Total dysphagia after short course of systemic corticotherapy: herpes simplex virus esophagitis.

A 72 year-old female developed a herpetic esophagitis after 3 d of oral corticotherapy for an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, presenting as odynophagia and total dysphagia. Biopsies were taken during a first esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and the patient was referred to the thoracic surgery service with a presumptive diagnosis of esophageal cancer. A second EGD was planned for dilatation, but by that time the stenosis was completely resolved. The biopsies taken during the first EGD revealed multiple herpetic viral inclusions and ulcerations without any dysplasia or neoplasia. In front of a severe esophageal stenosis, one must still exclude the usual differential diagnosis peptic stenosis and cancer. Visualization of endoscopic lesions can suggest the diagnosis but must be promptly confirmed by biopsy, viral culture or polymerase chain reaction. Although immune systemic effects of corticotherapy are well known and herpetic esophagitis occurs most frequently in immunocompromised individuals, this case emphasizes the importance of clinical awareness concerning short courses of corticotherapy for immunocompetent individuals. This article discusses the reactivation process of herpetic infection in this context and addresses its diagnostic and therapeutic issues.

A curious lobe.

A case of azygos lobe is presented. An azygos lobe is an accessory lobe of the lung that may occasionally be confused with a pathological process such as a bulla, lung abscess or neoplasm. Its pathogenesis is discussed, as are the characteristic x-ray features that enable an accurate diagnosis.

Pure red cell aplasia and associated thymoma.

Pure red cell aplasia is a rare cause of anemia, caused by an absence of red blood cell precursors in the bone marrow. It is usually a paraneoplastic syndrome, associated most commonly with large-cell granular lymphocyte leukemia but also thymoma. For patients who present both pure red cell aplasia and thymoma, thymectomy leads to an initial remission of the aplasia in 30% of cases. However, sustained remission may require the addition of medications such as corticosteroids, cyclosporine, or cyclophosphamide. We present a case of pure red cell aplasia associated with a thymoma in an otherwise healthy 80 year-old woman.

Survival post surgery for malignant pericardial effusion.

The study reviews the survival of patients with malignant pericardial effusion treated with a subxiphoid pericardial window. The medical records of 60 consecutive patients diagnosed with a malignant pericardial effusion and treated with a subxiphoid pericardial window between 1994 and 2008 were reviewed. 72% had lung cancer. Overall 30-day mortality was 31%. Survival rates at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years were 45%, 28%, 17%, and 9%, respectively. Overall median survival was 2.6 months. Patients with malignant pericardial effusion, especially those with primary lung cancer have poor survival rates. In advanced malignancy, the subxiphoid pericardial window procedure provides only short-term palliation of symptoms, and has no effect on long-term survival. The use of any surgical procedure in patients with malignant advanced pericardial effusion should be considered along with non-surgical options on a case-by-case basis depending on symptoms, general status, and expected survival.

A patient with an aberrant pulmonary blood supply and recurrent infection.

A case of intralobar pulmonary sequestration presenting with recurrent episodes of infection is reported. Pulmonary sequestration is a rare congenital malformation characterized by accessory lung tissue with no direct connection to the tracheobronchial tree and is supplied by an aberrant systemic artery. The aberrant artery is key to both diagnosis and treatment. The correct diagnosis may be suspected on clinical grounds and should be confirmed by identifying the lesion and aberrant artery on imaging studies. Surgical resection is curative, taking particular care not to injure the aberrant artery, which may result in devastating intraoperative hemorrhage.

Solitary fibrous tumour of the pleura: A case report.

Solitary fibrous tumours of the pleura are rare pleural neoplasms that are distinct from mesothelioma. Most of them are benign, although some behave aggressively; morphological and pathological features are important in distinguishing them from mesothelioma and in predicting clinical behaviour. Solitary fibrous tumours often grow to a large size before causing symptoms, and are characteristically associated with hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy in up to 20% of cases. In cases of benign lesions, complete resection is usually curative. A case involving a 62-year-old woman who underwent surgical resection of a solitary fibrous tumour of the pleura measuring 25 cm in size is described.

Extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue with initial presentation in the pleura.

Extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (EMZL/MALT-type) occurs in a wide variety of body sites; it is well recognized as a form of primary lung lymphoma. However, until recently, pleural presentation of this form of low-grade lymphoma has not been documented. A small series of case reports has brought to attention the potential for primary occurrence or initial presentation in the pleura of EMZL/MALT-type. In this report, we describe an additional patient with EMZL/MALT-type with initial pleural presentation and review the literature. Clinicians and pathologists dealing with lymphoproliferative disorders involving the pleura should be aware of this rare entity.