A 31-year-old female was referred from other hospital due to migrating chest pain, mild cough, and blood-tinged sputum for three days before admission. Laboratory tests were unremarkable. Chest computed tomography revealed an elliptical necrotic mass at the left anterior mediastinum, measuring 7x3x4 cm. With the impression of mediastinal abscess or loculated empyema, thoracoscopic resection was performed. There was severe pleural adhesion around the mass. The mass could be resected by the wedge resection of the adhesed upper lobe tissue of left lung around the mass. Final pathologic diagnosis was ectopic pancreas.
Abscess ; Adult ; Chest Pain ; Cough ; Empyema ; Female ; Humans ; Lung ; Mediastinal Diseases ; Mediastinum ; Pancreas ; Sputum ; Thorax

BACKGROUND: Hypoxia inducible factor-1alpha(HIF-1alpha) is a transcription factor for various target genes that are involved in adapting cells to hypoxia. It promotes cell proliferation and survival via modulation of such cell cycle regulators such as cyclin A1 and cyclin B1 in response to hypoxia. This is associated with local failure of radiotherapy, which renders a poor prognosis for cervical carcinoma. METHODS: Using the tissue histologic sections and a tissue microarray of the archived biopsy and surgical specimens of uterine cervical carcinoma from 57 patients who were treated with radiation therapy alone, we performed immunohistochemical staining for HIF-1alpha and cyclin A1 and B1 to evaluate the correlations between the expressions of these proteins in tumors and the clinicopathologic parameters associated with the prognosis. RESULTS: The large tumor cell nests and invasive front margins of the tumors showed comparatively intense immunoreactivity of HIF-1alpha. There was no significant correlation between the HIF-1alpha, cyclin A1 and cyclin B1 expressions and the clinicopathologic factors. CONCLUSIONS: The HIF-1alpha expression showed marked intra-tumoral heterogeneity. The HIF-1alpha expression is neither a powerful predictor of resistance to radiotherapy nor is it a poor prognostic marker in cervical carcinoma patients who are treated with radiotherapy. The expressions of cyclin A1 and cyclin B1 are neither independently associated with the response of radiation therapy nor are they associated with the prognostic parameters of uterine cervical carcinoma.
Anoxia ; Biopsy ; Cell Cycle ; Cell Proliferation ; Cyclin A ; Cyclin A1 ; Cyclin B ; Cyclin B1 ; Cyclins ; Humans ; Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1, alpha Subunit ; Population Characteristics ; Prognosis ; Proteins ; Transcription Factors ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: Human selenium binding protein 1 (SELENBP1) is a protein that binds selenium as a cofactor. The decreased expression of SELENBP1 in several types of carcinomas and its association with a poor prognosis have previously been reported on. In this study, we evaluated the expression of SELENBP1 in low-grade and high-grade epithelial dysplasia/ adenomas and adenocarcinomas. METHODS: We analyzed 45 cases of low-grade epithelial dysplasia/adenomas, 42 cases of high-grade epithelial dysplasia/adenomas and 64 cases of adenocarcinomas and all of them were obtained from endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection. We analyzed all of them for their SELENBP1 expression by immunohistochemistry. Eight triple-paired cases of gastric mucosa, adenoma and adenocarcinoma from the same patient were selected for RT-PCR analysis. RESULTS: There was a progressive decrease in the expression of SELENBP1 from the low-grade dysplasia/adenomas (42/45, 93%) to the high-grade dysplasia/adenomas (29/42, 69%) and finally to the adenocarcinomas (24/64, 37%), (p<0.001). The progressive decrease in the SELENBP1 expression was also evident in the eight paired cases that were analyzed by RT-PCR. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that the SELENBP1 expression is suppressed in gastric epithelial dysplasia/adenomas and adenocarcinomas. The suppression of SELENBP1 was significantly more frequent and severer in the adenocarcinomas than that in the low-grade dysplasia/ adenomas, and this implies that the suppression of SELENBP1 is a late event in gastric carcinogenesis.
Humans ; Adenocarcinoma ; Adenoma

