Odontogenic carcinosarcoma of the mandible: a case report and review

Odontogenic carcinosarcoma is an extremely rare malignant odontogenic tumor with only a few reported cases. It is characterized by a true mixed tumor showing malignant cytology of both epithelial and mesenchymal components. It has been assumed to arise from pre-existing lesions such as ameloblastoma, ameloblastic fibroma, and ameloblastic fibrosarcoma. To date, the reported cases have exhibited considerably aggressive clinical behavior. The case of an odontogenic carcinosarcoma in the mandible of a 61-year-old male is described herein. The tumor destroyed the cortex of the mandible and invaded the adjacent tissues. Treatment was performed by surgical resection and reconstruction. The purposes of this article are to introduce odontogenic carcinosarcoma through this case study, to distinguish it from related diseases and to discuss features of the tumor in the existing literature.

A Case of Cerebral Gumma Presenting as Brain Tumor in a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-Negative Patient

Syphilis, along with the recent increase of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients, has also been on the rise. It has a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations, among which cerebral gumma is, a kind of neurosyphilis, however, it is rare and can be cured by penicillin. Thus, cerebral gumma needs to be differentially diagnosed from other brain masses that may be present in syphilis patients. We have experienced a case where the patient was first suspected of brain tumor, but confirmed by surgery to be cerebral gumma due to neurosyphilis. This is the first such case encountered in Korea, therefore, we report it here in. A 40-year old woman complaining of headaches was found to have a brain mass on her CT scans and MRI. Suspecting a brain Tumor, a resection was performed on the patient, and histological results revealed that the central portion of the mass contained necrotic material and the peripheral region was infiltrated with plasma cells. Warthin-Starry staining of the region revealed spirochetes, and the patient was thus diagnosed as brain gumma. Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was reactive. After an operation, penicillin-G at a daily dose of 24x10(6) U was given for 10 days from post-operative day 10, and thereafter, the mass disappeared.