Two strains of vancomycin-resistant Leuconostoc species were isolated from blood cultures in two compromised patients. The isolates produced gas from Lactobacillus MRS booth, hydrolysed esculin, and produced no ammonia from arginine, thus fulfilling the major criteria as Leucorostoc spp. We recommend that clinical laboratories should perform susceptibility test to vancomycin for clinical isolates (especially from cerebrospinal fluid and blood) which resemble streptococci so as not to confuse Leuconostoc spp. with more commonly isolated pathogens such as streptococci.
Ammonia ; Arginine ; Bacteremia* ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Esculin ; Humans ; Lactobacillus ; Leuconostoc* ; Vancomycin

This case report describes a paraganglioma of the cauda equina in a 37-year-old man, as documented by light microscopy and immunohistochemistry. The patient experienced low back pain of 3 years duration, with the recent onset of sciatic pain and altered sensation in the right leg. Magnetic resonance imaging of L4 vertebral level revealed an ovoid, solid mass in the cauda equina. The mass was measured 1.5 cm in the greatest diameter. The histologic appearance was characterized by organoid pattern with clusters of chief cells (zellballen). Immunohistochemically, tumor cells are positive for keratin, epithelial membrane antigen, vimentin, neuron specific enolase and chromogranin.
Adult ; Cauda Equina* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Leg ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Microscopy ; Mucin-1 ; Organoids ; Paraganglioma* ; Phosphopyruvate Hydratase ; Sensation ; Vimentin

We report a case of necrotizing arteritis involving the gallbladder. This case was clinically diagnosed as cholelithiasis with cholecystitis, and necrotizing arteritis was found in the surgically resected specimen. Vascular changes were similar to those seen in classic polyarteritis nodosa, involving medium-sized muscular arteries and characterized by fibrinoid necrosis and panarterial and periarterial inflammation varying from active to resolving stages. Acute cholecystitis is a rare initial clinical manifestation of the systemic vasculitis. If acute cholecystitis is found in the absence of obvious cause, careful examination is essential. Since steroid therapy improves the prognosis in the systemic vasculitis, clinicians and pathologists should be aware of this unusual lesion.
Arteries ; Cholecystitis ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; Cholelithiasis ; Gallbladder* ; Inflammation ; Necrosis ; Polyarteritis Nodosa ; Prognosis ; Systemic Vasculitis ; Vasculitis*

Primary malignant parovarian epithelial tumors are extremely rare, with only 56 cases previously reported in the world literature. Most parovarian epithelial tumors are of paramesonephric (Mullerian) origin. In this article, we report the first case in the Korean literature of papillary serous cystadenoma of borderline malignancy from paramesonephric parovarian cyst. This case presented here is of particular interest since this neoplasm is rare. A 48-year-old female underwent a hysterectomy with bilateral adnexectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection for a cystic tumor of the right parovarian area. The tumor, measuring 13 cm in diameter, was apart from the ovaries, fallopian tubes and uterus. The cyst wall had well-developed smooth muscle layers. The cyst was lined with mildly atypical ciliated and non-ciliated low columnar cells compatible with those of paramesonephric origin. From the inner surface of the cyst several cauliflower-like structures projected into the lumen. They were of a predominantly papillary architecture covered by atypical epithelial cells with piling-up and occasional glandular growth. No destructive stromal invasion was identified.
Cystadenoma, Serous* ; Epithelial Cells ; Fallopian Tubes ; Female ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Lymph Node Excision ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Smooth ; Ovary ; Parovarian Cyst* ; Uterus

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET) of the ovary are rare tumors with an exclusive or almost exclusive malignant neuroectodermal composition, and are generally regarded as a monodermal expression of an ovarian teratoma. The tumors are basically identical with the lesions of the same name occuring typically in the central nervous system of children. These tumors consist chiefly of undifferentiated small cells resembling neuroblasts. There are also mature, well- differentiated neuroectodermal cells, such as astrocytes and ependymal cells. We report a case of ovarian PNET with glial and neuroblastic differentiation and focal teratomatous foci of non-neural tissue in a 17-year-old female.
Adolescent ; Astrocytes ; Central Nervous System ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Neural Plate ; Neuroectodermal Tumors, Primitive* ; Ovary* ; Teratoma

Hemimegalencephaly is an uncommon sporadic congenital malformation of the central nervous system characterized by enlargement of one cerebral hemisphere with cranial asymmetry, hemiparesis, epilepsy, and mental retardation. This report deals with a 12-month-old girl with intractable seizure and developmental delay, who revealed hemispheric asymmetry and enlarged right cerebral hemisphere. MRI scan revealed asymmetric enlargement of right cerebral hemisphere with lissencephaly and multifocal calcification. She underwent right frontal lobectomy and parietal cortical resection, but died of complication of surgery. Histological features included loss of cortical lamination, large atypical neurons, neuronal heterotopia, and astrocytosis with dystrophic calcification. The heterotopic neurons in the white matter were suggestive of aberrant neuronal migration.
Central Nervous System ; Cerebrum ; Epilepsy ; Female ; Gliosis ; Humans ; Infant ; Intellectual Disability ; Lissencephaly ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Malformations of Cortical Development* ; Neurons ; Paresis ; Rabeprazole ; Seizures

