Proximal epithelioid sarcoma after a history of malignant melanoma: a diagnostic challenge

Cytopathology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-332
Author(s):  
G. Wang ◽  
N. van der Westhuizen ◽  
M. Hyrcza ◽  
K. Pringle ◽  
D. Salina
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-292
Author(s):  
Haley Danielle Heibel ◽  
Parneet Dhaliwal ◽  
Etan Marks ◽  
Clay J. Cockerell

Malignant melanoma and particularly metastatic melanoma represent a diagnostic challenge due to the wide variety of histologic patterns, resemblance to benign entities, and extensive range of clinical presentations.  A high index of suspicion for melanoma is important for accurate diagnosis, especially when there is a previous history of malignancy.  Here, we present a patient with a history of melanoma and locally metastatic melanoma, who subsequently developed a nodule on his right forearm near the site of his previous melanoma excision.  Histologically, the melanoma appeared as granuloma annulare (GA) with benign cytologic features, but was identified as metastatic melanoma using SOX-10 immunohistochemical staining.  Other malignancies, including lymphomas, leukemias, sarcomas, and cutaneous metastases of internal malignancies, have mimicked GA and interstitial granulomatous processes.  Therefore, further immunohistochemical staining should be performed to assess for metastatic disease in the setting of a histological pattern that resembles a benign granulomatous process in a patient with a history of malignancy, including malignant melanoma.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Diogo André ◽  
Teresa André ◽  
Fabiana Gouveia ◽  
Rafael Nascimento ◽  
António Chaves ◽  
...  

Introduction. Primitive malignant heart tumours are rare, specific cases. The presence of cardiac metastases, often in the pericardium, besides indicating disseminated oncological disease, represents a diagnostic challenge since they tend to be asymptomatic. Malignant cutaneous melanoma (MCM) is the neoplasm that most often affects the heart. Patients and Methods. The authors describe a case report of a 59-year-old female patient with a history of non-insulin-treated diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, dyslipidemia, and remitting cutaneous malignant melanoma who underwent skin excision, lymphadenectomy, and adjuvant chemotherapy in 1996. In April 2014, she resorted to emergency service due to epigastric pain and progressive tiredness. Due to the persistence of the complaints, abdominal ultrasound was performed, which showed a large pericardial effusion, corroborated later by teleradiography and echocardiography. The patient underwent pericardiocentesis, which isolated neoplastic cells. A computed tomography study of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis revealed bilateral and pericardial pleural effusion, as well as alterations suggestive of pericardial and pulmonary metastasis. Later, fine-needle aspiration puncture of the left posterior cervical nodule confirmed histologically malignant melanoma metastasis. Discussion. Given the natural history of melanoma that when metastasized has an overall survival of 15–20% for 5 years, its metastatic spread may occur several years after its surgical excision. Thus, patients with a history of melanoma and heart failure who develop new cardiac symptoms of unknown aetiology should undergo imaging studies such as echocardiography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Shi-Min Yuan

Extracardiac manifestations of constrictive pericarditis, such as massive ascites and liver cirrhosis, often cover the true situation and lead to a delayed diagnosis. A young female patient was referred to this hospital due to a 4-year history of refractory ascites as the only presenting symptom. A diagnosis of chronic calcified constrictive pericarditis was eventually established based on echocardiography, ultrasonography, and computed tomography. Cardiac catheterization was not performed. Pericardiectomy led to relief of her ascites. Refractory ascites warrants thorough investigation for constrictive pericarditis.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Jinping Xu ◽  
Jinping Xu ◽  
Ruth Wei ◽  
Salieha Zaheer

Obturator hernias are rare but pose a diagnostic challenge with relatively high morbidity and mortality. Our patient is an elderly, thin female with an initial evaluation concerning for gastroenteritis, and further evaluation revealed bilateral incarcerated obturator hernias, which confirmed postoperatively as well as a right femoral hernia. An 83-year-old female presented to the outpatient office initially with one-day history of diarrhea and one-week history of episodic colicky abdominal pain. She returned 4 weeks later with diarrhea resolved but worsening abdominal pain and left inner thigh pain while ambulating, without changes in appetite or nausea and vomiting. Abdominal CT scan then revealed bilateral obturator hernias. Patient then presented to the emergency department (ED) due to worsening pain, and subsequently underwent hernia repair. Intraoperatively, it was revealed that the patient had bilateral incarcerated obturator hernias and a right femoral hernia. All three hernias were repaired, and patient was discharged two days later. Patient remained well postoperatively, and 15-month CT of abdomen showed no hernia recurrence.


