Malignant pleural mesothelioma in a kidney transplant recipient.

Post-transplantation malignancy is one of the most common complication-related mortality in transplant recipients. Here, we report the case of a kidney transplant patient for 2 years with malignant pleural effusion that was subsequently diagnosed as malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Initial diagnosis and successful treatment of pulmonary tumor embolism manifesting as the first clinical sign of prostatic adenocarcinoma.

Although pulmonary tumor embolism (PTE) is a well-recognized end-stage form of pulmonary metastases at postmortem examination, the entity is rarely the first clinical sign of prostate cancer. Diagnosis of this condition in patients who have no previous history of malignancy is a challenge. Herein, we reported a 79-year-old man presented with progressive, unexplained dyspnea on exertion. Microscopic PTE coinciding with pulmonary lymphangitic carcinomatosis were readily recognized based on the presence of multifocal dilatation and beading of the peripheral pulmonary arteries with thickening of the bronchial walls and interlobular septa on the initial thin-section chest CT images. Pathologic examination of the transbronchial lung biopsy specimen revealed tumor emboli occluding both the small muscular pulmonary arteries and lymphatic vessels. These tumor cells were positive for prostatic specific antigen on immunohistochemical staining. The final diagnosis of prostatic adenocarcinoma was confirmed. Remarkable clinical and radiographic improvement was achieved following bilateral orchiectomies and anti-androgen treatment.

Reported outcomes of children with newly diagnosed high-grade gliomas treated with nimotuzumab and irinotecan.

PURPOSE: The outcome of children with high-grade gliomas (HGGs) treated with radiation and adjuvant chemotherapy remains poor. The expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has been established in children with HGGs. This report demonstrated the outcomes of adjuvant nimotuzumab, an EGFR inhibitor, with irinotecan in pediatric HGGs. METHODS: Children with newly diagnosed HGGs were enrolled. Two weeks after surgery, nimotuzumab with a dose of 150 mg/m2 was given every week during radiation. After completion of radiation, a 4-week cycle of nimotuzumab (150 mg/m2) at week 1 and 3 and irinotecan (125 mg/m2) at week 1, 2, and 3 was given. RESULTS: Sixteen patients (5 females, 11 males), with a mean ± SD age of 8.2 ± 3.5 years were included. Tumors were located at the supratentorial region (50.0%), infratentorial region (43.8%), and both locations (6.2%). The 5-year PFS and OS were 19.9 ± 11.6 and 31.5 ± 13.0%, respectively. Median times of PFS and OS were 1.8 and 1.9 years, respectively. Prognostic factors related to good outcome were the location of tumor at the supratentorial region or outside brainstem and the extension of surgery. Side effects were minimal, with grade 1 anemia in three patients and diarrhea in one patient. Although, the adjuvant regimen of nimotuzumab and irinotecan slightly increases the overall outcome when compared to the historical study, the advantages of this protocol were minimal side effect, short period of hospitalization, and improved OS in patients who received extensive surgery.

Deficient DNA mismatch repair is associated with favorable prognosis in Thai patients with sporadic colorectal cancer.

AIM: To determine the prognostic significance of deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) and BRAF V600E in Thai sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. METHODS: We studied a total of 211 out of 405 specimens obtained from newly diagnosed CRC patients between October 1, 2006 and December 31, 2007 at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks of CRC tissue samples were analyzed for dMMR by detection of MMR protein expression loss by immunohistochemistry or microsatellite instability using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-DHPLC. BRAF V600E mutational analysis was performed in DNA extracted from the same archival tissues by two-round allele-specific PCR and analyzed by high sensitivity DHPLC. Associations between patient characteristics, MMR and BRAF status with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were determined by Kaplan-Meier survival plots and log-rank test together with Cox's proportional hazard regression. RESULTS: dMMR and BRAF V600E mutations were identified in 31 of 208 (14.9%) and 23 of 211 (10.9%) tumors, respectively. dMMR was more commonly found in patients with primary colon tumors rather than rectal cancer (20.4% vs 7.6%, P =0.01), but there was no difference in MMR status between the right-sided and left-sided colon tumors (20.8% vs 34.6%, P = 0.24). dMMR was associated with early-stage rather than metastatic disease (17.3% vs 0%, P = 0.015). No clinicopathological features such primary site or tumor differentiation were associated with the BRAF mutation. Six of 31 (19.3%) samples with dMMR carried the BRAF mutation, while 17 of 177 (9.6%) with proficient MMR (pMMR) harbored the mutation (P = 0.11). Notably, patients with dMMR tumors had significantly superior DFS (HR = 0.30, 95%CI: 0.15-0.77; P = 0.01) and OS (HR = 0.29, 95%CI: 0.10-0.84; P = 0.02) compared with patients with pMMR tumors. By contrast, the BRAF V600E mutation had no prognostic impact on DFS and OS. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of dMMR and BRAF V600E in Thai sporadic CRC patients was 15% and 11%, respectively. The dMMR phenotype was associated with a favorable outcome.