1/4. Cases from the Osler Medical Service at Johns Hopkins University.A 73-year-old man who had been receiving chronic anticoagulation treatment with warfarin for multiple prior strokes presented to the hospital because of several weeks of pain in his right calf. He also complained of several months of anorexia and weight loss of 20 lbs. On physical examination, he was thin and showed signs of temporal wasting. There was minimal pitting edema in the right leg, with a positive Homans' sign. lower extremity Doppler ultrasound showed a popliteal thrombus. The morning after admission, he developed an acutely swollen, painful upper extremity and was found to have an occlusive clot in the left subclavian vein. Because these thrombi occurred in the setting of a therapeutic prothrombin time (international normalized ratio, 2.7) on warfarin, he was begun on treatment with intravenous heparin.What is the diagnosis?- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/4. Secondary signet-ring cell tumour of the prostate derived from a primary gastric malignancy.Primary signet-ring cell carcinoma of the prostate is infrequent and even more so as secondary spread of this pathologic sub-type to the prostate. We describe the sixth reported case with a diagnosis of a secondary signet-ring cell tumour of the prostate secondary to a gastric cancer. Five years post-gastrectomy to resect signet-ring cell carcinoma, we detected a secondary intra-prostatic spread with urinary tract obstruction. The physical appearance of the tumour cells was similar to that of the previously-resected signet-cell carcinoma of the stomach. There were no metastases in other sites and the patient was treated with radiotherapy. When confronted with intra-prostatic signet-ring cell adenocarcinoma it is necessary to distinguish between primary and secondary aetiology since this would reflect in the choice of treatment and prognosis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/4. Small gastrointestinal stromal tumor concomitant with early gastric cancer: a case report.The term gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is defined diagnostically as the main group of mesenchymal tumors with spindle or epithelioid cells arising from the wall of the gastrointestinal tract with immunohistochemical reactivity for CD117 antibody. Previous studies revealed that cells in GISTs express a growth factor receptor with tyrosine kinase activity (termed c-kit), which is the product of the c-kit proto-oncogene. The most specific and practical diagnostic criteria for GISTs are: immunohistochemically determined c-kit (CD117) expression; mitotic score; and tumor size. A small GIST concomitant with early gastric cancer is rarely encountered clinically. Herein we have reported a case of a 1.1-cm GIST detected by esophagogastroduodenoscopy concomitant with a IIc type of early gastric cancer (signet ring cell type). It was detected during a routine physical health examination. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a small GIST concomitant with a signet ring cell type of early gastric cancer.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/4. sweat gland carcinoma with metastases to the skin: response to 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy.A 68-year-old white man presented to the inpatient service at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital with a chief complaint of a progressively enlarging tumor of the right infraorbital region for many years and multiple, pink papulonodules on his head, neck, and trunk. A biopsy specimen of the right infraorbital and back lesions demonstrated an infiltrating adenocarcinoma with prominent signet ring cells, and small lumen formation. Results of an extensive work-up revealed bone marrow metastases and no evidence of a primary malignancy. We present a case of primary sweat gland carcinoma with metastases to the skin based upon history, clinical presentation, results of physical examination, histopathologic examination, immunohistochemical studies, and response to 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy. Due to the rarity of the tumor, the diagnosis is usually not made until the tumor(s) is invasive. An excellent response to systemic chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil in metastatic sweat gland carcinoma was noted in this case.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = physical (Clic here for more details about this article) |