A huge retroperitoneal Castleman's disease - rare entity.

ABSTRACT: Castleman's disease is a rare angio-follicular lymph node hyperplasia[1,2] have varying presentation and can mimic malignancy. The common locations are mediastinum, neck, axilla, and pelvis but extra nodal sites can also be affected.[3] A 56-year-old patient incidentally found to have mass in the retroperitoneal region by Contract-enhanced computerized tomography (CT). Positron emission tomography scan showed well defined intensely enhancing fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) avid lesion in the left iliac region with vascularity. Surgery was performed, and pathological diagnosis was hyaline vascular type-stroma-rich variant of Castleman disease. Here, we report a case of huge retroperitoneal Castleman's disease in a 56-year-old female patient.[4].

A Study on Clinical and Pathological Responses to Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in Breast Carcinoma.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and its impact on the clinical and pathological response in locally advanced breast cancer. To compare molecular subtypes of breast cancer with response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a prospective study on patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast carcinoma for a 3-year period. A total of 60 patients who presented with locally advanced breast cancer (LABC) were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Forty patients were treated with the 5-fluorouracil, epirubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FEC) schedule, 16 patients were treated with Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide (AC), and four patients were treated with oral cyclophosphamide, intravenous methotrexate, and fluorouracil (CMF). Taxol was added in all node-positive cases, triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), and Her 2 positive cases. The clinical response was assessed with RECIST criteria after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. The response was compared with molecular subtypes of carcinoma breast and receptor status individually. RESULTS: A total of 60 female patients receiving primary chemotherapy for locally advanced breast malignancy were studied. The median age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 44 years (range=24-73). In terms of menopausal status, 25 (42%) patients were pre-menopausal and 35 (58%) patients were post-menopausal. Histological classification showed invasive ductal carcinoma in 72% of patients, invasive lobular carcinoma in 15% of patients, and other types including mixed patterns in 13% of patients. Among 60 patients, 16 patients (26.6%) had clinically complete remission (cCR), 30 patients (50%) had partial remission, eight patients (13.3%) had stable disease, and six patients (10%) had progressive disease. Following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 46 (76.6%) patient underwent Modified radical mastectomy surgery. Target therapy was given for Her2 neu patients after surgery. Hormonal therapy was added to hormone ER PR positive cases postoperatively. Eight patients (13.3%) among this operated cases attained complete pathological response. CONCLUSION: Preoperative chemotherapy downstages the primary tumors and axillary metastasis in patients with locally advanced breast carcinoma. Comparison of molecular subtypes with chemotherapy response is a better way to find out the predictors of response to chemotherapy.

Lingual tuberculosis.

Oral tuberculosis is very rare and when present they are usually secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. Tuberculous lesions of the tongue have become so infrequent that they are virtually a forgotten disease entity and may pose a diagnostic problem. The case reported in this paper emphasizes the importance of including tuberculosis in the differential diagnosis of any chronic oral ulcer. The low number of oral infections by M. tuberculosis could be due to underreporting.

Ischemic colitis.

Ischemic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are some of the commonly encountered gastrointestinal diseases which are difficult to diagnose and still more difficult to treat. Presentation of colon ischemia is even more subtle, and this review article details about the various presentation patterns of ischemic colitis and their management.