We herein describe a case of a 55-year-old healthy woman with localized primary thymic amyloidosis presented as a mediastinal mass, found incidentally by chest radiography. Computed tomography revealed a 4.1 cm soft tissue lesion with nodular calcification in the left anterior mediastinum. The resected specimen was a well-defined lobulating mass with calcification. Microscopically, the mass was consisted of amorphous eosinophilc hyalinized substances involving the thymus and intrathymic lymph nodes. These eosinophilic substances showed apple-green bi-refringence under polarized light after staining with Congo red. In immunohistochemical study, they were positive for kappa and lambda light chains and negative for amyloid A. There was no evidence of systemic amyloidosis in clinical investigations. A final diagnosis of localized primary thymic amyloidosis was made.
Amyloid ; Amyloidosis ; Congo Red ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Humans ; Hyalin ; Light ; Lymph Nodes ; Mediastinum ; Middle Aged ; Thorax ; Thymoma ; Thymus Gland

Pulmonary embolism is the impaction of material into branches of the pulmonary arterial bed. It usually occurs in patients with primary hypercoagulable states or secondary hypercoagulable states like cancer, preganancy, and estrogen replacement therapy. We report a case of a pulmonary embolism in a patient with positive lupus anticoagulant who received estrogen replacement therapy. The patient was referred due to suddenly developed shortness of breath and echogenic mass densities in the right atrium on 2 dimensional echocardiography. The patient was markedly improved with intravenous urokinase and subsequent oral anticoagulant therapy. Related articles are also reviewed.
Dyspnea ; Echocardiography ; Estrogen Replacement Therapy* ; Estrogens* ; Female ; Heart Atria ; Humans ; Lupus Coagulation Inhibitor* ; Pulmonary Embolism* ; Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator

We report a case of cystic adenocarcinoma of the prostate in a 67-year-old man who showed severe obstructive voiding symptoms. In this case, the mechanism of the cyst formation from the prostate cancer is thought to be related to the secondary cystic formation, which was due to either the central necrosis of the cancer tissue or intracancerous tissue hemorrhage. Prostate cystic adenocarcinoma is a rare disease, and there are only a few cases reported in the literature. A cyst of the prostate may be either congenital or acquired. A congenital cyst arises from the mesonephric (Wolffian) or paramesonephric (Mullerian) duct system, while an acquired cyst is subdivided into the retention, malignant, and parasitic cyst. A huge prostatic cyst was found in a 67-year-old man. The lesion was presumed to be a prostate cystic adenocarcinoma.
Adenocarcinoma* ; Aged ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Necrosis ; Prostate* ; Prostatic Neoplasms ; Rare Diseases

The authors presented an unusual case of an occipital artery aneurysm which developed spontaneously. The patient was a 41-year-old woman who suffered from the sudden onset of right hemiparesis and slurred speech. Computerized tomography scans of the brain demonstrated an intracerebral hemorrhage in the left parietal lobe. The carotid angiography revealed an incidental saccular aneurysm in the left occipital artery. The aneurysm was not treated because the patient's relatives refused operation and there were no subjective complaints by the patient. Certain particularities of this lesion are discussed in the context of the literature.
Adult ; Aneurysm* ; Angiography ; Arteries* ; Brain ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; Female ; Humans ; Paresis ; Parietal Lobe

Anatomical information of the circle of Willis is important in evaluating the various cerebrovascular diseases and surgical procedures. In this study, we present the anatomical structures of the circle of Willis in 54 Korean adults. The authors observed the morphological characteristics of the vasculature, the incidence of deficiency or incompleteness in the circle and clinical considerations. Measurements of the outer diameter and the length of each arterial segments were performed. Number and the origin of perforators from individual arteries were also oserved. Results of this study were as followings. Normal circles of Willis was oserved in 35 cases(64.81%) and abnormal circles in 19 cases(35.9%). 2) Incidental detection of aneurysms occurred in 5 cases(9.26%). 3) Frequency of anomalies were most commonly observed in the anterior communicating arteries(N=16, 20.37%). 4) A string-like artery was most frequently observed in te post-erior communicating artery(N=11, 20.37%). 5) Anomalous origin of the P1 segment of the posterior cerebral artery was observed, fetal type was in 12 cases(22.2%) and transitional typ was in 3 cases(5.55%) respectively. 6) The longest artery was the A1 segmnt of the anterior cerebral artery;the second, posterior communicating artery;the third, P1 segment of the posterior cerebral artery;and the shortest, anterior communicating artery. 7) The outer diameters of the basilar artery and internal carotid artery were almost, equal, A1 segment was half of ICA, AcoA was two thirds of A1 segment, PcoA was half of P1 segment and P1 segment was two thirds of the basilar artery. There were difference the anterior and posterior portion of the circle Willis. In the anterior communicating arteries, duplicated structure were frequently found. And also, inequality in the outer diameter of both A1 segmnts was observed. String-like arteries were often revealed in the posterior communicating arteries. Anomalous origin of P1 segments that may be persistant embryonic derivatives were frequently demonstrated in posterior cerebral arteries.
Adult* ; Aneurysm ; Arteries ; Basilar Artery ; Carotid Artery, Internal ; Circle of Willis* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Posterior Cerebral Artery ; Socioeconomic Factors

