A Case of Thymic Carcinoma with Behcet's Disease Combined with Immunoglobulin A Nephropathy

Behcet's disease is a systemic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology, characterized by recurrent oral aphthous ulcers, genital ulcers, uveitis, and skin lesions. Renal involvement is rare in patients with Behcet's disease particularly immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy. Other autoimmune diseases have been associated with increased risk of malignancy, but not Behcet's disease. Some cases of Behcet's disease accompanied by bladder cancer, thyroid cancer, stomach cancer, or hematologic malignancies have been reported. However, to the best of our knowledge, co-occurrence of Behcet's diseases with thymic carcinoma has not yet been reported. We experienced a 49-year-old male patient who had been treated for Behcet disease and IgA nephropathy, who presented with a large mediastinal mass on chest x-ray. After thymectomy, he was diagnosed with thymic carcinoma with complete resection.

Comparative Analysis of T2 Selective Division of Rami-communicantes (Ramicotomy) to T2 Sympathectic Clipping in Treatment of Craniofacial Hyperhidrosis / 대한흉부외과학회지

BACKGROUND: Compensatory sweating is the main cause of patient dissatisfaction after sympathetic surgery for craniofacial hyperhidrosis. Surgery that sympathetic nerve trunk preserved and extent of resection limited was introduced to decrease compensatory sweating. MATERIAL AND METHOD: From Jan 2000 to July 2002, the vidio-assisted thoracoscopic T2 sympathetic clipping and rami comunicantes selective division were performed in 36 patients suffering from craniofacial hyperhidrosis. Twenty two patients underwent a T2 sympathetic nerve clipping (Group 1), and fourteen patients underwent division of the T2 ramicommunicates (Group 2). We retrospectively analysed the rate of satisfaction, dryness of face, the rate of compensatory sweating, grade of compensatory sweating. RESULT: The dryness of face was that no statistical difference between group 1 and group 2 (p=0.387); group1: dry 22.7% (5/22), humid 77.3% (17/22) group 2: dry 14.3% (2/14), humid 78.5% (11/14), persist 7.2% (1/14). The rate of satistaction was 77.3% in T2 clipping and 64.2% in T2 sympathicotomy with no significant in the statistic analysis (p=0.396). The rate of compensatory sweating on group 2 was lower than group 1 (p=0.042); 95.4% (21/22) in T1 sympathetic clipping and 71.4% in T2 ramicotomy. The rate of embarrassing and disabling compensatory sweating was 76.5% (embarassing 8 patients, disabling 9 patients) in T2 clipping and 42.9% (embarassing 8 patients, disabling 9 patients)in T2 ramicotomy with statistically significant difference (p=0.036). CONCLUSION: The sympathetic trunk preservation surgery for craniofacial hyperhidrosis (T2 ramicotomy) redueced the rate of compensatory sweating when compared to the blocking surgery of sypathetic trunk (T2 clipping).