2021 ◽  
pp. 109352662098649
Author(s):  
Tiffany G Baker ◽  
Michael J Lyons ◽  
Lee Leddy ◽  
David M Parham ◽  
Cynthia T Welsh

Rhabdoid tumor predisposition syndrome (RTPS) is defined as the presence of a SMARCB1 or SMARCA4 genetic aberration in a patient with malignant rhabdoid tumor. Patients with RTPS are more likely to present with synchronous or metachronous rhabdoid tumors. Based on the current state of rhabdoid tumor taxonomy, these diagnoses are based largely on patient demographics, anatomic location of disease, and immunohistochemistry, despite their nearly identical histologic and immunohistochemical profiles. Thus, the true distinction between such tumors remains a diagnostic challenge. Central nervous system atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumor (AT/RT) is a rare, aggressive, primarily pediatric malignancy with variable histologic features and a well documented association with loss of SMARCB1 expression. Epithelioid sarcoma (ES) is a rare soft tissue tumor arising in patients of all ages and characteristically staining for both mesenchymal and epithelial immunohistochemical markers while usually demonstrating loss of SMARCB1 expression. To our knowledge we herein present the first documented case of a patient with RTPS who presented with metachronous AT/RT and ES.


Author(s):  
Lagan Paul ◽  
Tanya Jain ◽  
Manisha Agarwal ◽  
Shalini Singh

Abstract Background Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a potentially lethal complication of measles infection. Neurological complications take years to manifest after primary viral infection of brain and can lead to blindness in some individuals. Findings A 13-year-old female patient with history of Bell’s palsy 2 months prior, presented with rapidly progressing necrotizing retinitis in both eyes. Soon after, she was unable to walk, developed myoclonic jerks, altered sensorium and loss of bowel and bladder control. Her clinical history, CSF IgG measles antibody analysis, MRI brain and EEG findings confirmed the diagnosis of SSPE. Conclusion SSPE in our case presented as Bell’s palsy and sudden painless diminution of vision due to ocular involvement, and developed full blown disease within 2 months. SSPE can present as a diagnostic challenge and warrants early identification and referral for timely diagnosis and management.


2000 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-134
Author(s):  
P. M. Alli ◽  
B. J. Crain ◽  
R. Heitmiller ◽  
P. Argani

Abstract The identification of malignant melanoma in a visceral organ of nonepidermal origin is not an uncommon occurrence. Frequently, these cases are solitary metastases that present years after a thin epidermal melanoma has been diagnosed (and sometimes forgotten). However, primary visceral melanomas have been reported that have not been preceded by an epidermal lesion. We describe herein a unique case of melanoma presenting as a primary intrathymic tumor. The patient had no previous history of epidermal melanoma, and extensive workup did not reveal evidence for an alternative primary site. The tumor exhibited histologic features characteristic of melanoma, including an abundance of large pleomorphic cells with eosinophilic cytoplasm, prominent nucleoli, and occasional intranuclear inclusions. Tumor cells stained for HMB-45 and S-100 protein and ultrastructural analysis revealed stage II and stage III melanosomes. The patient remained free of disease until intrathoracic recurrence was detected on a computed tomographic scan 14 months later. The lack of clinical history and physical findings of melanoma at presentation, the intrathymic location of the tumor, and the pattern of recurrence suggest that this case likely represents a primary thymic melanoma, a previously unreported entity.


Author(s):  
Napoleón González Saldaña ◽  
Mercedes Macías Parra ◽  
Hugo Juárez Olguín ◽  
José Iván Castillo Bejarano ◽  
Monica Punzo Soto ◽  
...  

