Alveolar echinococcosis of the right adrenal gland: a case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Extrahepatic manifestations of Echinococcus multilocularis are very rare, especially in the adrenal glands. To the best of our knowledge, only seven cases of adrenal alveolar echinococcosis have been reported, all from the Far East. All of these occurred exclusively in the right adrenal gland. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a rare case of an extrahepatic alveolar echinococcosis in an asymptomatic 78-year-old white man with an incidentaloma of his right adrenal gland. After surgical resection and medical treatment with albendazole no recurrence of the disease appeared at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: As the occurrence of Echinococcus multilocularis in Europe increases, alveolar echinococcosis should be included in the differential diagnosis of cystic adrenal incidentalomas.

Natural history of nonoperatively treated osteochondral lesions of the talus.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesized that patients undergoing nonoperative treatment for asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic osteochondral lesions of the talus (OLTs) would not deteriorate clinically or radiologically over time. METHODS: Forty-eight patients (mean age = 48 years; range, 13-78 years) with an OLT confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) who had not undergone ankle joint surgery were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were evaluated after a minimum follow-up of 2 years (mean = 52 months; range, 27-124 months). All patients filled out an individual questionnaire and underwent a physical and radiographic assessment (radiograph and hindfoot MRI). RESULTS: At final follow-up, 43 ankles (86%) in 41 patients were pain-free (visual analogue scale [VAS] 0, n = 12) or less painful (VAS 1-3, n = 31). Radiographically, osteoarthritis was absent in 47%, and grade 1 and 2 osteoarthritis each were found in 27% (van Dijk classification). Magnetic resonance imaging revealed no substantial progression in staging or lesion size. Pain at time of follow-up correlated with the depth of the lesion at initial MRI (P < .05) and with subchondral cyst formation and presence or change of bone marrow edema at follow-up MRI (P < .05). CONCLUSION: Minimally symptomatic OLTs did not appear to progress or worsen over time when treated nonoperatively. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, case series.