Long-term survival of a cat receiving a renal allograft from an unrelated donor.

A 6-year-old, spayed female Persian cat in terminal renal failure was referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital for renal transplantation. An allograft from an unrelated donor was placed in the right iliac fossa and cyclosporine and prednisolone were administered as immunosuppressive agents. More than 18 months after surgery the cat was clinically normal and azotemia was absent.

Fibrosis of tunica albuginea: complication of long-term intracavernous pharmacological self-injection.

We report 3 cases of penile curvature deformity and fibrosis of the tunica albuginea after long-term self-injection with papaverine hydrochloride and phentolamine mesylate. To our knowledge this complication has not been reported previously. The clinical presentation and possible etiology are discussed.

Adult-onset Still's disease. Clinical course and outcome.

We reviewed the long-term natural history of 21 adult-onset Still's disease patients. Patient subsets were identified according to clinical course patterns. These included monocyclic systemic disease in 4, polycyclic systemic disease in 2, chronic articular monocyclic systemic disease in 10, and chronic articular polycyclic systemic disease in the remaining 5 patients. Functional outcome differed according to course patterns and the extent of articular involvement. Systemic manifestations, per se, did not contribute to poor functional prognosis. Chronic articular disease had the worst outcome: 27% evolved to functional class III status, compared with none in the cyclic systemic groups. Those patients who had a chronic articular pattern or a polyarticular onset and course were at higher risk to develop disabling arthritis. An aggressive approach to therapy, including the early use of remittive agents, should be considered in these patient subsets.

Spinal pain made worse by recumbency: a clue to spinal cord tumors.

In the absence of physical findings, pain in the low back, cervical or thoracic spine, or the extremities presents a diagnostic problem. On occasion the pain is present or made worse only when the patient lies down. We have attended four patients with underlying extradural tumors of the spinal canal. A 75-year-old woman with chronic back pain was treated for multiple myeloma with intravenous dexamethasone and 400 rads of x-ray irradiation to the lumbar spine and experienced marked pain relief in 24 hours. A 76-year-old woman with neck pain had complete pain relief after a vascular, calcified meningioma was removed surgically from under the 2nd and 3rd cervical nerve roots. A 38-year-old male with constant pain in the lumbar area and right leg and foot experienced marked relief from pain after a neurolemmoma of the cauda equina was surgically removed. A 57-year-old woman with knee pain became pain free 24 hours after radiation therapy to an enlarged nodular cauda equina. These four cases illustrate a diagnostic clue rarely mentioned in the literature.

Scleredema adultorum of Buschke: a clinical, pathologic, and cell culture study of two patients.

Two patients with scleredema of Buschke are presented. The second patient developed scleredema after a febrile drug reaction. Biopsies of both involved and uninvolved skin were obtained for histologic examination and cell culture studies. Immunofluorescent studies of the biopsy specimens revealed staining with IgG, IgM and C3 at the dermal-epidermal junction in the involved skin of the first patient. This has not been previously reported. Cell culture studies revealed that fibroblasts from the involved skin produced more glycosaminoglycans (GAG) than uninvolved skin and most of the GAG produced was hyaluronic acid. Possible pathogenic mechanisms for this unusual condition are discussed.

Right splenorenal fusion with associated hypersplenism.

We report the second case of splenorenal fusion and the first occurrence of spleen fusion associated with a right retroperitoneal structure. Hypersplenism was cured by removal of the mass. A concomitant renal cell carcinoma and multiple adenomas within the mass were incidental clinical features. Aside from the rarity of the lesion, its documented occurrence on the right side is significant in that it provides evidence for the possible migration of spleen cells in embryogenesis as an explanation for some other splenic fusion anomalies.

Carpal arthritis with ankylosis in late onset Still's disease.

Thirteen patients are described in whom Still's disease began after age 15. All had objective evidence of arthritis, and 10 developed chronic synovitis of larger joints, especially the wrists. A characteristic evolution of roentgenographic changes was observed in 7 patients. Carpometacarpal and intercarpal joint spaces became selectively narrowed without erosions, and bony ankylosis eventually occurred. These roentgenographic changes may be a valuable clue to the diagnosis of Still's disease, regardless of the age at onset.