Epidemiological and histopathological aspects of ocular melanomas in Northeastern Romania.

Ocular melanoma is a rare but complex disease in current medical practice. Our retrospective study spans over a period of 28 years and analyzed uveal and conjunctival melanomas that were consecutively admitted, diagnosed, and treated in the 2nd Ophthalmology Clinic of Prof. Dr. Nicolae Oblu Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania. The patients were selected from the records of the Department of Pathology of our Hospital, being diagnosed by standard histopathological techniques. The aim of this study was to summarize the epidemiological and pathological aspects of uveal and conjunctival melanomas in Northeastern region of Romania. In our study, we did not notice a predilection of uveal and conjunctival melanoma to one particular gender. The most common histological subtypes of ocular melanomas were the heavily pigmented spindle cell subtype, followed by the epithelioid subtype. Our patients sought medical help in a timely manner, before the systemic invasion of the disease could develop.

Early Low Level of Procalcitonin Is Associated with a Favorable Outcome in a Case of a Surviving Patient with 80% Body Surface Area Thermal Burn.

BACKGROUND Burns covering a large skin surface area represent a life-threatening condition due to the release of cytokines and the activation of a systemic inflammatory response, as well as the potential for septic complications. Outcome for these patients is related to the burn surface, age, and coexisting diseases. Although some severity scores are available, such as the Abbreviated Burn Severity Index (ABSI), Baux score, R-Baux score, Boston score, and Belgian Outcome Burn Injury (BOBI) score, none can provide a solid picture of the final outcome. Recent studies claim that procalcitonin, a known sepsis marker, can assist in estimating a burn patient's chance of survival from the time of admission, and can also assist in estimating the chance of sepsis occurrence during hospitalization. CASE REPORT In this manuscript we report the case of a 28-year-old man who suffered burn injuries on approximately 80% of his body surface due to poor handling of a gasoline can in August 2018. Despite high severity index scores and early high values of C-reactive protein, we noticed a low level of early procalcitonin. In this case, as well in our previous experience, early low procalcitonin was associated with a favorable outcome. CONCLUSIONS Early procalcitonin values might prove to be a promising prognosis marker in some cases of extensive burns.

Conjunctival invasive poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma in a 91-year-old female patient.

The invasive conjunctival squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the eyeball is a malignant tumor that invades only the conjunctiva and rarely the eyeball and the tissue of the orbit. We presented the clinical case of a 91-year-old patient, hospitalized at the 2nd Ophthalmology Clinic of the "Prof. Dr. Nicolae Oblu" Emergency Clinical Hospital of Iasi, Romania, due to a solid tumor mass of approximately 1×2 cm, which was noticed under the bulbar conjunctiva of the right eye in the nasal sector. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination showed an adherent tumor of the right eye sclera, presenting invasion into the tissue of the orbit. The right eyeball was enucleated en bloc with the adherent tumor and the partial exenteration of the nearby orbital tissue was carried out as well. The pathological examination revealed that the immunohistochemical (IHC) reactions turned positive for the anti-cytokeratin AE1/AE3 antibody and showed a relatively high Ki67 labeling index, but it did not show immunoreactivity for human melanoma black-45 (HMB-45) marker and S100 protein. The histopathological (HP) diagnosis was poorly differentiated SCC of the right ocular conjunctiva with infiltration of cornea, sclera and orbital connective and adipose tissues (pT4N0M0). The invasive conjunctival SCC requires an early diagnosis for elderly patients in order to prevent the ocular and orbital invasion and the appearance of metastases. This tumor rarely occurs during the ninth life decade, the literature reporting only three cases. HP examination of the lesion is the gold standard for diagnosis, especially when IHC stainings are added.