A 73-Year-Old Female Diagnosed With Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans in the Primary Care Setting: A Case Report and Literature Review of Misdiagnosed Cases.

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is a rare, slow-growing, malignant tumor in the dermis and subcutaneous fat diagnosed by pathological and immunohistochemical examinations. This case report provides the dermatological findings of a 73-year-old woman with DFSP who presented to a primary care clinic with a longstanding nodular lesion on her left upper thigh. Dermatological examination showed a solitary, skin-colored violaceous/hyperpigmented nodule on the superior anteromedial portion of the left thigh. A punch biopsy revealed spindle cell proliferation, and diffuse CD34 positivity, confirming the diagnosis of DFSP. A dermatology referral was placed for further management and complete surgical excision. Patient underwent wide local excision (WLE) and has no recurrence to date. Unfortunately, DFSP is commonly misdiagnosed before skin biopsy which delays treatment. This case is significant because DFSP is not often diagnosed accurately outside the dermatology specialty and serves as a reminder to practitioners to use biopsies during the diagnostic process of skin findings to prevent the delay in management.

First and Second Line Chemotherapeutic Regimens for Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinomas - The Efficacy of Platinum, Non-Platinum and Combination Therapy: A Literature Review.

Non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC) account for a major part of all lung cancer diagnoses. The current literature review is aimed to analyze the varied chemotherapeutic treatment regimens available and to provide a standard for their use in the present and future scenarios. The current literature review focuses on platinum, non-platinum and combination therapeutic modalities, in the first and second line setting. The review also ensures that docetaxel and/or gemcitabine is a part of the study. A PubMed search for NSCLC identified 70,077 articles. A total of 36 research articles were obtained following the application of keywords and inclusion/exclusion criteria to narrow down our search to meet with the research objective. These articles consider NSCLC and chemotherapeutic treatment modalities as its primary endpoint. These 36 articles included 15 randomized clinical trials, five randomized control trials, five retrospective cohort studies, one case-control study, six review articles and four observational studies. Our analysis shows that there is an increasing potential for the use of non-platinum based drugs in the clinical setting with an efficacy that is at par with that of platinum-based treatment modalities. In fact, the studies have proven a greater advantage with the use of combination therapy (non-platinum + platinum), which can be readily applied as an alternative in the clinical setting while the use of non-platinum drugs (other than docetaxel) as a monotherapy or in combination with other non-platinum based drugs does require further research.

A 36-Year-Old Female with Recurrent Left Sided Pleural Effusion: A Rare Case of Mediastinal Lymphangioma.

BACKGROUND Lymphangioma is an atypical non-malignant, lymphatic lesion that is congenital in origin. Lymphangioma is most frequently observed in the head and neck, but can occur at any location in the body. About 65% of lymphangiomas are apparent at birth, while 80-90% are diagnosed by two years of age. Occurrence in adults is rare, as evidenced by less than 100 cases of adult lymphangiomas reported in the literature. CASE REPORT A 36-year-old Indian woman with a medical history of recurrent pleural effusions presented with chief complaints of dyspnea on exertion for one year and a low-grade fever for one month. A thorax CT revealed left-sided pleural effusion with thin internal septations. Thoracoscopy revealed a large cystic lesion arising from the mediastinum from the hilum surrounding the mediastinal great vessels. The diagnosis of lymphangioma was confirmed via histopathologic examination of the cyst. It was managed with partial cystectomy along with the use of a sclerosing agent (talc). CONCLUSIONS The size and location of lymphangiomas can vary, with some patients presenting with serious problems like respiratory distress, while others may be asymptomatic. Complete cyst resection is the gold standard treatment for mediastinal cystic lymphangioma. Partial cyst resection along with the use of sclerosing agents can be an effective option when complete cystectomy is not possible. Although lymphangioma is a rare patient condition, it should be included in the differentials for patients presenting with pleural effusions. Also, a biopsy should be done at the earliest opportunity to differentiate lymphangioma from other mediastinal malignant tumors.