Neuroendocrine adenoma of the middle ear presented as paragaglioma: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Neuroendocrine adenoma of the middle ear (NAME) is a rare benign glandular tumor with neuroendocrine differentiation arising from the middle ear mucosa. The common symptoms and clinical findings of this tumor are usually non-specific. When the tumor appears as a reddish retrotympanic mass, it can be misdiagnosed to be a paraganglioma. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 38-year-old male presented with a 12-month history of left ear ​​fullness and tinnitus. Otoscopy revealed a reddish retrotympanic mass with an intact tympanic membrane. The imaging demonstrated a soft tissue mass adjacent to the eardrum and the ossicles, compatible with a paraganglioma. The mass was surgically removed through a posterior tympanotomy. The histological and immunohistochemical examination showed the specimen to be a neuroendocrine adenoma. Four years after the operation, the patient remains without any sign of recurrence. CONCLUSION: NAME is a rare tumor, mimicking tympanic paraganglioma, while its final diagnosis is only provided by histological and immunohistochemical analysis. HIPPOKRATIA 2017, 21(4): 201-203.

Use of mutational pattern in 5'-NCR and VP1 regions of polioviruses for molecular diagnosis.

Polioviruses are members of the enterovirus genus, belonging to the Picornaviridae family. They are the causative agents of poliomyelitis, a paralytic and sometimes fatal disease in humans. The number of poliomyelitis cases caused by wild poliovirus infections has been dramatically reduced by the extensive use of two available vaccines: the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and the oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Despite the importance of OPV in the reduction of poliomyelitis cases, one of the disadvantages associated with this vaccine is the rare occurrence of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) in vaccinees or their healthy contacts through the accumulation of mutations and/or recombination in Sabin strains genome. Thirteen clinical isolates originating from healthy vaccinees and VAPP cases were investigated in order to identify genomic modifications in 5' non-coding region (5'-NCR) and VP1 genomic regions. The analysis of samples was conducted by RT-PCR, RFLP, sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. All clinical isolates were characterized as OPV-like viruses. Our results showed that analysis of 5'-NCR and VP1 regions of Poliovirus Sabin strains is important in order to identify mutations that increase the neurovirulence conducting to the eventuality of emergence of VAPP cases.

Subtype C1 persistent infection of HHV-8 in a PEL patient.

PEL, a rare type of lymphoma constituting less than 5% of NHLs, has been recently identified as a distinct clinical and pathological entity among the B-cell lymphomas, with characteristic morphologic, immunophenotypic, molecular and viral features. ICC, PCR, RT-PCR and sequencing were carried out in biologicals samples from a 44-year-old, non-smoker Caucasian male patient of Greek nationality, HIV-1 negative and HCV positive. The ICC results showed CD30 + , Vimentin + , EMA + , Ki67 + , Pankeratin- and negative to B and T antibodies. In addition, HHV-8 was detected in pleural fluid. Examination of blood samples of the patient over a period of nearly two years showed a persistent infection of HHV-8. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a close relation to the C1 variant of HHV-8. The samples was also found EBV negative by PCR. Using a combination of clinical, morphological, immunohistochemical features and molecular biology techniques in this study we document a PEL case with persistent HHV-8 of genotype C1 infection.