Background/Aims: AT-rich interactive domain 1A (ARID1A) is frequently mutated in gastric cancer (GC), especially Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated and microsatellite instability high GC.The loss of ARID1A expression has been reported as a poor prognostic marker in GC. However, the relationships between ARID1A alteration and EBV-associated and microsatellite instability high GC, which are known to have a favorable prognosis, has hampered proper evaluation of the prognostic significance of ARID1A expression in GC. We aimed to analyze the true prognostic significance of ARID1A expression by correcting confounding variables. Methods: We evaluated the ARID1A expression in a large series (n=1,032) of advanced GC and analyzed the relationships between expression pattern and variable parameters, including clinicopathologic factors, key molecular features such as EBV-positivity, mismatch repair protein deficiency, and expression of p53 and several receptor tyrosine kinases including human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, epidermal growth factor receptor, and mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor. Survival analysis of the molecular subtypes was done according to the ARID1A expression patterns. Results: Loss of ARID1A expression was found in 52.5% (53/101) of mutL homolog 1 (MLH1)-deficient and 35.8% (24/67) of EBV-positive GCs, compared with only 9.6% (82/864) of the MLH1-proficient and EBV-negative group (p<0.001). The loss of ARID1A expression was associated only with MLH1 deficiency and EBV positivity. On survival analysis, the loss of ARID1A expression was associated with worse prognosis only in MLH1-proficient and EBV-negative GC. Multivariate analysis revealed that both loss of ARID1A and decreased ARID1A expression were independent worse prognostic factors in patients with advanced GC. Conclusions Only in MLH1-proficient and EBV-negative GC, the loss of ARID1A expression is related to poorer prognosis.

Purpose: With an increase in the aging population, the number of patients with degenerative spinal diseases undergoing surgery has risen, as has the incidence of postoperative delirium. This study aimed to investigate the risk factors affecting postoperative delirium in older adults who had undergone spine surgery and to identify the associated biomarkers. Methods: This study is a prospective study. Data of 100 patients aged ≥ 70 years who underwent spinal surgery were analyzed. Demographic data, medical history, clinical characteristics, cognitive function, depression symptoms, functional status, frailty, and nutritional status were investigated to identify the risk factors for delirium. The Confusion Assessment Method, Delirium Rating Scale-R-98, and Nursing Delirium Scale were also used for diagnosing deliri-um. To discover the biomarkers, urine extracellular vesicles (EVs) were analyzed for tau, ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1),neurofilament light, and glial fibrillary acidic protein using digital immunoassay technology. Results: Nine patients were excluded, and data obtained from the remaining 91 were analyzed. Among them, 18 (19.8%) developed delirium. Differences were observed between partici-pants with and without delirium in the contexts of a history of mental disorder and use of benzodiazepines (p = .005 and p = .026, respectively). Tau and UCH-L1—concentrations of urine EVs—were comparatively higher in participants with severe delirium than that in partici-pants without delirium (p = .002 and p = .001, respectively). Conclusion These findings can assist clinicians in accurately identifying the risk factors before surgery, classifying high-risk patients, and predicting and detecting delirium in older patients. Moreover, urine EV analysis revealed that postoperative delirium following spinal surgery is most likely associated with brain damage.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: It is difficult to precisely detect the lateral margin during endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for signet ring cell carcinoma (SRC) because SRC often expands to lateral direction through the lamina propria. Thus, the aim of this study was to classify the intramucosal spreading patterns of SRC and to analyze the patients' clinicopathological findings according to the spreading patterns. METHODS: The intramucosal spreading patterns of SRC were classified as expansive or infiltrative types. A total of 100 surgical and 42 ESD specimens were reviewed. RESULTS: In the surgical specimens, the proportions of expansive and infiltrative types were 44% and 56%, respectively. The infiltrative type was more commonly associated with old age, atrophy, and intestinal metaplasia in surrounding mucosa and the absence of Helicobacter pylori compared with the expansive type. In ESD specimens, the proportions of expansive and infiltrative types were each 50%. When lateral margin-positive lesions were compared with -negative lesions, larger size, residual lesion, and the lack of a neutrophil infiltration were more significantly associated with lateral margin-positive lesions. All cases with residual tumors in lateral margin-positive lesions were classified as the infiltrative type. CONCLUSIONS: SRC surrounded with atrophy and/or intestinal metaplasia often spreads subepithelially in the margin. This finding may suggest that a larger safety margin is necessary in this type during ESD.
Adult ; Carcinoma, Signet Ring Cell/*pathology/*surgery ; Dissection/*methods ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa/pathology ; *Gastroscopy ; Humans ; Intestines/pathology ; Male ; Metaplasia/pathology ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach/pathology ; Stomach Neoplasms/*pathology/*surgery

