Metastatic lobular carcinoma of the breast found incidentally on pathology following cholecystectomy for chronic cholecystitis: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Traditional oncologic pattern of spread of breast cancer is metastasis to axillary lymph nodes, lung, liver and bone (Doval et al., 2006 [1]). Here we present a case of unknown synchronous breast cancer in a patient that was revealed on histopathologic assessment following elective cholecystectomy. CASE SUMMARY: A 57 year old female presented for an elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy secondary to biliary colic. Histopathologic assessment of the gallbladder revealed metastatic adenocarcinoma with signet ring features, consistent with metastatic lobular carcinoma. The patient went on to have a complete oncologic workup that revealed invasive ductal carcinoma with components of high grade ductal carcinoma in situ in the left breast, lobular carcinoma in the right breast, and metastatic lobular carcinoma to left and right axillary lymph nodes as well as diffuse osseous metastatic disease. CONCLUSIONS: Metastatic disease to the gallbladder found incidentally on elective cholecystectomy is a rare presentation of synchronous breast cancer.

Acquired von Willebrand Disease Secondary to Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Acquired von Willebrand disease (AvWD) is a rare and often underdiagnosed disease that typically is associated with lymphoproliferative, cardiovascular disease, and myeloproliferative disease. It is challenging to diagnose as it requires a hemostatic challenge to present itself. Case Presentation: This is a 46-year-old male with a history of multiple sclerosis complicated by neurogenic bladder who presented with intermittent gross painless hematuria. He underwent a gross hematuria workup. Cystoscopy demonstrated active bleeding from the right ureteral orifice. CT Urogram showed a filling defect in the right renal pelvis and endophytic 3 cm solid, enhancing left kidney mass. The patient underwent diagnostic cystourethroscopy, bilateral retrograde pyelogram demonstrating no filling defects bilaterally. Right ureteropyeloscopy demonstrated diffuse patchy erythema of the infrarenal collecting system with biopsies obtained. His postoperative course was complicated by gross hematuria requiring cystoscopy which demonstrated no upper tract bleeding and small pulsatile bleeding vessel in the bladder requiring cauterization. Hematology was consulted to rule out bleeding diathesis with workup demonstrating a von Willebrand deficiency (vWD). He had no family history of vWD and an AvWD was suspected. Hematologic workup was consistent with AvWD, type 2B vWD also known as a platelet-type von Willebrand disease. Renal pelvis biopsies were negative for pathology. Further investigation of the left renal mass confirmed a biopsy-proven clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). He underwent a laparoscopic left radical nephrectomy with final pathology demonstrating pT1 ccRCC with negative margins. Postoperatively his repeat laboratories demonstrated normal factor VIII activity, ristocetin cofactor, and vWF antigen with normalized activated partial thromboplastin time. Follow-up imaging demonstrated no further evidence of disease supporting the hypothesis of a paraneoplastic syndrome from his ccRCC that caused an AvWD. Conclusion: This is the first case report to our knowledge of a paraneoplastic AvWD secondary to ccRCC. This should be on your differential when there is abnormal bleeding in the setting of renal masses.

Tamoxifen malabsorption after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery: case series and review of the literature.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is a gastric reduction duodenal switch with a combination of restrictive and malabsorptive procedures. It is the most common gastric bypass procedure performed in the United States. Malabsorption causing nutritional deficiencies does occur, yet a PubMed literature search (1955-2009) returned no reports of malabsorption of anticancer agents after gastric bypass. To our knowledge, this is the first report of three cases of malabsorption of the anticancer agent tamoxifen after this procedure. The first patient was a 58-year-old woman who underwent Roux-en-Y bypass for morbid obesity. Two years later, she developed estrogen receptor-positive ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast, underwent lumpectomy and irradiation, and tamoxifen was started. Two years after that, she presented with concerns of potential malabsorption of the drug. Her plasma tamoxifen level was 28 ng/ml, which was below the lower limit of the therapeutic range (77-274 ng/ml for 10-30-mg/day regimens). The second patient was a 51-year-old woman who sought medical advice on risk reduction for breast cancer after receiving a diagnosis of atypical ductal hyperplasia of the breast. She also had a history of morbid obesity and underwent Roux-en-Y bypass. Tamoxifen was started to reduce her risk of breast cancer; her plasma tamoxifen level was subtherapeutic at 14 ng/ml. The third patient was a 53-year-old woman with estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer who underwent lumpectomy and was prescribed anastrozole, an aromatase inhibitor. She also underwent Roux-en-Y bypass for morbid obesity. As she experienced adverse effects while receiving anastrozole, the drug was discontinued, and tamoxifen 20 mg/day was started. Her tamoxifen plasma level was 52 ng/ml. Therefore, her tamoxifen dosage was increased to 20 mg twice/day. Six weeks later, her tamoxifen level was 120 ng/ml (therapeutic range 95-520 ng/ml for the increased dosage). These three cases suggest that steady-state serum tamoxifen levels should be evaluated in patients who have undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Until adequate data suggest otherwise, parenteral anticancer alternatives should be considered when systemic therapy is needed in a patient with malabsorption.

Correlating metabolic activity with cellular proliferation in follicular lymphomas.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to correlate metabolic behavior of follicular lymphoma with proliferative index (Ki67). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pre-treatment 2-deoxy-2-[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography scans of 23 patients with pathologic diagnosis of follicular lymphoma were retrospectively analyzed together with Ki67. The maximal standardized uptake value (SUV) was measured and corrected to glucose level of 100 mg/dl over the biopsy region (BxSUV100) and at the highest tumor activity of the body (BmSUV100). RESULTS: BxSUV100 was significantly correlated with Ki67 (p = 0.037). There was an increasing trend of metabolic activity across the pathologic grades of follicular lymphomas. BmSUV100 and BxSUV100 were also significantly different (p < 0.0005), suggesting potential pitfalls of sampling error by histology. CONCLUSION: The increasing trend of metabolic activity across follicular lymphoma grades correlates with cellular proliferation. The metabolic information from positron emission tomography-computed tomography may offer another useful parameter in the management of follicular lymphomas.