Humanities in medicine: experience at Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, India

A few institutes in India have started a programme of Humanities in Medicine (HiM) on a small scale. In 2014, the Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) decided to begin an HiM programme for undergraduate students and this has been conducted successfully for the last three years. The major strengths of the programme have been its formal integration within the curriculum and the contributions of a large number of enthusiastic, talented and motivated faculty. In this report, we wish to trace the evolution and implementation of the HiM programme in our institution

Calcifying pseudotumor of scrotum: a case report.

Calcifying fibrous pseudotumors of the testicular and paratesticular soft tissue are relatively rare. We would like to report the first documented case of calcifying fibrous pseudotumor of the tunica vaginalis in Indian medical literature. This is a case of a 55 year old male who presented with a painless scrotal mass of 10 years duration. Histological sections showed dense hyalinised bands of collagen with focal collections of plasma cells and lymphocytes. Multiple round to oval concentrically laminated psammomatous bodies were seen.

Ectopic cervical thymoma--the great mimic: a case report.

Ectopic cervical thymoma is a rare tumour that probably arises from thymic tissue trapped during the migration of the thymus into the anterior mediastinum from the third and fourth pharyngeal pouches. As it occurs in the region of the thyroid gland it mimics thyroid lesions and can cause confusion to the clinician, sonologist and cytologist. Misinterpretation of frozen sections can also occur if knowledge of this entity is not present. We are reporting a case of this rare entity in an elderly lady who presented with a neck mass that mimicked a thyroid lesion. Ectopic cervical thymoma should be considered in the list of differential diagnosis of neck masses in the elderly.

Kimura's disease--cytodiagnostic pointers: a case report.

Kimura's disease is an entity which is common in Asia with predilection for males. Earliest reports were from China. Kimura et al reported the case in detailfrom Japan 1948. Cytological diagnosis of Kimura's helps in allaying fears of malignancies in clinicians and patients. When all the cytological features are seen, this diagnosis should be borne in mind, and the differential diagnosis should be ruled out. Here we report 2 cases of Kimura's disease diagnosed on cytology and confirmed on biopsy. The etiology of Kimura's is unknown but a hypersensitivity etiology has been proposed.

Case report of parathyroid carcinoma with raised urinary catecholamines: a diagnostic dilemma.

Parathyroid carcinoma is often misdiagnosed as thyroid carcinoma clinically and also with fine needle aspiration cytology. Moreover in cases misdiagnosed as thyroid carcinoma pre operatively, raised urinary catecholamines may mislead to a diagnosis of MEN2 A. We report a case of a patient admitted to the surgery department ofour hospital with a swelling in the thyroid region, raised urinary catecholamines and urinary VMA levels, with hypercalciuria and elevated parathyroid hormone levels. It was clinically suspected as thyroid carcinoma with parathyroid adenoma and associated MEN 2A syndrome.

Giant cell tumour of talus--a case report.

Giant cell tumour of the talus bone is rare and is usually seen in skeletally mature adults. Here a case of giant cell tumour of the talus in a skeletally immature boy of 15 years is reported. The patient presented with swelling and tenderness of the left ankle with an osteolytic lesion seen in the talus on x-ray. A trephine biopsy followed by left talar excision was done. Following the biopsy report the patient underwent arthotomy and joint clearance. There was no recurrence noted at six months follow-up.

Case report of orbital lymphoma associated with polycystic disease: a coincidence?

The most common known extra renal malignancy associated with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is of pancreatic origin. Here we report a case of orbital lymphoma in a patient with PKD. This might just be a co-incidence or there might be some genetic interaction.

Adrenocortical oncocytoma--a case report.

Oncocytic tumours of adrenal gland are rare lesions with approximately twenty-five cases being documented in literature. A majority of them are nonfunctional and benign. We report a case of adrenal oncocytoma in a 44-year-old male, who underwent a laparotomy for a large mass in the abdomen, which was located above the left kidney. Routine histopathological examination was suggestive of a benign tumour with cells resembling oncocytes. However, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy helped to confirm the diagnosis of an adrenocortical oncocytoma.