Collecting duct carcinoma kidney masquerading as hydatid cyst: A rare case report and review of literature.

Cystic renal masses pose diagnostic challenge especially when they belong to Bosniak Type II and III. Septal and nodular enhancement on computed tomography (CT) is the strongest predictor of malignant process. A unilocular cyst with a calcified rim or a multilocular cystic lesion with heterogeneity on CT goes in favor of hydatid disease. We report a case in a 65-year-old female who presented with painless hematuria, was found to have a cystic mass in the right kidney. The mass turned out to be collecting duct carcinoma after histopathological examination though imaging studies were in favor of a hydatid cyst.

Extremely High Ferritinemia Associated with Haemophagocytic Lympho Histiocytosis (HLH).

Hyperferritinemia (>10,000 ng/ml) is an important hallmark used as an indicator of infection triggered macrophage activation syndrome leading to hemophagocytic lympho histiocytosis (HLH). Measurement of serum ferritin can be used in diagnosis as well as disease monitoring indicator and prognosis related to HLH, cAPS, sepsis, neoplasm and inflammatory conditions. It is a major contributor to manage critically ill patients as predicting and monitoring indicator. It can be used as acute phase response in conditions of MAS, AOSD, cAPS etc. A case study in our hospital showed extremely high ferritin values along with low hemoglobin, elevated LDH and triglycerides with positive MRSA in sputum culture and macrophage proliferation and hemophagocytosis in the bone marrow examination. Patient showed definite inverse relation with steroid therapy and serum ferritin levels.

PCT as a Prognostic Marker in Cardiac Patients with Neutropenic Sepsis: Two Case Reports.

Procalcitonin (PCT) is an innovative and highly specific marker for diagnosis of clinically relevant bacterial infection and sepsis. PCT supports early diagnosis and Clinical decision making. A retrospective study of two classical cases of neutropenic sepsis with elevated PCT levels in cardiac ICU was done. PCT was analyzed using Elecsys Brahms PCT kit. Serum PCT levels <0.5 ng/ml and ANC <1,000/mm(3) was taken as cutoff. The first patient had initial high levels of PCT 100 ng/ml, TLC 13,600/mm(3) and ANC 12,250/mm(3). It was followed by drop with subsequent rise in PCT levels and drop in TLC 1,000/mm(3) and ANC 70/mm(3). The second patient had normal PCT 0.116 ng/ml, TLC 5,600/mm(3) and ANC 4,420/mm(3) levels followed with sharp increase in all the values with subsequent drop in TLC 2,000/mm(3) and ANC 880 cells/mm(3). Both the patients died of neutropenic sepsis with multiorgan failure. The case reports showed the correlation of PCT with TLC and ANC levels in predicting the mortality of patients with neutropenic sepsis in cardiac ICU.