RESUMEN
Metaplastic changes in the urothelium of the upper urinary tract are relatively infrequent. Metaplasia may present as either squamous or less often glandular differentiation. The process may be associated with chronic inflammation or associated chronic infections. There may be malignant transformation to either squamous cell carcinoma or adenocarcinoma. The demarcation of the metaplastic process in the minor calyces has not been well documented to date. We report the case of a 74-year-old female patient who presented with a history of chronic renal disease and acute pyohydronephrosis. The patient underwent a nephroureterectomy which revealed keratinizing desquamative squamous metaplasia throughout the renal pelvis and upper urinary tract with abrupt termination of metaplasia at the junction of the renal pelvis and the minor calyx (pyramidal zone). Immunohistochemical evaluation documents metaplastic urothelium stained positive for CK5, before converting sharply to simple cuboidal epithelium in the minor calyx (pyramidal zones) which stained positive CK7. At the junction of the metaplastic components and low cuboidal lined minor calyceal surfaces, the underlying stroma showed loss of ureteral muscularis mucosa with transition to renal parenchymal type stroma. We believe that this observation is unique and potentially relevant to the etiology and pathophysiology of pelviceal metaplasia.
RESUMEN
Idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia, described in 1992 by the Centers for Disease Control, is characterized by persistent CD4+ lymphocytopenia (less than 300 cells per micro-liter) in nonimmunosuppressed, HIV negative individuals, who present with atypical infections. This rare though likely undiagnosed entity is associated with chronic disseminated forms of either fungal or bacterial infections in otherwise healthy adults. We report a case of a 59-year-old male with ring-enhancing brain lesions, bilateral adrenal masses, lung and vocal cord nodules, where the diagnosis of exclusion was metastatic malignancy. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the adrenal mass and a subsequent vocal cord biopsy confirmed chronic widely disseminated blastomycosis. Flow cytometric evaluation of peripheral blood documented persistent selective CD4+ lymphocytopenia with T8 (suppressor) T-Lymphocyte count within normal range. We believe that idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia is an important etiologic factor to be considered for patients who present with mass lesions and are diagnosed by FNA with atypical fungal infections. We relate the diagnostic criteria for idiopathic CD4+ lymphocytopenia and the importance of providing on-site triage for FNA samples for fungal studies and correlation for flow cytometry.
