In situ follicular neoplasm discovered as an enlarging pulmonary nodule complicated by pulmonary aspergillosis.

In situ follicular B cell neoplasm, previously known as follicular lymphoma in situ, is a neoplastic proliferation of follicular lymphoma-like B cells confined to the germinal centers. Herein, we report a case of a woman in her 70s who initially presented with several enlarged abdominal lymph nodes. Seven months later during follow-up, a solitary pulmonary nodule was detected. As it was close to the hilum, lobectomy was performed. The intraoperative frozen section showed fibrosis and a collection of lymphocytes and macrophages. Therefore, the lymph nodes were sampled. Station 4 and 10 lymph nodes exhibited similar tumor cells and were immunohistochemically positive for CD10 and BCL2. Thus, the patient was diagnosed with in situ follicular neoplasm and is currently under observation. In situ follicular neoplasm is typically a slowly progressive neoplasm; however, it can present as a rapidly enlarging pulmonary nodule complicated by pulmonary aspergillosis.

Prognostic evaluation of preoperative serum tumor marker-negative cases in non-small cell lung cancer: A retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: The role of various serum tumor markers (TMs) has been reported in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the prognosis of patients with multiple TM-negative NSCLC remain unclear. AIMS: This study aimed to describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients with NSCLC undergoing surgery and to investigate their prognostic association with preoperative serum TM-negative cases. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively evaluated 442 patients who underwent complete resection of stage I NSCLC between January 2004 and December 2019. These 442 patients were classified into a group whose preoperative serum levels of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin-19 fragment (CYFRA21-1), carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), and squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC Ag) were all negative (TM-negative group; n = 249, 56%) and a group with at least one positive marker (TM-positive group; n = 193, 44%). Among all patients, the TM-negative group showed higher 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) (92.6% vs. 79.1%; p < .01), and overall survival (OS) rates (86.3% vs. 68.6%; p < .01). After propensity score matching, patients in the TM-negative group still exhibited good 5-year RFS (92.1% vs. 81.4%; p = .01) and OS rates (87.6% vs. 72.6%; p < .01). CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that NSCLC patients who are preoperatively negative for all serum TMs, such as CEA, CYFRA21-1, CA19-9, and SCC Ag, represent a subgroup with a particularly good prognosis.

Rapidly growing proliferative pulmonary chondroma: A case report.

INTRODUCTION: Pulmonary chondroma, a component of Carney's triad, is commonly unilateral and multiple, and progresses slowly. Herein, we report a case of a chondrogenic tumour that grew and proliferated during follow-up. PRESENTATION OF CASE: A female patient in her 20s presenting with a cough was found to have a 1.4-cm nodule in the left lung on computed tomography (CT). After 18 months' follow-up, CT revealed that the original nodule had increased to 2.2 cm, and a new 1.3-cm nodule had appeared. She was then referred to our hospital and underwent a robot-assisted lower lobectomy of the left lung. The tumour was diagnosed as a chondrogenic tumour. She had no problems after the surgery or during follow-up; other signs of the Carney's triad were ruled out. Twenty-six months postoperatively, there was no evidence of recurrence. DISCUSSION: One report suggests that the growth of pulmonary chondroma is slow, but the present case showed an increase in both the size and number of tumours within 2 years without any symptoms. The chondroma did not recur after the surgery, though her pulmonary tumours had grown and proliferated rapidly. Furthermore, it has been reported that an average of 8.4 years is needed for another sign of Carney's triad to appear; therefore, careful follow-up should be continued. CONCLUSION: This report suggests that pulmonary chondroma can grow and proliferate rapidly and asymptomatically, and can be controlled by complete resection.

Lepidic growth component as a favorable prognostic factor in non-small cell lung cancer of ≤3 cm.

BACKGROUND: Many non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumors present complex histology with various components. The effects of the lepidic growth component (LGC) on the prognosis of NSCLC have not been investigated. Here, we investigated whether an LGC is a relevant prognostic factor for NSCLC. METHODS: This study retrospectively investigated the clinicopathologic characteristics of 379 patients with NSCLC ≤3 cm who underwent complete surgical resection between 2004 and 2016 at the University of Yamanashi Hospital. The histologic subtypes were classified into NSCLC with or without an LGC. We evaluated the effect of an LGC on the clinicopathologic features and 5-year overall survival of patients with NSCLC. RESULTS: On final pathology, 214 (56%) of 379 patients had an LGC, and 165 (44%) did not. Sex, smoking history, ground-glass opacity component, pathologic invasive size, lymph node metastasis, pleural invasion, vessel invasion, pathologic stage, and histologic type were significantly different between the groups. Multivariate analysis of 5-year overall survival, identified age (hazard ratio [HR], 1.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.035-1.105; p < 0.001), pathologic invasive size (HR, 1.548; 95% CI, 1.088-2.202; p = 0.015) and LGC (HR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.099-4.051; p = 0.025) as independent prognostic factors. When the pathologic invasive size was matched, the 5-year overall survival of the LGC and non-LGC groups was 93% and 77%, respectively (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: LGC is a significantly favorable prognostic factor for NSCLC with a pathologic invasive size of ≤3 cm.