A 50-year-old woman with incidentally detected multiple gastric polyps and biopsy-proven neuroendocrine tumor (NET) was referred to our hospital. More than 10 polypoid lesions (less than 15 mm) with normal gastric mucosa were detected from the gastric body to the fundus. The serum level of gastrin was within the normal limits. There was no evidence of atrophic changes on endoscopy and serologic marker as pepsinogen I/II ratio. Computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis revealed no evidence of metastatic lesions. She refused surgery, and we performed endoscopic polypectomy for almost all the gastric polyps that were greater than 5 mm. Although the histological examination revealed that all the removed polys were diagnosed as NET G1, three of them extended to the lateral or vertical resection margins, while two exhibited lymphovascular invasion. A follow-up upper endoscopy that was performed 6 months after the diagnosis showed multiple remnant gastric polyps that were suggestive of remnant gastric NET.
Abdomen ; Diagnosis ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Gastric Mucosa ; Gastrins ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neuroendocrine Tumors* ; Pelvis ; Pepsinogen A ; Polyps ; Stomach

Bone metastasis from a spinal cord astrocytoma has been reported only twice in the English medical literature. It is generally known that bone metastasis is found after the initial diagnosis with/without intervening surgery rather than being found at the time of the diagnosis of astrocytoma. The purpose of this article is to report for the first time a case of concurrent bone metastasis from a spinal cord astrocytoma at the time of diagnosing the spinal cord astrocytoma.
Astrocytoma/diagnosis/*secondary ; Humans ; *Lumbar Vertebrae ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Spinal Cord Neoplasms/diagnosis/*pathology ; Spinal Neoplasms/diagnosis/*secondary ; *Thoracic Vertebrae

Background/Aims: Papillary gastric cancer (GC) is classified as differentiated adenocarcinoma, together with well-differentiated (WD) and moderately differentiated (MD) adenocarcinoma. This study evaluated the risk of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in submucosal (SM) invasive papillary GC compared with other differentiated early GC types. Methods: This retrospective study involved three tertiary hospitals and enrolled 1,798 lesions with differentiated SM invasive GC treated with curative gastrectomy between March 2001 and December 2012. All pathology slides were reviewed, and clinicopathologic findings associated with LNM, including tumor size, location, gross type, ulceration, depth and width of SM invasion, and lymphovascular invasion (LVI), were analyzed. Results: The proportion of SM papillary GC was 2.8% (n=51). SM papillary GC was associated with larger tumor size and deeper and wider SM invasion than other differentiated GC types.LNM was significantly higher in the papillary type than in the MD and WD types. LNM was found in 27.5% of SM papillary GC patients (WD: 9.0%, MD: 21.2%). LVI was the only significant risk factor for LNM in SM papillary GC. The depth or width of SM invasion was not associated with LNM in papillary GC. Lower third location or elevated gross appearance was significantly associated with LVI. Conclusions SM papillary GC had the highest LNM rate, with features different from those of other differentiated SM invasive GCs. The treatment strategy for SM papillary GC should be carefully approached, especially for lesions located in the lower third or of the elevated gross type.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of an exercise intervention on subjective cancer-related fatigue (CRF) and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels in breast cancer survivors (BCS). Methods: BCS with greater than moderate CRF (≥ 4) were recruited and randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. The experimental group participated in a 12-week exercise adherence program (Better Life after Cancer - Energy, Strength, and Support; BLESS). Interleukin (IL)-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were determined at 3 time points (M1: baseline, M2: post-intervention, and M4: 6 months after intervention). Subjective fatigue was measured using the Korean version of the revised Piper Fatigue Scale. Results: In this analysis of participants with physiological fatigue measures available (19 experimental, 21 control), there were no statistically significant differences in IL-6 (F = 1.157, p = 0.341), TNF-α levels (F = 0.878, p = 0.436), and level of fatigue (F = 2.067, p = 0.118) between the 2 groups at baseline. Fatigue in the experimental group showed statistically significant improvement compared to the control only at M2 (p = 0.022). There was no significant relationship between subjective and physiological fatigue at the 3 measurement points. Conclusion The BLESS intervention improved CRF in BCS immediately at post-intervention, and this study presents clinical feasibility for the management of CRF in BCS in the early survivorship phase who are already experiencing fatigue.