Papillary carcinoma in struma ovarii: an unusual presentation.

Struma ovarii is the presence of thyroid tissue as the major cellular component in an ovarian tumour. Papillary carcinoma in struma ovarii is exceptionally rare. We report a case of papillary carcinoma in struma ovarii in a postmenopausal 51-year-old female who initially presented clinically with hyperthyroidism. Serology, however, did not confirm hyperthyroidism. During a re-admission to our hospital later that year she appeared to have had periods of postmenopausal vaginal haemorrhage. An abdominal mass was located by radiography and pathological investigation revealed a papillary carcinoma in struma ovarii. Some striking features of this unusual presentation of importance to the internal medicine physician are discussed.

[Abdominal pain following placement of an endoprosthesis in the biliary duct]. / Buikpijnklachten na plaatsing van een endoprothese in de ductus choledochus.

A 76-year-old man presented with diffuse progressive abdominal pain. He had undergone endoscopic retrograde pancreaticocholangiography (ERCP) 5 weeks earlier for jaundice and increased levels of liver enzymes. A dilated biliary duct with multiple concrements had been seen, and a plastic endoprosthesis was placed. During a follow-up ERCP the stent was not found, and the obstruction was still present. Another stent was placed. Abdominal x-ray revealed migration of the first endoprosthesis to the distal jejunum and signs of ileus and free gas. CT showed that the stent was stuck in a perforated diverticulum of the sigmoid, surrounded by an abscess mass. The stent was removed by laparotomy, the perforation was closed, and a double-loop stoma was made. Two weeks after initial recovery, abdominal pain recurred. CT revealed a second dislocated stent with a perforation of the jejunum. Laparotomy was performed again with removal of the stent and repair of the perforation. Migration is a known complication of biliary endoprosthesis placement, and should be considered in cases of abdominal pain after ERCP. Perforations rarely occur and mostly affect areas of the bowel that are fixed or that present obstacles to normal elimination. Two perforations within a short period of time is an extremely rare complication of migration.

The effects of failure feedback and pain-related fear on pain report, pain tolerance, and pain avoidance in chronic low back pain patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of non-pain-related failure experiences and pain-related fear on pain report, pain tolerance and pain avoidance in chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients. Moreover, the mediating and moderating role of negative affectivity (trait-NA) in the relationship between failure experiences and pain was examined. Seventy-six patients were divided into high and low pain-related fear groups and within each group they were randomly assigned to the failure or success feedback condition. In the first part of the study patients completed a 'social empathy test' and experimenter 1 subsequently delivered false failure or success feedback. A second experimenter, who was blind for the condition, subsequently administered two lifting tasks in order to obtain measures of pain report, tolerance and avoidance. Failure feedback did have an effect on pain avoidance but unexpectedly, and not as hypothesized, pain avoidance was reduced instead of enhanced. With regard to pain report and pain tolerance similar patterns were found, but these were not statistically significant. The effect of failure feedback on pain avoidance was moderated by trait-NA. Only in the subgroup of patients who scored low on trait-NA did failure feedback decrease pain avoidance. State-NA did not mediate the effects of feedback. In line with previous findings, pain-related fear resulted in lower pain tolerance. Moreover, this study was the first to show that pain-related fear predicted higher pain report in CLBP patients. Pain-related fear did not predict pain avoidance when pre-lifting pain and gender were controlled for. Finally, pre-lifting pain turned out to be the strongest predictor with regard to all pain measures. The role of pain-related fear and unexpected findings with regard to feedback are discussed as well as some clinical implications.

Does failure hurt? The effects of failure feedback on pain report, pain tolerance and pain avoidance.

In this study an experiment was conducted to examine whether failure experiences have an effect on pain report, pain tolerance and pain avoidance. Furthermore, it was investigated if negative affectivity (NA) affected the impact of failure feedback on pain report, either as a mediator, in the case of negative state affect, or as a moderator when NA as a personality trait was considered. Fifty-four healthy female volunteers were included and randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) failure feedback; (2) success feedback; (3) neutral control task. After the manipulation, subjects were given a cold pressor task in order to obtain pain measures. Regarding the effects of failure feedback on pain report, it was found that, in comparison with success feedback, failure feedback led to increased pain report. With regard to pain tolerance, pain was tolerated for longer when preceded by success feedback than when preceded by failure feedback. Differences between failure and control conditions did not reach significance. With regard to pain avoidance, no differences between the conditions were found. The hypothesized mediating role of negative state affect was not found. Though in the hypothesized direction, no significant effect was found for NA-trait moderating the influence of failure on pain. The discussion focuses on a number of research questions that remain to be answered, and the clinical relevance of the effects of failure and success experiences on pain report and pain tolerance.

