Dermoid Tumor of the Lateral Wall of the Cavernous Sinus

BACKGROUND: Congenital intracranial dermoid tumors are very rare. The location of these dermoid lesions in the cavernous sinus and the complexity of the operative procedure for these lesions have been noted by several authors. Dermoid tumors originating in the cavernous sinus are usually interdural, and thus blurred vision is an uncommon presentation. CASE DESCRIPTION: Herein we report the first incidental case of a cavernous sinus dermoid cyst in a 21-year-old woman. CONCLUSIONS: A literature review was done and the possible treatments and approaches for this lesion are discussed. We consider that surgical treatment is indicated in most incidental cavernous sinus dermoid lesions due to the possible symptoms related to compression or rupture leading to chemical meningitis.

Longitudinal analysis of tumor marker CEA of breast cancer patients from Braga's hospital

Allied to an epidemiological study of population of the Senology Unit of Braga’s Hospital that have been diagnosed with malignant breast cancer, we describe the progression in time of repeated measurements of tumor marker Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Our main purpose is to describe the progression of this tumor marker as a function of possible risk factors and, hence, to understand how these risk factors influences that progression. The response variable, values of CEA, was analyzed making use of longitudinal models, testing for different correlation structures. The same covariates used in a previous survival analysis were considered in the longitudinal model. The reference time used was time from diagnose until death from breast cancer. For diagnostic of the models fitted we have used empirical and theoretical variograms. To evaluate the fixed term of the longitudinal model we have tested for a changing point on the effect of time on the tumor marker progression. A longitudinal model was also fitted only to the subset of patients that died from breast cancer, using the reference time as time from date of death until blood test.

A Propósito de um Tumor Abdomino-Pélvico na Gravidez. Um Caso Clínico

Durante a gravidez podem ser diagnosticados tumores abdominais ou pélvicos. De entre estes, os mais comuns no grupo etário em idade reprodutiva, são os tumores uterinos e anexiais. A ecografia é o meio mais comum para apoiar o diagnóstico; contudo, o crescimento uterino e a sua relação com os anexos, podem levar por vezes a diagnósticos enganadores. É a propósito de uma dessas situações, rara na gravidez, que se descreve o seguinte caso clínico.

Tumor Fibroso Localizado da Pleura: Análise de 11 Novos Casos

Pretende-se neste trabalho fazer uma revisão retrospectiva duma patologia, rara na sua incidência(5% de todos os tumores pleurais) e singular nas suas características, analisando na nossa casuística as formas de apresentação, terapêutica cirúrgica e resultados obtidos. Os tumores solitários da pleura são formações neoplásicas raras, cujo comportamento biológico não é obrigatoriamente correlacionável com características imuno-histoquímicas, pois os considerados benignos apresentam um sensível índice de recidiva e metastização, independentemente do volume que apresentam. A cirurgia é o único tratamento disponível e a excisão cirúrgica completa é decisiva para a cura. De Agosto de 1995 a Janeiro de 2003, na casuística do Serviço de Cirurgia Cardiotorácica do Hospital de Santa Marta, foram analisados todos os doentes com o diagnóstico de tumor fibroso localizado da pleura (TFLP). Neste contexto, identificaram-se 11 doentes com idade média de 57,54 anos, dos quais 6 do sexo feminino, em que foi colocado o diagnóstico de tumor fibroso localizado da pleura; 6 dos tumores foram classificados como malignos e 5 como benignos. Nesta série, todos os doentes foram submetidos a intervenção cirúrgica, com técnicas variadas, sem mortalidade intra-operatória ou morbilidade intra-hospitalar significativas, apesar da dificuldade da cirurgia nos tumores mais volumosos (um dos tumores pesava 2,5 kg). O follow up decorreu entre os 4 e os 84 meses (média – 39,4 meses). Um doente faleceu 13 meses após a intervenção, por embolia pulmonar maciça, depois de várias crises de tromboembolismo pulmonar (sem relação determinável com a cirurgia ou a patologia base), apesar da anticoagulação iniciada e controlada na Consulta do Hospital.

Tumor de Células da Granulosa. A Propósito de um Caso Clínico

Os tumores de células da granulosa constituem 1 a 2% dos tumores do ovário. Clinicamente caracterizam-se pela sua longa história natural, baixo grau de malignidade e pela capacidade de recorrer muitos anos após uma cura clínica aparente. O diagnóstico é geralmente intra-operatório. A maioria dos tumores encontram-se no estadio I, sendo o prognóstico excelente. O tratamento inicial é geralmente cirúrgico. Descreve-se um caso clínico paradigmático deste tipo de tumor.

Laparoscopia em Tumor Quístico Gigante do Ovário na Adolescência. A Propósito de um Caso Clínico

A eficácia e segurança da cirurgia laparoscópica na resolução dos tumores quísticos benignos do ovário tem sido demonstrada por inúmeros estudos. As dimensões do tumor quístico do ovário foi, até há algum tempo atrás, factor limitante na opção cirúrgica: se superior a 10 cm a laparotomia era a indicação. Actualmente, a cirurgia laparoscópica está associada a muitas vantagens: redução da hemorragia operatória, menos complicações pós-operatórias, menor tempo de hospitalização, mais rápida recuperação e melhor resultado estético. Os autores descrevem o caso de uma adolescente de 15 anos de idade, com um tumor quístico gigante do ovário (mais de 30 cm), ocupando todos os quadrantes do abdómen, e que foi tratado laparoscopicamente com sucesso após punção/drenagem aspirativa sob controle ecográfico. Conclusão: Com uma criteriosa selecção dos doentes, a laparoscopia cirúrgica é segura em doentes com quistos benignos gigantes do ovário.

Tumor Ovárico de Células de Leydig. Um Caso Raro de Hiperandrogenismo

Os tumores ováricos secretores de androgénios são raros constituindo cerca de 1% de todas as neoplasias do ovário. Descreve-se o caso clínico de uma doente do sexo feminino, 67 anos de idade, que recorre à consulta por queixas de hirsutismo (score 23) e alopécia com padrão androgenético A avaliação laboratorial revelou níveis séricos elevados de testosterona. A ecografia ginecológica por via transvaginal permitiu identificar a presença de um nódulo sólido no ovário esquerdo com características imagiológicas sugestivas de malignidade pelo que, a doente foi submetida a ooforectomia bilateral. O exame histopatológico revelou a presença de células de Leydig. O seguimento clínico posterior da doente permitiu constatar melhoria do quadro clínico e normalização dos níveis séricos de testosterona.

Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha-Induced Drug Eruptions: One Patient, More Than a Pattern

Background: Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) antagonists are effective in treating several immune-inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease. The paradoxical and unpredictable induction of psoriasis and psoriasiform skin lesions is a recognized adverse event, although of unclear aetiology. However, histological analysis of these eruptions remains insufficient, yet suggesting that some might constitute a new pattern of adverse drug reaction, rather than true psoriasis. Case report: The authors report the case of a 43-year-old woman with severe recalcitrant Crohn disease who started treatment with infliximab. There was also a personal history of mild plaque psoriasis without clinical expression for the past eight years. She developed a heterogeneous cutaneous eruption of psoriasiform morphology with pustules and crusts after the third infliximab infusion. The histopathological diagnosis was of a Sweet-like dermatosis. The patient was successfully treated with cyclosporine in association with both topical corticosteroid and vitamin D3 analogue. Three weeks after switching to adalimumab a new psoriasiform eruption was observed, histologically compatible with a psoriasiform drug eruption. Despite this, and considering the beneficial effect on the inflammatory bowel disease, it was decided to maintain treatment with adalimumab and to treat through with topicals, with progressive control of skin disease. Discussion: Not much is known about the pathogenesis of psoriasiform eruptions induced by biological therapies, but genetic predisposition and Koebner phenomenon may contribute to it. Histopathology can add new facets to the comprehension of psoriasiform reactions. In fact, histopathologic patterns of such skin lesions appear to be varied, in a clear asymmetry with clinical findings. Conclusion: The sequential identification in the same patient of two clinical and histopathologic patterns of drug reaction to TNFα antagonists is rare. Additionally, to the authors’ knowledge, there is only one other description in literature of a TNFα antagonist-induced Sweet-like dermatosis, emphasizing the singularity of this case report.

Automatic Small Bowel Tumor Diagnosis by Using Multi-Scale Wavelet-Based Analysis in Wireless Capsule Endoscopy Images

BACKGROUND: Wireless capsule endoscopy has been introduced as an innovative, non-invasive diagnostic technique for evaluation of the gastrointestinal tract, reaching places where conventional endoscopy is unable to. However, the output of this technique is an 8 hours video, whose analysis by the expert physician is very time consuming. Thus, a computer assisted diagnosis tool to help the physicians to evaluate CE exams faster and more accurately is an important technical challenge and an excellent economical opportunity. METHOD: The set of features proposed in this paper to code textural information is based on statistical modeling of second order textural measures extracted from co-occurrence matrices. To cope with both joint and marginal non-Gaussianity of second order textural measures, higher order moments are used. These statistical moments are taken from the two-dimensional color-scale feature space, where two different scales are considered. Second and higher order moments of textural measures are computed from the co-occurrence matrices computed from images synthesized by the inverse wavelet transform of the wavelet transform containing only the selected scales for the three color channels. The dimensionality of the data is reduced by using Principal Component Analysis. RESULTS: The proposed textural features are then used as the input of a classifier based on artificial neural networks. Classification performances of 93.1% specificity and 93.9% sensitivity are achieved on real data. These promising results open the path towards a deeper study regarding the applicability of this algorithm in computer aided diagnosis systems to assist physicians in their clinical practice.

