The challenge to prove a rare cause of secondary arterial hypertension. A case report of a pediatric renal solitary fibrous tumor.

BACKGROUND: Childhood hypertension is getting more attention in recent years. We present a case report of a rare cause of secondary arterial hypertension in a teenage girl - a solitary fibrous tumor of the kidney. The case demonstrates that standard imaging techniques, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, are not fully reliable in the diagnosis of renovascular hypertension. CASE: A 15-year old girl was admitted to the Pediatric Department because of episodes of stiffness in the limbs, accompanied by pale skin and lips, dated 4 months back. During these episodes, high blood pressure up to 160/100 mmHg was measured. A 24-hour blood pressure monitoring demonstrated arterial hypertension stage II. Renovascular hypertension was suspected, but the computed tomography examination of the abdomen showed normal-sized renal arteries. In the left kidney hilum, an intraparenchymal formation was discovered. The data presented a non-specific lesion with a wide differential diagnosis. Given the fact that the patient had been treated with an ACE-inhibitor, serum renin level could not be correctly interpreted. The lesion was removed through a laparoscopic intervention. Intraoperatively, the tumor was compressing a small intra-renal vessel - a finding that hadn`t been discovered by the previous imaging studies. The final pathologist diagnosis was: solitary fibrous tumor. During the next six months of follow-up, the maximal blood pressure values of the patient were up to 120/80 mmHg. CONCLUSIONS: Solitary fibrous tumors of the kidneys are infrequent in children. The presented case displays a rare form of initial clinical manifestation of this tumor. It is also a demonstration that standard imaging techniques are not able to get a precise visualization of the small intra-renal vessels. At the same time, the decision of whether or not to perform a more invasive procedure should be based on the clinical conditions and risks of the individual patient.

First report of rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis after COVID-19 infection in Bulgaria.

Mucormycosis is a relatively rare infection but with a high mortality rate due to the difficult and time-consuming diagnostic and therapeutic process. The authors present the first case of rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis, histologically and microbiologically proven, in a patient after COVID-19 infection in Bulgaria.

Temporal Patterns of COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Pathology: An Autopsy Study.

Introduction The novel coronavirus variant - severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it causes clinically (novel coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19) have placed medical science into a frenzy due to the significant morbidity and mortality, as well as the myriad of clinical complications developing as a direct result of infection. The most notable and one of the most severe changes in COVID-19 develops in the lungs. Materials and methods All cases of real-time polymerase chain reaction (rtPCR)-proved COVID-19 subjected to autopsy were withdrawn from the central histopathology archive of a single tertiary medical institution - St. Marina University Hospital - Varna, Varna, Bulgaria. Pulmonary gross and histopathology changes observed on light microscopy with hematoxylin and eosin as well with other histochemical and immunohistochemical stains were compared with the time from patient-reported symptom onset to expiration, to compare the extent and type of changes based on disease duration. Results A total of 27 autopsy cases fit the established criteria. All cases clinically manifested with severe COVID-19. From the selected 27 cases, n=14 were male and n=13 were female. The mean age in the cohort was 67.44 years (range 18-91 years), with the mean age for males being 68.29 (range 38-80 years) and the mean age for females being 66.54 (range 18-91 years). Gross changes in patients who expired in the first 10 days after disease onset showed a significantly increased mean weight - 1050g, compared to a relatively lower weight in patients expiring more than 10 days after symptom onset - 940g. Histopathology changes were identified as intermittent (developing independent from symptom onset and persisting) - diffuse alveolar damage with hyaline membranes - acute respiratory distress syndrome, endothelitis with vascular degeneration and fibrin thrombi; early (developing within the first week, but persisting) - type II pneumocyte hyperplasia, alveolar cell multinucleation and scant interstitial mononuclear inflammation; intermediate (developing within the late first and second weeks) - Clara cell hyperplasia and late (developing after the second week of symptom onset) - respiratory tract and alveolar squamous cell metaplasia and fibrosis. Conclusion COVID-19-associated pulmonary pathology, both gross and histopathology, show a time-related dynamic with persistent early and a myriad of later developing dynamic changes in patients with severe disease. These changes underline both the severity of the condition, as well as the mechanisms and the probability of long-lasting severe complications in patients with post-COVID syndrome.

RIPK3 expression as a potential predictive and prognostic marker in metastatic colon cancer.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer is one of the primary causes of cancer-related deaths and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) therapy remains the cornerstone of treatment in these patients. Resistance to 5-FU represents a major obstacle; therefore, finding new predictive and prognostic markers is crucial for improvement of patient outcomes. Recently a new type of programmed cell death was discovered-necroptosis, which depends on receptor interacting protein 3 (RIPK3). Preclinical data showed that necroptotic cell death is an important effector mechanism of 5-FU-mediated anticancer activity. PURPOSE: To investigate the predictive and prognostic performance of RIPK3 expression in primary tumors. METHODS: Colon cancer patients (n=74) with metastatic stage were included in this retrospective study and all were treated with first-line 5-FU based chemotherapy. Immunohistochemical staining was performed. RESULTS: The progression free survival for the low expression group of RIPK3 was 5.6 months (95% CI, 4.4-6.8) vs 8.4 months (95% CI, 6.4-10.3) of the group with high expression (p=0.02). Moreover, patients with high expression of RIPK3 were associated with lower risk of disease progression HR 0.61 (95% CI, 0.38-0.97; p=0.044). Patients with high expression levels of RIPK3 also had significantly longer mean overall survival (OS) of 29.3 months (95% CI, 20.8-37.8) as compared with those with low expression: 18.5 months (95% CI, 15.06-21.9) (p= 0.036). In addition, univariate analysis showed that high level of RIPK3 expression was associated with a longer OS HR 0.59 (95% CI, 0.35-0.98; p=0.044). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that expression of RIPK3 in primary tumors of metastatic colon cancer patients should be further investigated for its potential as a promising predictive and prognostic marker.

Virilizing adrenal oncocytoma in a 9-year-old girl: rare neoplasm with an intriguing postoperative course.

Adrenal oncocytoma is an extremely rare neoplasm, which is mostly non-functional. Only five cases of childhood adrenal oncocytoma have been described so far, all of which were hormonally active. Currently, guidelines for management and follow-up are not available. We report a 9-year-old girl with benign adrenal oncocytoma, presenting with severe short-term virilization. After diagnostic work-up the patient underwent laparoscopic unilateral adrenalectomy. For the first 2 weeks following surgery she suffered marked mood swings, irritability and fatigue. There were no other clinical and/or laboratory abnormalities except the rapid drop-down of androgen levels to normal values. Follow-up showed no signs of recurrence and in the absence of signs of adrenal insufficiency, we speculate that, the rapid drop of androgen levels after removal of the tumor might be the reason for the deteriorated psychoemotional condition of our patient.