Efficacy of a self-control therapy program in a psychiatric day-treatment center.

A 12-week self-control therapy program based on the self-control model proposed by Rehm was added to the routine program for depressed patients in a psychiatric day-treatment center. It was hypothesized that addition of the self-control therapy would accelerate the recovery of depressed patients. Twenty-five depressed patients were randomly assigned to either standard treatment or standard treatment plus the self-control therapy program. At post-test, patients in the self-control condition showed significant improvement with regard to self-control, self-esteem, depression, depressed mood and frequency and potential enjoyability of pleasant events, whereas the control patients did not. On 5 of 6 measures the differences between the groups were significant in the hypothesized direction. Although at the 13-week follow-up the positive effects of the self-control therapy were maintained, between-group differences were no longer significant, except for self-control.

Cerebral white matter lesions, vascular risk factors, and cognitive function in a population-based study: the Rotterdam Study.

Cerebral white matter lesions are a common finding on MRI in elderly persons. We studied the prevalence of white matter lesions and their relation with classic cardiovascular risk factors, thrombogenic factors, and cognitive function in an age- and gender-stratified random sample from the general population that consisted of 111 subjects 65 to 84 years of age. Overall, 27% of subjects had white matter lesions. The prevalence and severity of lesions increased with age. A history of stroke or myocardial infarction, factor VIIc activity, and fibrinogen level were each significantly and independently associated with the presence of white matter lesions. Significant relations with blood pressure level, hypertension, and plasma cholesterol were present only for subjects aged 65 to 74 years. White matter lesions tended to be associated with lower scores on tests of cognitive function and were significantly associated with subjective mental decline. This study suggests that classic cardiovascular risk factors, as well as thrombogenic factors, are associated with white matter lesions in subjects over 65 years of age in the general population, and that these lesions may be related to cognitive function.

Periventricular lesions in the white matter on magnetic resonance imaging in the elderly. A morphometric correlation with arteriolosclerosis and dilated perivascular spaces.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed postmortem on the brains of 40 patients aged over 60 yrs who had died from causes other than brain disease. Periventricular lesions of increased signal intensity on T2-weighted images, graded as moderate or severe, were found in 10% of the patients in the age group between 60 and 69 yrs, and in 50% between 80 and 89 yrs. Macroscopic and microscopic whole-brain sections were studied in 19 brain specimens (8 with normal white matter, 4 with moderate lesions and 7 with severe lesions of the white matter on MRI). The presence or absence of periventricular lesions on MRI correlated well with the severity of demyelination and astrocytic gliosis. Demyelination was always associated with an increased ratio between wall thickness and external diameter of arterioles (up to 150 microns). A variable degree of axonal loss in Bodian-stained sections was present in the white matter of all brains with demyelination. Dilated perivascular spaces were found and studied morphometrically in 9 brain specimens; their presence correlated strongly with corrected brain weight, but incompletely with demyelination and arteriolosclerosis. Our findings suggest that arteriolosclerosis is the primary factor in the pathogenesis of diffuse white matter lesions in the elderly. This is soon followed by demyelination and loss of axons, and only later by dilatation of perivascular spaces.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the cerebral aqueduct. Signal intensity time curves demonstrated by fast acquisition with multiple excitation (FAME).

Using cardiac-gated fast acquisition with multiple excitation (FAME), time curves of the cerebral aqueduct signals were derived in 19 healthy volunteers and 14 patients. A mean curve of the normal subjects was determined during systole. A relatively stable point of time was found at 270 msec after the R-wave supposed to be the reversal of the flow of cerebral-spinal fluid in the aqueduct. Different curves were noticed in complete aqueductal obstruction (n = 2); in other pathologic states, such as cerebral tumor (n = 3), normal pressure hydrocephalus (n = 3), and brain atrophy (n = 1), no different signal time curves were observed. Parameters such as aqueduct diameter, cerebro-spinal fluid volume and brain compliance are probably other important factors in aqueduct liquor flow.