A Case of Melanocytic Nevus Combined with a Vellus Hair Cyst / 대한피부과학회지

The combination of melanocytic nevus with other tumors of epidermal or adnexal origin has been described since the first case reported by Andresen and Enos in 1952. Most of reported cases are melanocytic nevi combined with common epidermoid cysts. The combination of nevus and cyst could possibly be misdiagnosed clinically as a malignant melanoma upon initial examination. A 58-year-old woman presented with an asymptomatic, solitary, skin-colored, erythematous 1.0 cm-diameter pedunculated nodule on the occipital scalp which had been present childhood. The histopathologic specimen of the nodule showed a solitary cyst surrounded by intradermal melanocytic nevus. The cyst was located in the dermis lined by squamous epithelium, which was ruptured and inflamed. It contained degenerated keratin materials and multiple transversely and obliquely cut vellus hairs. We herein report a rare case of melanocytic nevus combined with a vellus hair cyst.

A Case of Balloon Cell Melanoma / 대한피부과학회지

Balloon cell melanoma, an uncommon histopathological variant of malignant melanoma was first described by Gardner and Vazquez in 1970. This is histopathologically characterized by the presence of balloon cells with varying sizes and atypical nuclei. A 45-year-old man presented with asymptomatic, solitary, dome shaped, 1.5 cm-diameter black nodule on the left upper arm for 7 years. Histopathologically, lobulated tumor mass revealed copious melanin pigments and many balloon cells with clear cytoplasm, atypical nucleic and variable size. Immunohistochemically the tumor mass showed positive reaction to S-100 protein and HMB 45 staining. Chest CT, MRI for the extremities, bone scan, bone marrow biopsy and routine laboratory tests were within normal limit or negative. Gallium scan showed increased density only on the skin lesion. There was no evidence of lymphadenopathy and metastasis. We herein report a typical case of balloon cell melanoma, which developed primarily on the skin.

The Clinical Characteristics in Patients with Lung Cancer Under 45 Years of Age / 결핵

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in both men and women. Although most cases of lung cancer occur in the sixth to eighth decades of life, 5 to 10% are diagnosed at a young age. There are characteristic features in young patients with lung cancer that differ from those in older patients with lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine if the basal characteristics and survival in young patients with lung cancer differed from those of old patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 94 young patients who were under 45 years of age and compared them with 1,728 old patients (= 46 years of age) in 4 medical schools at Daegu, between August 1986 and July 1995. RESULTS: Significantly more female patients and adenocarcinomas were found in the young patients group, when compared to the old patients. Cough and sputum were the most frequent presenting symptom in both age groups. This was followed by chest discomfort, dyspnea and hemoptysis. The rates of smoking was significantly lower in the young patients. There was no statistical difference in the severity of the disease in terms of staging between the two age groups. Young patients received treatment more frequently than the older patients. The location of the primary tumors was equally frequent in both the upper and lower lobe. However, the survival was better in the young patients (median survival time, 67.3 weeks), when compared to the old patients (median survival time, 26.8 weeks) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Females and adenocarcinoma patients were predominant in young patients with lung cancer. The young patients appeared to have significantly better prognosis.

A Clinical study of tuberculous lymphadenitis / 결핵

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the clinical manifestations and efficacy of treatment regimens in order to determine the adequate combination of anti-tuberculotic agent and duration of treatment for tuberculous lymphadenitis. METHODS: We made a review of 373 patients with tuberculous lymphadenitis, who were admitted to four medical college hospitals in Taegu Korea from 1989 to 1998, and their diagnoses were confirmed histologically and bacteriologically. RESULTS: The incidence of tuberculous lymphadenitis was 71.3% in women and 57.7% were between the ages of 20 and 39 years. The most common symptom was painless swelling. The most commonly involved lymph nodes were unilateral superficial cervical lymph node groups. Tuberculous lymphadenitis was accompanied with active pulmonary tuberculosis, commonly. The sensitivity of fine needle aspiration(FNA) in tuberculous lymphadenitis was 79.6% and 92.2% of the patients had a strong positive reaction to the tuberculin skin test. The most commonly prescribed anti-tuberculotic regimen was the combination of INF, RMP, EMB and PZA(62.6%). Eighty percent of patient were treated for 9-12 months. There was no significantly difference in the recurrence rate of tuberculous lymphadenitis between the combinations of anti-tuberculotic agent, including INF and RMP, and between the durations of treatment, for a period of 6 months of treatment, for a period of 6 months of more. CONCLUSION: The combination of FNA cytologic examination and tuberculin skin test may be helpful in the diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis. We propose that the combination of anti-tuberculotic agents, INH, RMP, EMB, and PZA, be prescribed to patients for 6 to 9 months.