Metastatic pulmonary nodule after a seventeen-year disease-free interval resected through thoracoscopic subsegmentectomy: A case report.

The lung is the most common site of metastasis in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Metastatic RCCs, even those classified as stage I, can recur after >10 years. Therefore, it is critical to completely resect metastatic nodules. Here, we report the case of a 74-year-old man who underwent a nephrectomy for RCC and was diagnosed with lung metastasis 17 years later. The metastatic nodule was resected through complete thoracoscopic subsegmentectomy. He had previously undergone partial nephrectomy for clear cell renal carcinoma pT1bN0M0. During his annual follow-up, a computed tomography scan revealed a pulmonary nodule. The intraoperative frozen section revealed a metastatic clear cell RCC. Thus, additional lobectomy was not performed. The postoperative course was uneventful with no complications. This case demonstrates that even early stage metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma can recur after over 17 years. Thoracoscopic segmentectomy is less invasive and can preserve pulmonary function.

Long-term survival of a patient with lung cancer treated with pembrolizumab after recurrent cardiac tamponade.

A 69-year-old man with non-small cell lung cancer presenting with pericardial effusion and rapid progression of dyspnea achieved long-term disease stabilization after radiation therapy and immunotherapy. This case shows that pembrolizumab may improve prognosis in advanced lung cancer, even when complicated by cardiac tamponade.

Identifying partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection in the superior vena cava before pulmonary resection.

OBJECTIVE: There are only limited reports on pulmonary resection complicated with partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection. Preoperative partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection was overlooked in approximately 50% of these reports, while most cases of were located on the same side as the pulmonary resection. We examined the prevalence of overlooked partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection and determined appropriate measures to avoid misdiagnosis. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the records and computed tomography data of consecutive patients who underwent pulmonary resection at the University of Yamanashi Hospital between 2006 and 2019. We re-evaluated the computed tomography images in horizontal and coronal views, focusing on the four common sites of partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection. Further, we conducted a literature review of studies that reported partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection cases. RESULTS: Among the 1389 patients who underwent pulmonary resection, 1205 were enrolled. There were five partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection cases (0.41%). Two were diagnosed through re-evaluation. The partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection was located between the right upper lobe and the superior vena cava in four patients (80%). All patients underwent left superior segmentectomy, and none experienced postoperative heart failure or hypoxia. In the literature, the incidence rates of partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection observed by computed tomography (0.1-0.25%) were lower than those observed by autopsy (0.62%) and angiography (0.82%). CONCLUSION: There may be a considerable number of overlooked partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection cases. Therefore, particularly the superior vena cava should be carefully monitored in preoperative computed tomography examinations.

Efficacy of measuring the invasive diameter of lung adenocarcinoma using mediastinal window settings: A retrospective study.

The recently published 8th edition of the tumor node and metastasis Classification of Lung Cancer proposes using the maximum dimension of the solid component of a ground glass nodule (GGN) for the T categorization. However, few studies have investigated the collection of this information when using mediastinal window settings. In this study, we evaluated tumor measurement data obtained from computed tomography (CT) scans when using mediastinal window settings.This study included 202 selected patients with persistent, partly solid GGNs detected on thin-slice CT after surgical treatment between 2004 and 2013. We compared the differences in tumor diameters measured by 2 different radiologists using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. We divided the patients into 2 groups based on the clinical T stage (T1a+T1b vs T1c) and estimated the probability of overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) using Kaplan-Meier curves.The study included 94 male and 108 female patients. The inter-reviewer differences between tumor diameters were significantly smaller when the consolidation to maximum tumor diameter ratio was ≤0.5. The 2 clinical groups classified by clinical T stage differed significantly with respect to DFS when using the mediastinal window settings. However, no significant differences in OS or DFS were observed when using the lung window setting.Our study yielded 2 major findings. First, the diameters of GGNs could be measured more accurately using the mediastinal window setting. Second, measurements obtained using the mediastinal window setting more clearly depicted the effect of clinical T stage on DFS.

[Thoracoscopic diaphragmatic plication for eventration of diaphragm in children using no-knife automatic suturing device].

UNLABELLED: Diaphragm eventration could inhibit the lung development due to compression. Thus diaphragm plication is required for the diaphragm eventration to prevent lung compression causing lung immaturity. However, we sometimes encounter the difficulty in endoscopic plication for fragile diaphragm without damaging it in narrow thoracic space in children. We demonstrate the plication using no-knife automatic suturing device. METHOD: Two linear ridges are made using stapler on the flaccid diaphragm without cutting the tissue. Then the created 2 ridges are sutured so that the diaphragm is plicated. BENEFITS: Once the stapler was applied to make 2 linear ridges, we easily sutured and gathered them without checking the damage of the intra-abdominal organs. Furthermore, reinforced ridges could be plicated without damaging the fragile diaphragm. We conclude that above described method is preferable for the diaphragm eventration in pediatric patients with fragile diaphragm and limited thoracic space.