Bronchogenic Carcinoma with Cardiac Invasion Simulating Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Cardiac metastases in bronchogenic carcinoma may occur due to retrograde lymphatic spread or by hematogenous dissemination of tumour cells, but direct invasion of heart by adjacent malignant lung mass is very uncommon. Pericardium is frequently involved in direct cardiac invasion by adjacent lung cancer. Pericardial effusion, pericarditis, and tamponade are common and life threatening presentation in such cases. But direct invasion of myocardium and endocardium is very uncommon. Left atrial endocardium is most commonly involved in such cases due to anatomical contiguity with pulmonary hilum through pulmonary veins, and in most cases left atrial involvement is asymptomatic. But myocardial compression and invasion by adjacent lung mass may result in myocardial ischemia and may present with retrosternal, oppressive chest pain which clinically may simulate with the acute myocardial infarction (AMI). As a result, it leads to misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis of lung cancer. Here we report a case of non-small-cell carcinoma of right lung which was presented with asymptomatic invasion in left atrium and retrosternal chest pain simulating AMI due to myocardial compression by adjacent lung mass, in a seventy-four-year-old male smoker.

Tonsillar tuberculosis: a forgotten clinical entity.

Tuberculosis of tonsils is an extremely rare variety of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis which frequently simulates the tonsillar malignancy, especially in elderly individuals. Secondary form is more common than primary one, and in present day, contact with the infected sputum or saliva in a case of sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis is the main source of the disease. Chronic or recurrent tonsillitis with enlarged tonsils and sore throat is the main clinical presentation. As it is very difficult to differentiate it from tonsillar malignancy on clinical ground, histopathological examination of the tissue is must for the diagnosis of tonsillar TB. Antitubercular therapy is adequate for its successful resolution. Here, we report a primary form of tonsillar tuberculosis in a 76-year-old male, in whom, no pulmonary tuberculosis was documented.

Superior vena caval syndrome and ipsilateral pleural effusion: A rare presentation of anterior mediastinal thymoma.

Incidence of thymic malignancies is very low. Thymoma, a tumor of thymus gland, is of epithelial origin and is most common anterior mediastinal tumor. In most cases, thymomas are localized and locally advanced thymomas may rarely present with superior vena caval obstruction (SVCO) and malignant pleural deposits. Microscopically, capsular invasion is noted in case of locally advanced thymomas, which behave like a malignant neoplasm. Complete surgical removal of the tumor along with intact capsule is the treatment modality of choice in case of localized tumors. Neoadjuvant radiotherapy (RT) and chemotherapy followed by surgical resection of residual tumor is useful in case of locally advanced tumors. RT is especially useful in case of SVCO to relieve the distressing respiratory symptoms. Here, we report a rare case of locally advanced thymoma, complicated by SVCO and ipsilateral pleural effusion in a 53-year-old male patient.

An osteolytic metastasis of humerus from an asymptomatic squamous cell carcinoma of lung: a rare clinical entity.

Advanced lung cancer is complicated by skeletal metastases either due to direct extension from adjacent primaries or, more commonly, due to haematogenous dissemination of neoplastic cells. Lumber spine is the most common site for bony metastases in bronchogenic carcinoma. Proximal lone bones, especially humerus, are unusual sites for metastases from lung primaries. Small cell and large cell varieties of lung cancer are most commonly associated with skeletal dissemination. It is also unusual that an asymptomatic squamous cell carcinoma of lung presents with painful, soft tissue swelling with osteolytic metastasis of humerus which is reported in our case. Systemic cytotoxic chemotherapy, local palliative radiotherapy, adequate analgesia, and internal fixation of the affected long bone are different modalities of treatment in this advanced stage of disease. But the prognosis is definitely poor in this stage IV disease.

Cervical lymphadenopathy--pitfalls of blind antitubercular treatment.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the most common cause of cervical lymphadenopathy in the TB-endemic zone, like India but it can also mimic other diseases. Four cases of cervical lymphadenopathy presented to us as initial treatment failure after completion of six months of antitubercular drugs (ATD), including rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol. All were diagnosed as having tuberculosis either by fine needle aspiration cytology or clinically from outside our institution. In one case, tuberculosis was the final diagnosis but, unfortunately, it was multidrug-resistant. In other three cases, Hodgkin disease, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and Kikuchi's disease were the diagnoses. In resource-poor countries, like India, which is also a TB-endemic zone, TB should be the first diagnosis in all cases of chronic cervical lymphadenopathy, based on clinical and/or cytological evidences. So, they were correctly advised antitubercular therapy (ATT) initially. Sometimes, TB mimics other aetiologies where apparent initial improvement with ATT finally results in treatment failure. Hence, investigations for microbiological and histopathological diagnosis are warranted, depending on the resources and feasibility. If these tests are not routinely available, the patients should be under close monitoring so that lymphoma, drug-resistant TB, or other aetiologies of cervical lymphadenopathy are not missed. Patients with cervical lymphadenopathy rarely presents acutely; so, a physician can take the opportunity of histopathological study of lymphnode tissue.

