Trichomonas vaginalis serostatus and prostate cancer risk in Egypt: a case-control study.

Trichomonas vaginalis is one of the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infections (STIs) that has been associated with prostate cancer in some countries. This study aims to investigate if T. vaginalis infection can be a risk factor for prostate cancer in Egypt and its possible relationship with cancer prognostic factors and overall survival. Serum samples were collected from a total of 445 age-matched males; 126 with prostate cancer, 108 with bladder cancer, 91 with different types of cancers, and 120 healthy controls, and then analyzed by ELISA for detection of anti-Trichomonas IgG and prostate-specific antigen (PSA). The results revealed that only 8.3% of controls were seropositive for trichomoniasis, compared with 19% of prostate cancer patients (P = 0.015). There were positive associations between the levels of PSA and tumor stage with T. vaginalis IgG optical density scores among the seropositive cases (P < 0.001 and < 0.05, respectively). However, no significant correlations were detected between seropositivity of T. vaginalis and other prognostic factors or overall survival in those patients. In conclusion, chronic T. vaginalis infection may be associated with prostate cancer, but it does not seem that this STI aggravates the cancer status.

Anorectal Cancer with Bone Marrow and Leptomeningeal Metastases.

This is an interesting case of anorectal signet ring carcinoma with first presentation of an early stage disease, showing the aggressive disease and the undetectable behavior of this type of histology which can mislead diagnosis. Brain/CNS metastasis from colorectal cancer (CRC) is rare occurring in 3% of cases, and leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) is extremely rare in CRC (<0.02%). Symptoms and signs of LMC are pleomorphic and may be localized to three compartments: cerebral hemispheres, cranial nerves, and spinal cords and roots. Treatment of metastatic rectal cancer has been improving over the last few years with a lot of changes toward longer survival and improvement in quality of life and to change the disease into a chronic condition. However, in our case, the overall survival from the onset of LMC was 3 weeks only. Revising the evidence in the treatment of signet ring histology of rectal cancer, there is no specific treatment recommendation that is for this histology and for such very aggressive behavior which could be considered as a separate entity to the classic adenocarcinoma histology.