancreas and surrounding adipose tissue, spleen, kidney, lungs, brain and spinal cord. There was no host reaction to the parasites. Granulomas were present in the stomach wall, lymph nodes and liver, but the worms were not identified in them. hypersensitivity vasculitis and a bleeding diathesis due to disseminated intravascular coagulation and a circulating anticoagulant caused his death 8 days after the onset of his illness. ( info) |
2/4137. Recurrent malignant proliferating trichilemmal tumour: local management with ethanol injection. We report a 59-year-old woman who exhibited a recurrent malignant proliferating trichilemmal tumour on the scalp for 1 5 years. The tumour was recalcitrant to conventional treatments such as chemotherapy, radiation or hyperthermia and we performed intratumoral ethanol injection as an alternative means of reducing tumour mass and obtaining haemostasis. biopsy specimens obtained after the ethanol injection revealed oedema, haemorrhage in the dermis and degeneration of the tumour cells, showing vacuolization with pyknotic nuclei. For cases of recurrent skin tumours and for patients in poor clinical condition, intratumoral ethanol injection is likely to be a therapeutic alternative to surgery or other conventional treatments. ( info) |
| The typical patient with fat necrosis of the scrotum is a prepuberal heavy set male subject who has extratesticular scrotal masses, usually bilateral, with mild to moderate pain but no systemic complaints or symptons related to voiding. The masses are firm, tender and do not transmit light. With a firm diagnosis expectant treatment will allow spontaneous resolution of the lesions. If doubt exists appropriate surgical intervention is advocated. Hypothermic injury, such as swimming in frigid water, is the most probable etiologic agent. ( info) |
4/4137. Early-onset scleral necrosis after iodine I 125 plaque radiotherapy for ciliochoroidal melanoma. A 62-year-old man with a large ciliochoroidal melanoma developed early-onset scleral necrosis with tumor extrusion within 1 month of epibulbar iodine I 125 plaque radiotherapy. The eye was enucleated. Pathologic study revealed nonmicrobial scleral necrosis with extrusion of histologically intact and necrotic uveal melanoma cells. The patient has been followed up for 15 months without clinical recurrence. We discuss possible mechanisms to explain the early development of scleral necrosis after plaque therapy in this patient. ( info) |
5/4137. Ferumoxide-enhanced MRI of sideronecrosis superimposed on genetic hemochromatosis. Genetic hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by excessive iron absorption from the gut, resulting in increased total body iron stores, multisystem organ dysfunction, and an increased risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. The magnetic susceptibility effects of excess hepatocellular iron generally cause diffuse hepatic signal loss on T2- or T2*-weighted MR images. Although hepatic iron deposition is usually diffuse, focal areas of iron sparing can occur, and, when present, superimposed neoplasm is a consideration. We describe a patient with cirrhosis, hemochromatosis, and multiple small benign relatively hyperintense iron-poor foci consisting of piecemeal sideronecrosis. ( info) |
6/4137. Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland with extensive tumor necrosis: a case report. Hurthle cell neoplasm of the thyroid gland is rarely associated with tumor necrosis. We report a case of Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid gland with extensive necrosis. An 82-year-old man had had a right neck mass for more than 10 years. Approximately two to three weeks before he was hospitalized, this neck mass became progressively enlarged. An 131I scan could not demonstrate the right lobe of the thyroid gland, while the contralateral lobe was unremarkable. A 99mTc-sestamibi scan showed increased uptake on the lesion side. Fine needle aspiration cytology showed necrosis with macrophages in the initial aspirate, and the secondary aspirate appeared suspicious for a Hurthle cell tumor. The patient had a total thyroidectomy, and the pathology proved to be Hurthle cell carcinoma with tumor necrosis. ( info) |
7/4137. Cerebral radionecrosis following the treatment of parotid tumours: a case report and review of the literature. radiotherapy is an accepted part of the treatment of malignant tumours of the parotid gland. The use of radiotherapy in benign parotid tumours, where spillage of tumour cells has occurred at operation, is more controversial. radiotherapy to the parotid bed is not without morbidity. Complications may arise as a result of radiation damage to neighbouring structures and there is also potential to induce malignant disease. A patient, whose postoperative radiotherapy following resection of a pleomorphic salivary gland adenoma was complicated by cerebral necrosis, is discussed. The literature pertaining to morbidity of radiotherapy for parotid tumours is reviewed. ( info) |
8/4137. Kleine-Levin and Munchausen syndromes in a patient with recurrent acromegaly. Hypothalamic disease often affects the patients' personality and this also applies to pituitary tumors with suprasellar extension. We report on a patient with a 12-year history of recurrent acromegaly, treated with three transphenoidal operations, single field radiation therapy and bromocriptine/octreotide administration. During the course of follow-up she presented with self-inflicted anemia and kleine-levin syndrome (hypersomnia, hyperphagia and hypersexuality). Furthermore, she developed post-radiation necrosis within the right temporal lobe. Whether her neurological and personality disorders result - at least partially - from the acromegaly or the temporal lobe necrosis remains unclear. ( info) |
9/4137. Anticoagulant-induced skin necrosis in a patient with hereditary deficiency of protein s. skin necrosis is a rare but debilitating complication of treatment with vitamin k antagonist anticoagulants such as warfarin. A clinically similar syndrome has been reported less frequently with heparin therapy. We recently managed a thirty-year-old female patient who developed skin necrosis on her left lower extremity while on warfarin for postpartum DVT. The lesions started to develop 48 hr after stopping heparin therapy. Discontinuation of warfarin and reinstitution of heparin was complicated by a rapid decrease in platelet count consistent with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) and its associated risk of platelet activation and thrombosis. The diagnosis was supported by the identification of antibodies against heparin/platelet factor 4 complexes in the patient's serum. The platelet count recovered and the patient improved after switching to therapy with the heparinoid danaparoid. Evaluation for a hypercoagulable state revealed a partial deficiency of protein s, a condition that previously was identified in two of her family members. It is not clear if this patient suffered from warfarin-induced skin necrosis, a manifestation of heparin-mediated platelet activation, or a complex condition in which both drugs contributed. HIT may affect 1-3% of patients who receive unfractionated heparin, and this case raises the possibility that heparin may contribute to, or cause, some episodes of skin necrosis attributed to warfarin. Because many patients who develop warfarin-induced skin necrosis have been treated initially with heparin, it would seem prudent to consider HIT in these situations. ( info) |
10/4137. Vascular changes in tuberculous meningoencephalitis. Our report refers two cases of tuberculous encephalomeningitis which differ in the course and pathological changes. In case 1 blood vessels showed features of peri, endo-, or panvasculites. In some vessels endothelium proliferation leading to the stenosis or obliteration of the vascular lumen was observed. Necrosis was an effect of vessels occlusion. In case 2 many fewer vessel were involved in onflammation process. Vascular changes were also less extensive and were observed more rarely. Tuberculous infection often caused less tissue lesions than vascular changes. Different pathological changes probably depend on the type and virulence of Myobacterium tuberculosis and on the host immune response to the infection. ( info) |