The clinical and pathological features of warty dyskeratoma are presented. Warty dyskeratoma is a rarely encountered, solitary, benign cutaneous tumor occurring most often on the head and neck and to our knowledge, no cases associated with cutaneous horn have been published in western literature. We experienced a case of warty dyskeratoma with a cutaneous horn occurring in a 70-year-old male, who had a 1.3 cm-sized and slowly growing nodule on his neck. A brief review of the literature, was made especially in relation to the pathological findings and histogenesis of warty dyskeratoma.
Aged ; Animals ; Head ; Horns* ; Humans ; Male ; Neck

The Mainz classification for renal cell tumors was introduced in 1986 and it's utility has been reported in several histogenetic and genetic studies of renal cell tumors. We present a study of 127 cases of renal cell tumors with clinicopathologic correlation, DNA content analysis, and histogenesis studied by histochemical and immunohistochemical staining. The 127 renal cell tumors classified by the Mainz classification were 87 clear cell, 17 chromophilic, 13 chromophobe and 3 sarcomatoid renal cell carcinomas, 5 oncocytomas and 2 adenomas. These subtypes showed significant correlation not with age, sex, Robson's stage, DNA ploidy or tumor recurrence but with nuclear grade (p=0.001) and tumor size (p=0.001). Hall's colloidal iron (p=0.002) and carbonic anhydrase II (p=0.013) stains, representing the origin of distal nephron especially of collecting duct, were significantly correlated with specific subtypes of renal cell tumors, especially chromophobe cell renal carcinoma. This study demonstrates that the Mainz classification suggests several morphologically different subtypes and variants of renal cell tumors and that some of them may have originated from the distal nephron, particularly from the collecting duct.
Adenoma ; Adenoma, Oxyphilic ; Carbonic Anhydrase II ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Classification* ; Colloids ; Coloring Agents ; DNA* ; Iron ; Nephrons ; Ploidies ; Recurrence

The Kaposi's sarcoma, which was found in an immunosuppressed patient of renal transplantation, may have been developed by long term use of immunosuppressant agent after the renal transplantation. The case was a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed as chronic renal failure in 1988, and since then, she had been on CAPD until May, 1997. After the renal transplantation in May 1997, the patient has been prescribed cyclosporin and prednisone as immunosuppressant agent. In June 1997, she showed clinical symptom of Kaposi's sarcoma with multiple papules and nodules in the skin and viscera, such as ureter, urinary bladder, stomach, duodenum and subcutaneous tissue of the chest. Multiple excisional biopsies were carried out in the skin, ureter, urinary bladder, stomach and duodenum. All of excisional biopses indicated nodular stages with extensive proliferation of spindle shaped, somewhat pleomorphic cells which have slit-like vascular spaces, proliferation of small vessels, and extravasation of erythrocytes. These lesions nearly diminished after sytemic chemotherpy, excision and discontinuity of immunosuppressive agents.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Cyclosporine ; Duodenum ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Prednisone ; Sarcoma, Kaposi* ; Skin ; Stomach ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Thorax ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder ; Viscera

The Kaposi's sarcoma, which was found in an immunosuppressed patient of renal transplantation, may have been developed by long term use of immunosuppressant agent after the renal transplantation. The case was a 29-year-old woman who was diagnosed as chronic renal failure in 1988, and since then, she had been on CAPD until May, 1997. After the renal transplantation in May 1997, the patient has been prescribed cyclosporin and prednisone as immunosuppressant agent. In June 1997, she showed clinical symptom of Kaposi's sarcoma with multiple papules and nodules in the skin and viscera, such as ureter, urinary bladder, stomach, duodenum and subcutaneous tissue of the chest. Multiple excisional biopsies were carried out in the skin, ureter, urinary bladder, stomach and duodenum. All of excisional biopses indicated nodular stages with extensive proliferation of spindle shaped, somewhat pleomorphic cells which have slit-like vascular spaces, proliferation of small vessels, and extravasation of erythrocytes. These lesions nearly diminished after sytemic chemotherpy, excision and discontinuity of immunosuppressive agents.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Cyclosporine ; Duodenum ; Erythrocytes ; Female ; Humans ; Immunosuppressive Agents ; Kidney Failure, Chronic ; Kidney Transplantation ; Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory ; Prednisone ; Sarcoma, Kaposi* ; Skin ; Stomach ; Subcutaneous Tissue ; Thorax ; Ureter ; Urinary Bladder ; Viscera