Paraneoplastic sarcoidosis: a review.

BACKGROUND: Sarcoidosis is occasionally seen in association with malignancy, both at the time of cancer diagnosis or during follow up. AIM: The purpose of this study is to identify patients with paraneoplastic sarcoid, their associated malignancies and disease characteristics. METHODS: We identified 289 patients diagnosed histologically with sarcoidosis over a 6-year period in one centre, from 2010 to 2016. Fifty of these patients had a prior or concomitant diagnosis of cancer. RESULTS: 17.3% of sarcoid cases had an associated malignancy. The most common malignancies were Gastrointestinal (20%), Haematological (18%), Lung (12%), Gynaecological (12%) and Head and Neck cancer (12%). 74% of sarcoid cases had pulmonary disease with sarcoid diagnostic tissue obtained most frequently via endobronchial ultrasound fine needle aspiration (68%). Most sarcoid cases (66%) were diagnosed within the first year of their malignancy diagnosis. DISCUSSION: Careful consideration needs to be given to the possibility that potential cancer recurrences suspected on imaging studies may indeed be sarcoid reactions.

Pulmonary non-tuberculous mycobacteria in a general respiratory population.

The prevalence of non-tuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) appears to be increasing. Much of the experience in the literature about this emerging organism comes from specialised units or populations such as cystic fibrosis patients. We, therefore, aim to evaluate the experience in a general respiratory population of dealing with patients with positive culture of NTM. We did a retrospective review of medical notes of general respiratory patients from whom NTM were isolated from January 2007 to July 2012. Cystic fibrosis patients were excluded. We reviewed 37 patients' (19 males, 18 females) medical records. A total of 73 positive cultures were reviewed. 28 isolates were from sputum samples alone, 34 isolates were from bronchoalveolar lavage alone and 11 isolates were from a combination of sputum and bronchoalveor lavage (11 isolates), We found that Mycobacterium avium was the most frequently isolated Mycobacterium in our laboratory with 22 (60%) patients had Mycobacterium avium in their pulmonary cultures. Interestingly, Mycobacterium gordonae and mycobacterium intracellulare were the second commonest mycobacterium (4, 11%) cultured. We noted 2 (5%), cases of Mycobacterium szulgai, 2 (5%) cases of Mycobacterium chelonae and 2 (5%) cases of Mycobacterium abscessus. There was 1(3%) case of Mycobacterium malmoense. There is prevalence of NTM in male COPD patients (7, 89%) and femal bronchiectasis (10, 77%) patients. Of our 8 COPD patients, 6 (75%) were on inhaled corticosteroids while 2 (25%) were not. 9 (24%) patients were smokers, 11 (30%) were ex-smokers, 14 (38%) were non-smokers and the smoking status of the remaining 3 (8%) was unknown. Of the 37 patients, only 6 (16%) received treatment. However, 2 patients stopped their treatment due to treatment toxicity. We concluded that the isolation of NTM is not uncommon. Defining NTM disease is difficult and deciding which patient to be treated needs careful evaluation as treatment can potentially be very toxic.

Effusion under the microscope.

Pseudochylothorax is a very rare form of pleural effusion. It is also called chyliform or cholesterol pleural effusion. It is usually a unilateral process and approximately one-third of patients are asymptomatic at presentation. We report a case of a 60 year old man with a background of rheumatoid arthritis who presented with progressive dyspnea. Chest X-ray revealed a new left pleural effusion and a small persistent right pleural effusion. He presented 5 years prior due to recurrent pleural effusion and no diagnosis was made. Repeat thoracentesis yielded 350 milliliters of thick, milky, tan-colored fluid.

An unusual cause of spontaneous recurrent pneumothoraces.

Epithelioid sarcoma is a rare distinctive soft tissue neoplasm with a predilection for the distal parts of the extremities. While epithelioid sarcoma presenting as median nerve palsy or carpal tunnel syndrome has been described, epithelioid sarcoma presenting as cystic lung metastases has not been reported. This article reports a case of a man who presented with spontaneous recurrent pneumothoraces and was found to have bilateral cystic lung disease, which was ultimately diagnosed as epithelioid sarcoma with cystic lung metastases. He underwent left arm amputation, chemotherapy and radiation, but succumbed to his advanced disease.