Pleural empyema due to Salmonella: a case report

Pleuropulmonary involvement of salmonella infection is very rare and only two cases of salmonella empyema have been reported in Korea. We report the case of a 70-year-old female diabetic patient who presented with right flank pain and right lower chest pain. The chest radiographs revealed fibrostreaky and hazy density at right lower lung field and blunting of right costophrenic angle. Thoracentesis revealed turbid yellowish fluid. Salmonella group B was identified from the cultures of blood and pleural fluid. After antimicrobial therapy and repeated therapeutic thoracentesis, the patient was improved.

A case of Cushing's syndrome in ACTH-secreting mediastinal paraganglioma

Paragangliomas are unusual neuroendocrine cell tumors arising from paraganglia, of which ACTH-secreting cases in the mediastinum are extremely rare. A 51-year-old woman was admitted for generalized edema and weakness which began 5 months ago. Chest X-ray and CT scan revealed a tumor mass in the anterior mediastinum. The plasma cortisol and ACTH levels were very high. Other sources secreting ACTH, except mediastinal mass, were not found. Surgical excision of mediastinal mass and left supraclavicular lymph node was performed. The postoperative microscopic finding and immunohistochemical staining revealed organoid tumor cell nests (zellballen) and S-100 protein positive sustentacular cells which are characteristics of paraganglioma. This was thus a case of Cushing's syndrome resulting from ectopic ACTH production in anterior mediastinal paraganglioma.

A Case of Pulmonary Thromboembolism due to Congenital Antithrombin III Deficiency / 결핵

We report a case of congenital and familial antithrombin III deficiency developing massive pulmonary thromboembolism. A 44-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of sudden chest pain and severe dyspnea. Five years ago, he was operated due to a mesenteric vein thrombosis of unknown cause. On admission, radioisotopic venogram showed deep vein thrombosis and lung scintigram showed multiple segmental perfusion defects. His plasma antithrombin III level was 10.5 mg/dL which was less than 50% of normal and those of a son and two daughters were also decreased. After treatment with tissue plasminogen activator, heparin and coumadin, his symptom and lung scintigram were significantly improved. As far as we reviewed, there were very rare reports with congenital antithrombin III deficiency presenting as pulmonary thromboembolism in Korea.

Differential Diagnosis of Pleural Mesothelioma and Metastatic Adenocarcinoma by Immunohistochemistry / 결핵

BACKGROUND: Differential diagnosis of pleural malignant mesothelioma from secondary metastatic adenocarcinoma is often difficult. A variety of pathologic techniques have been developed to make a differential diagnosis of carcinoma from mesothelioma. Immunohistochemistry detecting diverse antigenic substances such as CEA, Leu-M1, B72-3, S-100 protein, vimentin, CK and EMA has been claimed to be of value as a panel in the differential diagnosis of adenocarcinoma from mesothelioma. The aim of this study was to investigate the suitable antibodies to distinguish mesothelioma from metastatic adenocarcinoma and establish candidate markers in a panel. METHODS: Complete, one-hour immunohistochemical staining using antibodies against cytokeratin (CK), epithelial membrane antigen(EMA), S-100 protein, vimentin, B72-3, Leu-M1, and carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) was applied to cell blocks from 7 mesotheliomas and 7 adenocarcinomas which were confirmed by electron microscopic and histpathologic methods. RESULTS: All adenocarcinomas and 71.4% of mesotheliomas expressed the cytokeratin and EMA. S-100 protein and vimentin were expressed in 57.1% and 42.9% of mesotheliomas and 14.3% and 28.5% of adenocarcinomas, respectively. B72-3 was expressed in all adenocarcinomas, but in none of mesotheliomas. Leu-M1 was positive in 71.4% of the adenocarcinoma and 14.3% of the mesotheliomas. CEA was positive in all adenocarcinomas and 42.9% of mesotheliomas. Leu-M1 and B72-3 were coexpressed in 71.4% of adenocarcinomas but in none of mesothelioma. B72-3 and CEA were coexpressed in all adenocarcinomas, but in none of mesotheliomas. CONCLUSION: We concluded that B72-3 immunohistochemistry or panel staining of B72-3 and CEA could be recommanded for the differential diagnosis of pleural mesothelioma from metastatic adenocarcinoma.

Simultaneous elevation of serum parathyroid hormone(PTH) and parathyroid hormone-related protein(PTHrP) in a case of lung cancer with hypercalcemia / 결핵

The parathyroid hormone related protein(PTHrP) is the most common causative peptide of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy. In contrast, the serum level of parathyroid hormone(PTH) is low to undetectable in the majority of patients with malignancy associated hypercalcemia. Few cases exist in which the production and secretion of PTH by malignant nonparathyroid tumors have been authenticated. To our knowledge, there is very rare case in which a nonparathyroid tumor expressed simultaneously both the PTH and PTHrP. We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung with hypercalcemia which presented with simultaneous elevation of serum PTH and PTHrP. Severe hypercalcemia (serum calcium, 7.5mEq/L) was found in a 65-year-old man who had a squamous cell carcinoma of the lung without any body metastasis and detectable parathyroid abnormalities on isotope scintigraphy. The serum level of intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration was markedly elevated as measured in two site radioimmunoreactive PTH assays (intact PTH 150pg/mL ; normal 9~55). The serum level of a PTHrP was also increased as measured in C-terminal region specific radioimmunoassay (PTHrP 99.1 pmol/L ; normal 13.8~55.3). There are no evidences of coincidental primary hyperparathyroidism in parathyroid MIBI scan and other imaging studies including neck ultrasonography and computed tomography. These results suggest that simultaneous elevation of serum PTH and PTHrP in this patient can be caused by production of both PTHrP and PTH in other nonparathyroid lesions such as squamous cell carcinoma.