A rare case of sternal erosion due to bronchogenic carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Primary sternal malignancy is very uncommon. Secondary sternal malignancy is usually caused by either hematological dissemination or by direct extension due to parasternal lymph node involvement from breast or lung carcinoma. CASE DETAILS: A 72 years old smoker presented with a dull aching pain over the sternum. Computed tomography (CT) of the thorax revealed osteolytic erosion of manubrium sterni, along with a mass of lesion in the upper lobe of left lung and left sided mediastinal lymphadenopathy. CT guided fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the left lung mass showed squamous cell carcinoma and FNAC of the sternal lesion revealed metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: Direct erosion of sternum in case of squamous cell carcinoma of lung is a rarity. We have reported this case to increase the awareness of clinicians regarding the possibility of direct sternal involvement from lung cancer. Moreover, local removal can improve the prognosis.

A rare case of Kartagener's syndrome.

A young boy presented with cough and intermittent breathlessness for 3 months. He used to suffer from frequent cough and cold since childhood. Clinical examination revealed bilateral coarse basal crepitations and rhonchi. His apex beat was on right 5(th) intercostal space in mid-clavicular line. Investigation revealed situs inversus, bi-lateral bronchiectasis, and chronic sinusitis. His semen analysis revealed the complete absence of sperm. The Saccharin test revealed impaired nasal ciliary movement. Considering all the finding, he was diagnosed as a case of Kartagener's syndrome. We are reporting this case because of its rarity and rare presence of aspermia in Kartagener's syndrome.

A rare case of Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease.

Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease, characterized by histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, closely mimics tuberculosis, and lymphoma are two most common etiologies of cervical lymphadenitis. It is a rare, benign, and self-limited disease. Viral infections or autoimmunity are hypothesized as its etiology, but no causal relationship is definitely established till date. No specific treatment is available, only supportive treatment is given. Here, we represent a rare case of Kikuchi's disease in a 29-year-old male patient who presented to us with right-sided posterior cervical lymphadenopathy with low-grade fever for three months.

Pancoast syndrome: A rare presentation of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Pancoast syndrome is a common presentation of bronchogenic carcinoma, but other malignancies are rarely cited as its cause. Pancoast syndrome due to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is rarely described in the literature. Here, we report a case of Pancoast syndrome due to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to increase the awareness of the clinicians regarding essentiality of tissue diagnosis of Pancoast tumor before starting the treatment.

Isoniazid-induced flu-like syndrome: A rare side effect.

Drug-induced flu-like syndrome is very rare. It is mainly produced by rifampicin. We report a case of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) that developed isoniazid-induced flu-like syndrome, but could be cured with a modified regimen replacing isoniazid with levofloxacin. A 10-year-old girl with PTB was treated with isoniazid (H), rifampicin (R), ethambutol (E), and pyrazinamide (Z). She developed features of flu from the sixth day. Symptoms recurred everyday within 1 h of drug ingestion and subsided automatically by next 12 h. After admission, HREZ were continued. She developed symptoms of flu after 1 h of drug ingestion. Antitubercular therapy (ATT) was stopped and symptoms subsided automatically. Individual drug was started one by one after three days. Severe symptoms of flu developed after taking isoniazid, while other drugs were tolerated well. Levofloxacin was used as an alternative to isoniazid. She was cured after 6 months of chemotherapy. Isoniazid can possibly cause flu-like syndrome and the treating physician should be aware of this possible side effect when using ATT.

Atypical Presentation of Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis: An Unusual Cause of Difficult-to-Treat Asthma.

Allergic Bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) commonly presents with persistently uncontrolled asthma, despite of the therapy with highest possible anti-asthma medications. Most common cause of ABPA is Aspergillus fumigates. Hence, ABPA is one of the important differential diagnoses of difficult-to-treat asthma. Atypical presentation of ABPA misleads the diagnosis and asthma remains uncontrolled. Here we present such a case of 28-year-old non-smoker, normotensive male office worker who presented with persistent cough with scanty white, mucoid expectoration and gradually progressive breathlessness with bilateral crackles for last two years. Diagnosis of asthma was made based on clinical evidences and spirometry. Anti-asthma treatment was started and gradually stepped up. Further evaluation was done due to lack of clinical improvement, and diagnosis of ABPA was made from bilateral reticulonodular lesions on HRCT thorax, increased levels of serum IgE and Aspergillus fumigates specific IgE, and positive aspergillin skin test. Oral prednisolone and itraconazole were started with anti-asthma medications.

A rare mediastinal tumour in a young male mimicking massive pleural effusion.

A 30-year-old male, carpenter by profession, presented with a history of dry cough and progressive shortness of breath for two months along with right-sided chest pain for one and a half months. The clinico-radiological picture was suggestive of right-sided massive pleural effusion. Computed tomography (CT) scan of the thorax showed a huge mediastinal mass occupying the entire right hemithorax with very small amount of pleural effusion. CT-guided fine needle aspiration cytology and tru-cut biopsy from the mass both revealed small round-cell tumour, possibly small cell carcinoma of the lung. However, on immunohistochemistry tumour cells expressed Mic-2 and it was consistent with a diagnosis of primitive neuroectodermal tumour.