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global problem and a diagnostic challenge, especially in pediatrics. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical, microbiological, radiological, and histopathological data of TB in children. A 7-year retrospective and descriptive cohort study that included 127 patients under 18 years of age with diagnosis of active TB was conducted from 2011 to 2018 in a pediatric hospital. Tuberculosis was microbiologically confirmed using Ziehl–Neelsen (ZN) staining, culture or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in a total of 94 (74%) cases. Thirty-three cases were defined as probable TB based on tuberculin skin test result and epidemiological evaluation. The TB forms found were lymph node (39.3%), bone (15.7%), lung (13.6%), and meningeal TB (8.6%). The most common symptoms were fever (48.8%) and adenopathy (45.6%). History of contact was established in 34.6%. Positive ZN staining (sensitivity 30%) and culture (sensitivity 37%) were found in 29% and 37.7% of subjects, respectively. About 64.5% depicted abnormal chest X-ray. Xpert MTB/RIF® (PCR) was positive in 9.4% and biopsy was compatible in 52.7% of these samples. It is fundamental to have laboratory and epidemiological evaluation that support the diagnosis of the disease in children and thus, define its management; since, in most cases, early microbiologic confirmation is lacking.


2021 ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
Sukanta Sikdar ◽  
Mala Mistri ◽  
Subhabrata Das ◽  
Dibyendu Chatterjee

Background: The various presentations of carcinoma of the colon are well known. Abscess formation occurs in 0.3 to 0.4% and is the second most common complication of perforated lesions. Perforation and penetration of adjacent organs with intra-abdominal abscess formation as the initial presentation is uncommon. It is difcult to make an accurate diagnosis of abscess formation as the rst evidence of colonic carcinoma preoperatively. A 68 yrs old female who presented to the ED with acute onset of left lower abdominal f Case presentation: ullness, pain and local redness for 15 days. She denied any history of vomiting, fever, anorexia but history of altered bowel habit. Clinically she had a palpable lump (20 x15) cm in left lumber region .The lump was parietal with local raise of temperature , redness and tenderness can be elicited . So our initial impression was parietal wall abscess and we underwent emergency drainage of abscess. She had uneventful recovery and discharged after 2 weeks. She was admitted with similar presentation in previous location 30 days after discharge. Now we investigate thoroughly, a CECT scan of whole abdomen which conrms radio-logically as carcinoma of descending colon with abscess extending into the parietal wall .We underwent an exploratory laparotomy and HPE proven as adenocarcinoma of the colon. Post op she developed SSI which was managed with regular dressing and she was discharged in post-op day 20. We report this case because of an unusual Conclusion: presentation of left sided colonic Ca. The accurate preoperative diagnosis of these conditions extremely complicated because of the fuzzy clinical presentation. The CT scan can diagnose malignancy pre-operatively, even if the denitive diagnosis of colonic perforated neoplasia may be evident only during surgery. So early diagnosis and prompted intervention can save the patient to developed sepsis and to reduce signicantly the morbidity and mortality. The importance is to focus on the differential diagnosis and keep in mind that a colon carcinoma can present with abdominal abscess. Surgeons should be aware of this differential because it is easily ignored pre-operatively.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Koirala ◽  
A. Poudel ◽  
R. Basnet ◽  
K. Subedi

Infantile hypotonia or floppy infant is a diagnostic challenge when it presents with other presenting complaints such as fever, cough or diarrhea. Many times the hypotonia goes unnoticed when other symptom covers the hypotonia and child continues to receive the treatment for other symptoms. We report a rare case from Nepal of infantile Pompe disease who presented with the history of fever and cough in the recent earthquake disaster camp at remote part of Sindhupalchowk, Nepal. He was being treated as a case of pneumonia.Pompe disease can be diagnosed clinically by taking detailed history and correlating the clinical findings during the presentation with other symptoms. In our case the normal respiratory rate, reduced Spo2 and presence of crackles dominated the hypotonia and was mistreated as pneumonia. High index of suspicion is necessary in diagnosing Pompe disease.


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