大城 久

A 53-year-old woman visited her district hospital complaining of right lower limb numbness 8 days after being diagnosed with COVID-19. She had been suffering diarrhea for 25 days before the hospital visit. Computed tomography showed multiple arterial and venous thromboses, and anticoagulation with a therapeutic dose of heparin was initiated. Acute aortic occlusion occurred on hospital day 5, and balloon thromboembolectomy was performed for revascularization of the lower limbs 9 hours after onset. Ulcerative colitis was diagnosed on postoperative day 7. With the anticoagulation and immunosuppression therapy, no thromboembolic event occurred postoperatively.

BACKGROUND: Minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) can be complicated by thymoma; however, no standard therapy for thymoma-associated MCNS has yet been established. We herein describe a case of steroid-resistant MCNS associated with thymoma, treated effectively with rituximab. CASE PRESENTATION: A 71-year-old Japanese man was referred to our department with severe proteinuria (20 g/gCr). Renal biopsy showed minimal change disease and computed tomography revealed an anterior mediastinal mass. Based on these findings, he was diagnosed with thymoma-associated MCNS. He was treated with oral prednisolone (50 mg/day) and cyclosporine, and underwent thymectomy and plasma exchange. However, no improvement in proteinuria was observed. He therefore received intravenous rituximab 500 mg, resulting in a marked decrease in proteinuria from 5328 to 336 mg/day after 1 week. CONCLUSIONS: This case suggests that rituximab might be an effective therapy in patients with steroid-resistant MCNS associated with thymoma.

BACKGROUND/AIM: In prostate cancer, robotic total prostatectomy is a popular treatment modality. However, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) recurrence after prostate cancer surgery remains a concern. Salvage radiotherapy is commonly used to treat PSA recurrence, but the recurrence rate after salvage radiotherapy is high, highlighting the need for better predictive markers. This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the association between cribriform pattern and PSA recurrence in patients receiving radiotherapy after radical prostatectomy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Data of 50 patients who underwent radiotherapy after total prostatectomy between January 2010 and May 2020 were retrospectively evaluated. The median age was 67 years. Among these patients, two cases involved postoperative irradiation, while 48 cases involved salvage irradiation after postoperative PSA recurrence. The median time from surgery to PSA recurrence was 38.3 months. The median radiation dose was 64 Gy in 32 fractions. Three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy was administered in 38 cases and intensity-modulated radiation therapy was used in 12 cases. Combined hormone therapy was administered in 21 cases. PSA levels were measured every 3 months after treatment. Statistical analysis between groups was performed by a t-test. RESULTS: The median follow-up period after radiotherapy was 31 months. No local recurrences were observed at the prostate bed, and no deaths related to prostate cancer were recorded during follow-up. However, 18 patients (36.0%) had PSA recurrence. The PSA recurrence rate based on the cribriform pattern was 17.6% in the none to moderate group (34 patients) and 75.0% in the severe cribriform pattern group (16 patients). The PSA recurrence rate was significantly higher in patients with a severe invasive cribriform pattern (p=0.001). No significant differences were observed in other histopathological characteristics. CONCLUSION: The cribriform pattern in surgical pathology specimens was found to be a useful predictor of PSA recurrence after postoperative radiotherapy.