A rare case of concurrent multiple primary lung cancer of different histological types.

Occurrence of concurrent multiple primary malignancies with different histopathological presentations of the same organ at the same time is often not diagnosed and rarely reported in the literature. We present a case of multiple primary lung cancers with hepatic metastasis where the patient had a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the right lower lobe and a moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma of the right upper lobe.

Role of sputum examination for acid fast bacilli in tuberculous pleural effusion.

BACKGROUND: Sputum for acid fast bacilli (AFB) is seldom looked for in the etiological diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion usually due to the absence of any parenchymal lesion radiologically, but presence of tubercle bacilli in sputum may have important epidemiological and therapeutic implication. AIMS: This study aims to evaluate the role of sputum examination for AFB in the patients of tuberculous pleural effusion with no apparent lung parenchymal lesion radiologically. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Forty-five consecutive indoor patients of suspected tuberculous pleural effusion having no apparent lung parenchymal lesion on chest radiography were selected for our study. It was a prospective and observational study conducted over a period of 1 year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After confirming the etiology of pleural effusion as tuberculous by biochemical, cytological, histopahtological, and microbiological tests, emphasis was given on sputum examination for AFB by smear examination and culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. RESULTS: Sputum was bacteriologically (smear and /or culture) positive for tuberculosis in 10 out of 30 cases (33.33%) in which tuberculous etiology was confirmed by histology and /or bacteriology (definite tuberculosis). No sputum AFB (smear and culture) was found in 15 cases of probable tuberculosis where tuberculous etiology was established by indirect methods like Adenosine de aminase level more than 40 unit/l and other relevant investigations. Over all, sputum was bacteriologically smear and/or culture positive in 10 out of 45 cases (22.22%). CONCLUSION: Careful and thorough sputum examination in cases of tuberculous pleural effusion may help as a diagnostic tool and it has therapeutic and epidemiological implications.

A case of squamous cell carcinoma of lung presenting with paraneoplastic type of acanthosis nigricans.

A 70-years-old male presented with blackening of both hands and face for last six months which was progressive and attended dermatology outpatients department. Dermatologist opined the skin lesions as acanthosis nigricans. He was referred to our department to evaluate for any underlying internal malignancy as he was a smoker. His chest X-ray revealed right sided hilar prominence with a mid zone cavity with fluid level. Fibreoptic bronchoscopy was done, there was one ulcerative growth in right middle lobe bronchus. Biopsy from the ulcer revealed probable squamous cell carcinoma. CT scan of thorax was also done and CT guided FNAC of Rt lung lesion yielded non small cell carcinoma. His skin lesions were also biopsied and diagnosis of acanthosis nigricans was confirmed. Here we report a case of acanthosis nigricans associated with non-small cell cancer of lung.

Role of pleural biopsy in etiological diagnosis of pleural effusion.

BACKGROUND: Pleural effusion remains the most common manifestation of pleural pathology. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between tubercular and malignant pleural effusion in spite of routine biochemical and cytological examination of pleural fluid. AIMS: This study aims to evaluate the role of pleural biopsy to determine the etiology of pleural effusion and to correlate it with the biochemical and cytological parameters of pleural fluid. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Seventy two consecutive patients of pleural effusion were selected from the out patient and indoor department of a tertiary hospital of Kolkata. It was a prospective and observational study conducted over a period of one year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Biochemical, cytological and microbiological evaluation of pleural fluid was done in all cases. Those with exudative pleural effusions underwent pleural biopsy by Abram's needle. Subsequently, the etiology of effusion was determined. RESULTS: Malignancy was the most common etiology, followed by tuberculosis. Pleural biopsy was done in 72 patients. Pleural tissue was obtained in 62 cases. Malignancy was diagnosed in 24, tuberculosis in 20 and non-specific inflammation in 18, on histopathological examination. Out of 20 histological proven tuberculosis cases adenosine de-aminase (ADA) was more than 70 u/l in 11 cases. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, malignancy is more common than tuberculosis, particularly in elderly. When thoracoscope is not available, pleural fluid cytology and pleural biopsy can give definite diagnosis. Pleural fluid ADA ≥ 70 u/l is almost diagnostic of tuberculosis, where pleural biopsy is not recommended.

Homocysteine and cerebrovascular accidents.

Hyperhomocysteinaemia is rapidly emerging as an important risk factor for coronary artery disease, possibly because of its propensity to accelerate atherosclerosis. Whether it is also a risk factor for cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) is a matter of debate till now, as there are conflicting results of the various prospective studies. The present study was performed to correlate the levels of plasma homocysteine levels with that of ischaemic and haemorrhagic CVA. Forty-two cases of CVA were randomly selected over a period of one year, and their risk factors were assessed. It was observed that serum homocysteine levels were significantly raised in those with intracerebral infarcts when compared to those with intracerebral haemorrhage, although homocysteine levels didn't prove to be prognostically significant.