Tumor de Buschke-Löwenstein: um Caso em Doente com Coinfeção Vírus da Imunodeficiência Humana e Vírus Papiloma Humano

O tumor de Buschke-Löwenstein (TBL) é uma variante rara de condiloma acuminatum que possui comportamento maligno pelo crescimento local, mas não apresenta potencial metastático. Afeta primariamente a área genital e, menos frequentemente a região perianal. Os fatores de risco para o seu desenvolvimento incluem a terapêutica imunossupressora e a infeção VIH. Possui elevada taxa de recorrência e de transformação maligna, sendo a cirurgia o tratamento inicial recomendado. Apresenta-se um caso de TBL perianal e anal num doente com infeção VIH cuja histologia não revelou transformação maligna e para o qual a terapêutica cirúrgica isolada foi eficaz. Revê-se o conhecimento atual sobre esta entidade tendo em atenção a história natural nos indivíduos infetados pelo VIH.

INVESTIGATION OF BIOFILM FORMATION IN COAGULASE-NEGATIVE STAPHYLOCOCCI ISOLATED FROM PLATELET CONCENTRATE BAGS

Platelet Concentrates (PCs) are the blood components with the highest rate of bacterial contamination, and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) are the most frequently isolated contaminants. This study investigated the biofilm formation of 16 contaminated units out of 691 PCs tested by phenotypic and genotypic methods. Adhesion in Borosilicate Tube (ABT) and Congo Red Agar (CRA) tests were used to assess the presence of biofilm. The presence of icaADC genes was assessed by means of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technique. With Vitek(r)2, Staphylococcus haemolyticus was considered the most prevalent CoNS (31.25%). The CRA characterized 43.8% as probable biofilm producers, and for the ABT test, 37.5%. The icaADC genes were identified in seven samples by the PCR. The ABT technique showed 85.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity when compared to the reference method (PCR), and presented strong agreement (k = 0.8). This study shows that species identified as PCs contaminants are considered inhabitants of the normal skin flora and they might become important pathogens. The results also lead to the recommendation of ABT use in laboratory routine for detecting biofilm in CoNS contaminants of PCs.

BIOFILM FORMATION OF Vibrio cholerae ON STAINLESS STEEL USED IN FOOD PROCESSING

Vibrio cholerae represents a significant threat to human health in developing countries. This pathogen forms biofilms which favors its attachment to surfaces and its survival and transmission by water or food. This work evaluated the in vitro biofilm formation of V. cholerae isolated from clinical and environmental sources on stainless steel of the type used in food processing by using the environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). Results showed no cell adhesion at 4 h and scarce surface colonization at 24 h. Biofilms from the environmental strain were observed at 48 h with high cellular aggregations embedded in Vibrio exopolysaccharide (VPS), while less confluence and VPS production with microcolonies of elongated cells were observed in biofilms produced by the clinical strain. At 96 h the biofilms of the environmental strain were released from the surface leaving coccoid cells and residual structures, whereas biofilms of the clinical strain formed highly organized structures such as channels, mushroom-like and pillars. This is the first study that has shown the in vitro ability of V. cholerae to colonize and form biofilms on stainless steel used in food processing.

Formation of a stable cyano-bridged dinuclear iron cluster following oxidation of the superoxide reductases from Treponema pallidum and Desulfovibrio vulgaris with K(3)Fe(CN)(6)

Inorg. Chem., 2003, 42 (4), pp 938–940 DOI: 10.1021/ic0262886

Ovarian Borderline Tumor and Fertility-Sparing Surgery

Ovarian borderline tumors (OBTs) are frequently diagnosed in women of reproductive age. There is no consensus about their management, and it sometimes represents a dilemma aboutwhat should be done: fertility sparing surgery or a hysterectomy with salpingo-oophorectomy? Case: A 32-year-old nulligravida, diagnosed with a right ovarian borderline tumor is presented. She underwent pelvic washings, right salpingo-oophorectomy, appendectomy, and omental and peritoneal biopsies (laparotomic approach). Macroscopically, the left ovary was normal and subsequent exploration for staging was also normal, including the lymph nodes. Intraoperatively, frozen section examination was unclear, suggesting an OBT. Results: The final histopathologic diagnosis was ovarian borderline tumor, stage IIC (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics [FIGO] staging). The patient expressed a desire to preserve her fertility. Thirty-six months postsurgery, she became pregnant spontaneously and delivered a healthy newborn at term. Conclusions: Conservative surgery can be performed in young patients treated for an OBT, provided they are closely followed up and that this surgery is performed after careful consideration and informed consent. It is, however, controversial with respect to performing hysterectomy and salpingo-oopherectomy upon the patient’s completion of childbearing.