Polypoid Endometriosis, a Benign Tumor with Perplexing Radiologic Features: A Case Report

Polypoid endometriosis is a rare form of endometriosis. It is a benign variant but its radiologic findings trick clinicians into concern about the tumor being malignant. A 42-year-old patient with a history of dysmenorrhea and adenomyosis presented a 60 mm-sized mass in the Douglas pouch with irregular echogenicity. The patient went under the first surgery for tumor removal, and its histopathologic diagnosis was endometriosis. We started daily dienogest medication to suppress tumor recurrence, but after 10 months we decided to stop the medication due to the side effects. Four months after the cessation, a new tumor recurred and after few months of observation, we performed the second surgery of tumor removal and total hysterectomy because of adenomyosis. The tumor was located in the retroperitoneal space in the Douglas pouch with severe adhesions. After the second surgery, the tumor marker Cancer antigen-125 level was normalized and the histopathologic result was endometriosis, which we concluded as polypoid endometriosis.

An Inguinal Endometriosis without Any Other Pelvic Endometriosis Mimicking Direct Inguinal Hernia: A Case Report

Inguinal endometriosis is a rare disease. Patients with inguinal endometriosis usually exhibit cyclic inguinal pain with a cyclic change in the size of the inguinal mass. It is more often found on the right side and commonly accompanies concomitant endometriosis lesions on pelvic organs or peritoneum. We report a case of inguinal endometriosis without any of the usual characteristics. A 48-year-old with non-severe dysmenorrhea and pelvic pain presented a left inguinal mass, palpable only when standing. Under the impression of direct inguinal hernia, laparoscopic herniorrhaphy was performed. Intraoperative laparoscopic findings revealed no other endometriosis lesion on the pelvic organ or in the abdominal cavity, and the histopathologic report confirmed it was endometriosis. Thorough inspection and excision of endometriosis lesions in the pelvic cavity are crucial for treatment. Therefore, an appropriate surgical plan following accurate preoperative diagnosis is important. If the intraoperative evaluation of endometriosis was not enough, postoperative gynecologic assessment is strongly recommended.

Difficulties in End-of-Life Care and Educational Needs of Intensive Care Unit Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study / 한국호스피스완화의료학회지

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify the difficulties with end-of-life care (EOLC) experienced by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses and to investigate their educational needs for EOLC. METHODS: This study aimed to identify the difficulties with end-of-life care (EOLC) experienced by intensive care unit (ICU) nurses and to investigate their educational needs for EOLC. RESULTS: The mean score on the difficulty of EOLC was 3.41 out of 5. The education needs derived from the qualitative analysis was categorized into four themes: 1) guidelines on professional EOLC, 2) spiritual care, 3) a program to take care of feelings of patients, families and nurses, and 4) activities to think about death. CONCLUSION: This study confirmed that ICU nurses were experiencing an extreme difficulty in providing EOLC. In addition, a qualitative analysis confirmed that they needed an EOL nursing program. To mitigate the difficulties experienced by nurses involved in EOLC, there is an urgent need to develop an education program for EOLC tailored to nurses' needs.

Clinical Characteristics Indicating Uterine Leiomyoma, Adenomyosis, and Uterine Leiomyoma Coexisting with Adenomyosis: Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVE: This study is to compare the baseline characteristics and symptoms between groups with leiomyoma only (group M; myoma group), adenomyosis only (group A; adenomyosis group), and leiomyoma and adenomyosis together (group B; group for both disease). METHODS: Selected patients were who received total abdominal hysterectomy, laparoscopy-assisted vaginal hysterectomy, or total laparoscopic hysterectomy from January 2014 to December 2015, and whose pathology result showed leiomyoma (n=74), adenomyosis (n=27), or both (n=63). Baseline characteristics and symptoms were reviewed from the medical records. Researched characteristics included patients' age, degeneration of leiomyoma, endometrial hyperplasia, endometriosis, weight of the removed uterus, menopause before the surgery, method of the surgery, necessity for blood transfusion before and after the surgery, difference of hemoglobin level before and after the surgery, and number of gravida, para, and abortion. RESULTS: Eleven symptoms were checked. Thirty-eight point four percent of total subject had uterine leiomyoma and adenomyosis at the same time. Number of abortion was higher in the group B. The group B showed a tendency of presenting more menorrhagia, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, acute lower abdominal pain, and urinary frequency. Symptoms related to mass effect seem to be relative to uterine leiomyoma, and symptoms related to menorrhagia seems to be relative to adenomyosis. The group M showed suddenly growing mass symptoms, and was more likely to have massive hemorrhage during the surgery. It is hard to differentiate coexistence of uterine leiomyoma and adenomyosis from each disease. CONCLUSION: Coexistence of two disease exhibits mixed symptoms of each disease, but shows different tendency.

A case report of angioleiomyoma of uterus

Angioleiomyoma (AL) is a very rare benign tumor that originates from smooth muscle cells and has thick walled vessels. It may be found throughout the body but more frequently occurs in the lower extremities and rarely develops in the head and other parts of the body. This paper presents a case report of giant AL detected in a 33-year-old woman who complained of severe anemia, menorrhagia, and palpable lower abdominal mass. The patient underwent myomectomy and was diagnosed with AL based on the pathological report of mass. The effective treatment for AL is either simple hysterectomy or angiomyomectomy depending on the patient's desire to preserve fertility and symptom.

Uterine Serous Adenocarcinoma in an Elderly Postmenopausal Woman: Clinically Misdiagnosed as Uterine Cervix Cancer

Uterine serous adenocarcinoma (USC) is rare and invasive cancer. This cancer is more often reported in the ovary, the fallopian tube, and the endometrium than uterine cervix. No matter where the tumor is located, the tumor exhibits similar histological characteristics. So when uterine cancer is proven to be serous adenocarcinoma, it is necessary to see if the tumor originated from ovary or endometrium and invaded the cervix. We report a case of a 73-year-old postmenopausal woman with USC arising near the internal os of endocervical canal, clinically misdiagnosed as uterine cervix cancer.

Sclerosing Stromal Tumor in an Elderly Postmenopausal Woman

Sclerosing stromal tumor (SST) of the ovary is a rare tumor derived from the sex cord stroma. This tumor was first described by Chalvaridjian and Scully in 1973. SST of the ovary is prevalence of 1.5% to 6% of ovarian stromal tumors. Patients are most commonly diagnosed in their 20s and 30s. There have been reports of SST postmenopausal women aged 65-, 67-, and 71 in the Republic of Korea; however, no report of this disease has been reported in women older than 80. In this study, we would like to report an 80-year-old postmenopausal woman who did not previously complain of any symptoms, and was finally diagnosed with SST. She was involved in a traffic accident, and huge pelvic mass was found during the evaluation of intra-abdominal hemorrhage. Total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy was performed ; a final pathologic diagnosis reported SST.