Early Experience of Oncolytic Virus Injection Combined with Sorafenib in a Patient with Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Portal Vein Thrombosis

JX-594 is a modified oncolytic poxvirus designed to selectively replicate in and destroy cancer cells. In a pilot study, JX-594 injection followed by sorafenib was well-tolerated in three patients and associated with objective tumor responses. In this study, we report a case in which a patient with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma and portal vein thrombosis was treated with a combination of JX-594 and sorafenib.

A Case of a 14-Year-Old Girl Who Developed Dermatomyositis Associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection

Extrapulmonary manifestations of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection are not uncommon and involvement of every organ system has been reported. However, association of inflammatory myositis with M. pneumoniae infection is rare. Here, we describe a patient who developed polymyositis associated with mycoplasma infection, who was treated successfully with glucocorticoid, intravenous immunoglobulin, and methotrexate.

Inadvertent Transmission of a Donor's Constitutional Chromosome Abnormality after Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

A pre-transplant screening work-up of donors for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is essential. Inadvertent transmission of malignancy from donors with subclinical diseases to recipients has been reported recently in several cases. A 49-year-old male was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. He underwent a course of induction chemotherapy and achieved cytogenetic complete remission (CR). He was treated with an additional cycle of consolidation chemotherapy followed by full matched sibling allogeneic HSCT due to an additional deletion in 9q known as an adverse prognostic factor. Post transplantation bone marrow biopsy revealed molecular CR, but conventional cytogenetics identified the presence of 46,XY,t(1:2)(p32:q35). A cytogenetic analysis of the donor graft specimen revealed t(1:2). We confirmed the donor origin of t(1:2). We report the first case of a person with constitutional t(1;2) serving as a stem cell donor.

Hypertriglyceridemia-Induced Pancreatitis in Poorly Controlled Type 2 Diabetes

A 38-year-old female presented with abdominal pain, radiating to her back. Her medical history included type 2 diabetes, which had been uncontrolled for 8 months. Her initial laboratory tests showed marked hyperglycemia, metabolic acidosis, and elevated serum amylase and lipase levels, although the results were inconclusive in terms of a direct diagnosis of acute pancreatitis (AP). Abdominal computed tomography showed only minimal fluid collection at the pancreas tail. As her serum triglyceride (TG) level was 9,884 mg/dL, we made a working diagnosis of AP due to hypertriglyceridemia, and she was treated with massive hydration with an insulin infusion. Subsequently, she recovered rapidly from the abdominal pain, her serum glucose was controlled, and her serum TG decreased. Hypertriglyceridemia is a well-accepted underlying cause of AP. When extremely high hypertriglyceridemia is detected in patients with type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome, complications should be considered and managed.