The authors present a case of Fahr's disease which is characterized by idiopathic symmetrical calcifications in the basal ganglia and the dentate nuclei. Computerized tomographic scans of the brain demonstrated bilateral calcified lesions recognized in the region of the dentate nuclei of both cerebellar hemispheres and the basal ganglia. A review of the literature on several cases of intracranial ferrocalcinosis is presented.
Basal Ganglia ; Brain

Brain metastasis from primary uterine cervical carcinoma have been described but are extremely rare and usually occur in the presence of widely disseminated diseases. The authors report a case of solitary cerebellar metastasis from uterine cervical carcinoma, which was confirmed by histopathological examination. The patient has shown no evidence of metastatic lesions elsewhere, thus far, but had undergone a radical hysterectomy under the diagnosis of uterine cervical carcinoma 52 months prior to the surgical excision of the cerebellar metastasis.
Brain ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Hysterectomy ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

Three cases of patients with quadricuspid aortic valve diagnosed with transthoracic echocardiography are presented. Two dimensional and color Doppler echocardiography are very useful for the diagnosis of quadricuspid aortic valve. According to the types of quadricuspid aortic valve classified by the size of four cusps identified by parasternal short axis view, therapeutic plan and prognosis of different types of quadricuspid valve will be varied. Echocardiographic demonstration of quadricuspid aortic valve widens the spectrum of aortic valve diseases especially if the cause of aortic regurgitation will not be defined clearly.
Aortic Valve Insufficiency ; Aortic Valve* ; Axis, Cervical Vertebra ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Doppler, Color ; Humans ; Prognosis

Thrombosis of the inferior vena cava (IVC) is a rare condition that can result from various underlying diseases including deep vein thrombosis, major trauma, hypercoagulability disorders, and an obstruction due to tumor involvement and idiopathic causes. Chronic obstruction of the IVC may not be recognized due to the lack of signs and symptoms. Here we report a case of a chronic post-thrombotic obstruction of the inferior vena cava, which was believed to be the cause of a painless gross hematuria.
Hematuria* ; Thrombophilia ; Thrombosis ; Vena Cava, Inferior ; Venous Thrombosis

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that the sympathetic nervous system might play an important role in the development of coronary artery spasm. Recently, advances have made possible the imaging of the cardiac adrenergic nervous system with metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) labeled with iodine-123. The purpose of this study was to assess the presence and location of abnormal sympathetic innervation by iodine-123-metaiodobenzylguanidine single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and to evaluate the clinical efficacy of iodine-123-MIBG SPECT as a noninvasive screening test in patients with coronary artery spasm. METHOD: Coronary arteriography and provocative test with intravenous administration of ergonovine maleate were performed in 26 patients (21 men, 5 women, mean age 49.1+/-9.3, range: 26-59) who were suspected of having a coronary artery spasm. The subjects were divided into 2 groups ; Group 1 comparised of 18 patients subjects to the positive provocative test, Group 2 comparised of 8 patients subjects to the negative provocative test. Four healthy subjects served as control. All patients also underwent iodine-123-MIBG SPECT for the evaluation of cardiac sympathetic integrity. The SPECT findings were qualitatively evaluated by two experienced physicians who were blind to the clinical data. RESULTS: Abnormal sympathetic nervous innervation using iodine-123-MIBG SPECT was observed either as a reduced uptake or defect pattern in the perfused areas in 13 of the 18 vessels of ergonovine induced vasospasm. Normal sympathetic innervation as evidenced by normal iodine-123-MIBG uptake was noted in all of the 60 segments of normal vessel territories. Reduced uptake of iodine-123-MIBG was not detected in the perfused areas of five vasospasm-induced vessels (perfusion territory of LAD in 2 and the RCA in 3 patients). The sensitivity and specificity of iodine-123-MIBG for detection coronary artery spasm were 72.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 55% to 89%) and 100%, respectively. The positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 100% and 92.3% (95% CI 91% to 93%), respectively. CONCLUSION: Iodine-123-MIBG SPECT is a feasible method to noninvasively evaluate and localize the territories of coronary arteries with spasms. Invasive diagnostic coronary arteriography with ergonovine provocation test may be unnecessary for the diagnosis of coronary artery spasm in patients with typical resting pain, negative exercise test or normal thallium perfusion scan, but abnormal iodine-123-MIBG SPECT.
Administration, Intravenous ; Angiography ; Coronary Vessels* ; Diagnosis* ; Ergonovine ; Exercise Test ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Myocardial Perfusion Imaging* ; Nervous System ; Neurons* ; Perfusion ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Spasm* ; Sympathetic Nervous System ; Thallium ; Tomography, Emission-Computed ; Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon