A case report with type II pleuropulmonary blastoma: successful treatment with surgery and chemotherapy.

Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a very rare intrathoracic malignancy in childhood. It is an aggressive embryonal or blastemic neoplasm usually occurring in children younger than five years of age. PPB is treated with aggressive multimodal therapies consisting of surgery and chemotherapy. We present a case with PPB type II successfully treated with complete surgical resection following neoadjuvant chemotherapy. She has been free of disease for 33 months of follow-up. Complete surgical resection of the tumor at the time of diagnosis is the cornerstone of PPB management, but in the majority of patients, initial surgery is incomplete because a large tumor may involve vital structures. For this reason, patients with initially unresectable tumors should be treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy to reduce the lesion to the point that it becomes resectable.

Persistent pleural effusion after open heart surgery: giant hydatid cyst of the liver and its demonstrative images. A case report.

BACKGROUND: Approximately in 50% of the patients who have undergone coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), pleural fluid collection occurs at the early postoperative period and resolves spontaneously. CASE REPORT: CABG was performed on a 54-year-old male. In the early postoperative period, the chest roentgenogram revealed right pleural collection. The preoperative and the postoperative hepatic function tests were nor-mal. MR scanning revealed a giant hydatid cyst at the apex of the liver. The cyst was excised through thoracotomy transphrenically and primary capitonage was applied. CONCLUSIONS: In the persistent right pleural effusion that occurs after open heart surgery hydatid cyst of the liver should be remembered, especially in the endemic regions.

Thymic epithelial tumors: analysis of prognostic factors with emphasis on the role of adjuvant radiation therapy.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic impacts of histopathological classification, Masaoka staging system, extent of surgery, and adjuvant treatment approaches in thymic epithelial tumors (TETs) were investigated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Records of 22 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Total thymectomy was performed on 5 patients and thymectomy on 17. Complete resection was achieved for 14 patients. Radiation therapy (RT) was considered for all patients with stage III or IV disease and all patients undergoing incomplete resections. RESULTS: Local control had been achieved in all patients and all were alive with no evidence of disease (ANED) at 0.2-7.8 years (median, 2.3 years). Of 4 patients with stage II disease, 2 (favorable group) had undergone complete resections and 2 (intermediate group) had undergone incomplete resections. Those undergoing incomplete resections had received RT. Of these 4 patients, all were ANED. All 4 patients with Masaoka stage III disease that were involved in the study had undergone incomplete resections and had received RT. Also, these patients were ANED. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with TETs undergoing less than complete resections might be referred for RT in the postoperative setting, while the role of RT in patients undergoing complete resections remains unclear.