Fulminant eosinophilic myocarditis associated with visceral larva migrans caused by Toxocara canis infection.

A 19-year-old man was transferred to hospital because of myocarditis with cardiogenic shock. Echocardiography showed a left ventricular ejection fraction of 23.8% and an intermediate amount of pericardial effusion. The patient immediately received an intra-aortic balloon pump and percutaneous cardiopulmonary support. Right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy was performed in the acute phase and showed extensive eosinophilic inflammatory cell infiltration, severe interstitial edema and moderate myocardial necrosis. High-dose corticosteroids were administered. Because the patient's antibody titer against Toxocara canis was high and his symptoms had appeared after eating raw deer meat, the diagnosis was fulminant eosinophilic myocarditis caused by a hypersensitivity reaction to visceral larval migrans. After starting high-dose corticosteroids, the ejection fraction dramatically improved, the eosinophilia decreased and the patient made a full recovery.

Surgical resection of liver metastases of gastric cancer: an analysis of a 17-year experience with 22 patients.

BACKGROUND: The justification for surgical resection of liver metastases from gastric cancer remains controversial. METHODS: Twenty-two patients who underwent 26 hepatectomies for liver metastases of gastric cancer between 1985 and 2001 were analyzed. Fifteen clinicopathologic factors were evaluated with univariate and multivariate analyses for survival after hepatic resection. RESULTS: The overall 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates after hepatectomy for gastric metastases were 73%, 38%, and 38%, respectively. Five patients survived for more than 3 years without recurrence, 3 of whom had synchronous metastases resected at the time of gastrectomy. The best results after surgical resection for liver metastases of gastric cancer were obtained with solitary metastases less than 5 cm in size. The number of liver metastases (solitary or multiple) was the only significant prognostic factor according to both univariate and multivariate analyses. CONCLUSION: Surgical resection for liver metastases of gastric cancer may be beneficial for patients with a solitary metastasis, whether it is synchronous or metachronous.

Colliding gastric and intestinal phenotype well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the stomach developing in an area of MALT-type lymphoma.

A 73-year-old man presented with an abnormal gastric shadow during a check-up of atomic bomb survivors. Radiological examination and endoscopy of the upper gastrointestinal tract revealed a protruding tumor, type 0-I+IIa, on the lesser curvature of the midstomach. An initial diagnosis of early gastric cancer was made and a segmental gastrectomy was planned. However, distal gastrectomy with D3 lymph node dissection was necessary, because intraoperative frozen section showed that the paraaortic lymph nodes (N3) were positive for cancer. The tumor in the resected specimen was, microscopically, a well-differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma (tub1) with pT2 (MP), pN3, ly2, and v1, in final (f) stage IV. The tumor cells of the type 0-I segment appeared as gastric phenotype and those of the type 0-IIa segment as intestinal phenotype. The border between the two was distinct. The tumor had focally invaded the muscularis propria where only the gastric phenotype was shown and the histological type became less differentiated. Thus, special attention should be paid to possible unexpected deep-wall invasion and lymph node metastasis in well-differentiated adenocarcinomas of the gastric phenotype. Further, in this patient, diffusely proliferating low-grade lymphoma was also observed incidentally in the gastric mucosa within and around the carcinoma. This was diagnosed as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)-type lymphoma with aberrant expression of BCL10. Finally, this case was considered to be a colliding gastric and intestinal phenotype well-differentiated adenocarcinoma of the stomach developed in an area involved by MALT-type lymphoma. Because no Helicobacter pylori was detected throughout the mucosae and the patient had no history of its infection, the three tumors may have developed under the same conditions as those seen in Helicobacter pylori infection, but without this infection.