Cavitary lung lesion as sequelae of mild COVID-19 in a patient with HIV.

Cavitary lung lesions involve a large spectrum of acute to chronic infections, chronic systemic diseases, and malignancies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an increase in lung cavitation, mainly secondary to bacterial infection however, there have been limited reports of these lesions with mild COVID-19 disease. There has been an association between severe COVID-19 infection and secondary bacterial/fungal infections and cavitary lung lesions. We report the first case of a 32-year-old man with well-controlled HIV who presented with cough and fever from what appeared to be a cavitary lesion as a sequela of his recent COVID-19 infection.

Connexin43 Expression Increases in the Epithelium and Stroma along the Colonic Neoplastic Progression Pathway: Implications for Its Oncogenic Role.

Connexins (Cxs) are critical for normal tissue development, differentiation, and cell proliferation. Normal expression and function of Cxs are considered to play a role in tumor suppression, but abnormal localization and abnormally increased expression of Cxs have been found in a variety of carcinomas. Of the Cx family, Cx43 is a most prevalent member and has been known as a downstream target of ß-catenin, a key component of Wnt signaling pathway. We evaluated the expression of Cx43 in the colonic neoplasia progression sequence with additional attention to the stromal component. Resections of 50 colonic adenocarcinomas were stained immunohistochemically for Cx43 on paraffin embedded sections. Cx43 cytoplasmic expression increased progressively in the colonic adenocarcinoma sequence in both the epithelial [normal (4 ± 1), adenomatous (20 ± 2), cancerous (124 ± 10) (P < 0.01)], and stromal [normal (19 ± 1), cancerous (45 ± 4) (P < 0.01)] components. In the epithelial component, Cx43 was expressed lower in stage I adenocarcinomas (69 ± 12) compared to stage III/IV (158 ± 10, P < 0.01). Additionally, Cx43 was relatively increased in the adenocarcinoma at the invasive tumor front in all stages. Cx43 may play a critical role in the pathogenesis of colon cancer via gap junction or other gap junction independent mechanisms such as the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway.

Autoimmune pancreatitis: current diagnostic criteria are suboptimal.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The preoperative diagnosis of autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) is difficult, given its similar clinical presentation to pancreatic cancer. The aims of the study are to describe our center's experience with AIP and apply the Japanese AIP diagnostic criteria to a cohort of patients with histologically-proven AIP in order to assess their performance characteristics. METHODS: A prospective pathology database was queried for AIP patients who were evaluated and/or treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2002 to 2009. AIP histology was defined by the presence of lymphoplasmacytic infiltration, periductal inflammation, fibrosis, and periphlebitis. Imaging, clinical, and biochemical data were analyzed. RESULTS: Thirty patients had pancreatic resection with pathological confirmation of AIP. Imaging revealed pancreatic mass (45%), focal prominence without mass lesion (24%), diffuse enlargement (17%), and normal pancreas (14%). Twenty-four patients underwent an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and/or magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography, and 4/24 (17%) had pancreatic ductal narrowing or irregularity. Extrapancreaticobiliary organ involvement was found in 6% (n = 2) of patients. Biliary strictures were present in 87% of patients. Of 16 patients who underwent preoperative tissue biopsy, 10 had non-diagnostic pathology, five had cellular atypia, and one had AIP. Serum immunoglobulin G4 (IgG4) levels were elevated in 12 of 29 (41%) patients. Three (10%) patients had evidence of extrapancreatic manifestations of AIP. When applying the Japanese criteria to the 27 patients who had serum IgG4 measurement, preoperative biopsy, and cross-sectional abdominal imaging, only 44% of the patients would have been diagnosed accurately. CONCLUSIONS: When applied to a highly-selected single-center referral population in the USA, current Japanese guidelines for the diagnosis of AIP are found to have suboptimal sensitivity.

Noncirrhotic portal hypertension: another cause of liver disease in HIV patients.

Noncirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH) represents a relatively infrequent group of conditions that causes portal hypertension in the absence of cirrhosis. An association between NCPH and patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been reported. Six consecutive patients with HIV infection and NCPH were the subject of this series. Case histories, including medication lists, liver biopsy and laboratory data were reviewed. Age at diagnosis was 43 +/- 3 years (range, 37-47). Liver disease was diagnosed 12 +/- 4 years (range, 8-18) after initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART). All patients developed esophageal varices, 5 patients presented at least one bleeding episode and 2 required TIPS. Serum liver tests showed a mean total bilirubin of 1.4 +/- .7 mg/dL (range, .5-2.5) and INR was 1.2 +/- .14 (range, 1.0-1.4). CD4 count was 326 +/- 124 cells/mL (range, 198-467) and all patients presented HIV viral load < 75 copes/mL. Didanosine (ddl) was the most common ART drug being used by 4 patients. Portal vein thrombosis was diagnosed in 2 patients. Hepatic portal sclerosis (HPS) alone was observed in 1 patient, nodular regenerative hyperplasia (NRH) alone in 2 patients and combined HPS/NRH in 3 patients. In conclusion, NCPH should be included in the differential diagnosis of HIV-individuals presenting with clinical manifestations of portal hypertension and well preserved liver synthetic function. Prolonged exposure to ART, specially ddl, can play a pathogenic role. Rarely, liver synthetic function is sufficiently severe to warrant liver transplantation.

Renal oncocytosis presenting in childhood: a case report.

Renal oncocytosis is a rare condition in which a spectrum of oncocytic lesions, including oncocytomas, diffusely involve the kidney. Few cases have been reported and all were in adult patients. We report here such a case in a 12-year-old girl. In addition to the unusual age at presentation, this case is remarkable for its heterogeneous tumor morphology, with some areas containing chromophobe carcinoma-like cells. Electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, Hale's colloidal iron staining, and cytogenetics were performed to further evaluate the different morphologic areas. Our results suggest that the cells in the chromophobe carcinoma-like areas do not fulfill all the diagnostic criteria of chromophobe carcinoma. We caution pathologists in making a malignant diagnosis in such cases, especially in younger patients.