1.What Lurks Beneath: Lacrimal Gland Adenocarcinoma Dedifferentiation to Sarcomatoid Carcinoma
Farrah-Hani Imran ; Muthukumaran Guhan ; Enda Kelly ; Jegan Thanabalan ; Farizal Fadzil ; Faridah Hanum
Journal of Surgical Academia 2015;5(2):70-74
This was a case of a young lady presenting with 10 year history of a mass in the right eye. It was found to be an
adenocarcinoma of the lacrimal gland from histopathological biopsy. She underwent wide excision, orbital
exenteration and reconstruction with a free rectus abdominis flap. Unfortunately, she had a tumour recurrence which
was not controlled by radiotherapy and a second excision. The behavior of the tumour was aggressive, resulting in
widespread metastases. She passed away within a year of her presentation. Of note, the histopathology report from
the second excision turned out to be sarcomatoid carcinoma. This is described in the literature as dedifferentiation, or
high grade transformation (HGT). Occurrence of dedifferentiation in salivary gland tumours is well-established, but
not as well-described in lacrimal gland tumours. In this case, there was a severely delayed presentation of a lacrimal
gland adenocarcinoma in a young person, which underwent dedifferentiation into a sarcomatoid carcinoma. This
phenomena is associated with aggressive tumour biology behavior and poor prognosis, despite surgery and
radiotherapy.
Adenocarcinoma
;
Lacrimal Apparatus
2.A clinical audit of interventional pain procedures performed as part of the newly initiated pain service in a local neurosurgical centre
Hau Chun Khoo ; Bee Hong Soon ; Ainul Syahrilfazli Jaafar ; Azizi Abu Bakar ; Farizal Fadzil ; Kamalanathan Palaniandy ; Sanmugarajah Paramasvaran ; Yin Choy Choy ; Charng Jeng Toh
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2016;71(5):288-291
Interventional Pain Procedures (IPPs) is a relatively new
treatment modality for chronic pain in Malaysia. The
Interventional Pain Service (IPS) newly set up in our
institution is led by a pain neurosurgeon and provides a
whole package of multimodal pain management including
different range of IPPs. This clinical audit is to examine the
quality of IPPs performed within the IPS in our institution
since its initiation. A total of 87 IPPs were performed on 56
chronic pain patients over 3-year duration. As high as 81.8%
of the procedures were effective and 81.5% of patients were
satisfied. Only one minor transient complication occurred
after an intradiscal procedure but none resulted in death or
permanent disability. Thus, safe and effective IPPs can be
provided as part of IPS in a local neurosurgical pain centre
to bring more comprehensive and less fragmented care for
chronic pain patients.