An Analysis of Histopathologic Evaluation of Lung Carcinomas in Last Ten Years

Lung cancer is one of the most common types of malignancy in western nations with serious health problem, and it has become the leading cause of cancer death of males, second only to stomach cancer, in Korea. A review of the histopathology of 1363 cases (1231 patients) of lung carcinoma, diagnosed at the Keimyung University Medical center from 1987 to 1996, was performed to reclassify the type of carcinomas and to investigate the change in the distribution of histologic types of lung carcinoma according to age, sex and year. Among the 1363 cases, 132 patients underwent a surgical operation after biopsy. The diagnosis of each case was proven by histopathologic analysis of surgical specimens (13.2%) and biopsy materials (86.8%). The histologic types in our study were basically based on modified WHO classification (1982) and on new WHO classification (1999). The classification of small cell carcinoma was based on International Association for the Small Cell Lung Cancer (IASLC, 1988). Of the 1231 patients with lung carcinoma, 1012 were male and 219 were female (male to female ratio was 3.6:1). According to the analysis of age distribution, the most prevalent age group was 60~69 years in both sex as (n=516, 42.0%). Changing trends in sex distribution of lung carcinoma patients showed that the proportion of men had decreased throughout the years, whereas the proportion of women had significantly increased. Histologically, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common (n=624, 50.7%), followed by small cell carcinoma (21.1%), adenocarcinoma (18.1%), large cell undifferentiated carcinoma (2.1%), adenosquamous carcinoma (0.4%), and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (0.4%), in order of frequency. In men, squamous cell carcinoma was the most frequent type (55.1%). In women, adenocarcinoma was the most frequent type (39.7%). In both sexes, adenocarcinoma was the most common type in patients under the age of 40 (n=12, 41.4%), while squamous cell carcinoma proved the most frequent type in patients over the age of 40 (n=617, 51.3%). Changing trends of histologic types of lung cancer showed that the incidences of squamous cell carcinoma had significantly decreased throughout the years, whereas those of adenocarcinoma and small cell carcinoma had increased. In conclusion, the results showing increases in the percentage of female patients and in the number of cases of adenocarcinoma were noteworthy, and well correlated with other related reports.

Estimating the Likelihood of Malignancy in Solitary Pulmonary Nodules by Bayesian Approach / 결핵

BACKGROUND: The causes of solitary pulmonary nodule are many, but the main concern is whether the nodule is benign or malignant. Because a solitary pulmonary nodule is the initial manifestation of the majority of lung cancer, accurate clinical and radiologic interpretation is important. Bayes' theorem is a simple method of combining clinical and radiologic findings to estimate the probability that a nodule in an individual patients is malignant. We estimated the probability of malignancy of solitary pulmonary nodules with a specific combination of features by Byesian approach. METHOD: One hundred and eighty patients with solitary pulmonary nodules were identified from multi-center analysis. The hospital records of these patients were reviewed and patient age, smoking history, original radiologic findings, and diagnosis of the solitary pulmonary nodules were recorded. The diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodule was established pathologically in all patients. We used to Bayes' theorem to devise a simple scheme for estimation the likelihood that a solitary pulmonary nodule is malignant based on radiological and clinical characteristics. RESULTS: In Patients characteristics, the probability of malignancy increases with advancing age, peaking in patients older than 66 year of age(LR : 3.65), and higher in patients with smoking history more than 46 pack years(LR : 8.38). In radiological features, the likeklihood ratios were increased with increasing size of the nodule and nodule with lobulated or spiculated margin. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the likelihood ratios of malignancy may improve the accuracy of the probability of malignancy, and can be a guide of management of solitary pulmonary nodule.

Clinical Characteristics of Pulmonary Aspergilloma / 결핵

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary aspergillomas usually arise from colonization and proliferation of Aspergillus in preexisting cavitary lung disease of any cause. About 15% of patients with tuberculous pulmonary cavities were found to have aspergilloma. We analyzed the clinical features and course of 91 patients with pulmonary aspergllloma. METHODS: During the ten-year period from June 1986 to May 1996, 91 patients whose condition was diagnosed as pulmonary aspergilloma at 4 university hospitals in Taegu city were reviewed. All patients fulfilled one of the following criteria: 1) histologic evidence of aspergilloma within abnormal air space in tissue sections, or 2) a positive Aspergillus serum precipitin test with the radiologic finding of a fungus ball. The histological diagnosis was established in 81 patients(89.0%) and clinical diagnosis in 10 patients(11.0%). RESULTS: 1) The age range was 22 to 65 years, with an average of 45 years. A male and female ratio was 1.7:1 (57men and 34 women). 2) Hemoptysis was far the most frequent symptom(89%), followed by cough, dyspnea, weakness, weight loss, fever, chest pain. 3) In all but 14 cases(15.4%) there had been associated conditions. Pulmonary tuberculosis was far the most frequent underlying condition found(74.7%), followed by bronchiectasis(6.6%), cavitary neoplasm(2.2%), pulmonary sequestration(1.1%). 4) The involved area was usually in the upper lobes ; the right upper lobe was involved in 39(42.9%), the left upper lobe in 31(34.1%), the left lower lobe in 13(14.3%), the right lower lobe in 7(7.7%), and the right middle lobe in 1(1.1%). 5) On standard chest roent geno gram the classic "bell-like" image of a fungus ball was found in 62.6% of the subjects. On CT scan, 88.1% of the subjects in which they were done. 6) The surgical therapy was undertaken in 76 patients, and medical therapy in 15 patients, including 4 patients with intracavitary instillation of amphotericin B. 7) The surgical modality was lobectomy in 55 patients(72.4%), segmentectomy in 16 patients(21.1%), pneumonectomy in 4 patients(5.3%), wedge resection in 1 patient(1.3%). The mortality rate was 3.9% (3 patients) ; 2 patients died of sepsis and 1 died of hemoptysis. The postoperative complications were encountered in 6 patients(7.9%), including each one patient with respiratory failure, bleeding, bronchopleural fistula, empyema, and vocal cord paralysis. 8) In the follow-up cases, each 2 patients of 71 patients with surgical treatment and 10 patients with medical treatment had recurrent hemoptysis. CONCLUISON: During follow-up of the chronic pulmonary disease with abnormal air space, if the standard chest roentgenograms are insufficient to detect a fungus ball, computed tomographic scan and serum precipitin test are likely to aid the diagnosis of patients with suspected pulmonary aspergilloma. A reasonable recommendation for management of a patient with aspergilloma would be to reserve surgical resection for those patients who have had severe, recurrent hemoptysis. And a well controlled cooperative study to the medical treatment such as intracavitary antifungal therapy is further needed.