Colitis as the Main Presentation of COVID-19: A Case Report.

The main symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are fever, cough, tiredness, and loss of smell and taste. Gastrointestinal symptoms are less common. A 38-year-old female patient, previously healthy, presented with a history of hematochezia up to 8 times per day, followed by abdominal cramps, urgency, and chills for two days. She did not have any respiratory symptoms and was previously vaccinated for COVID-19. She was afebrile, with normal vital signs. Blood samples showed normal complete blood count and increased C-reactive protein (CRP), fibrinogen, and D-dimer levels (66 mg/L, 4.1 g/L, and 2302 µ/L FEU, respectively). Stool samples for stool culture, C. difficile, and viral examination came back negative. On day 3, she reported a mild cough, fever and loss of smell and taste. Nasopharyngeal swab for SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) PCR test came back positive. On day 6, the patient still had hematochezia accompanied by abdominal cramps, but fever and respiratory symptoms withdrew. CRP, fibrinogen, and D-dimers were still elevated, as well as liver enzyme levels. Sigmoidoscopy was performed with biopsies taken from sigmoid and rectum for histology and PCR SARS-CoV-2 testing. CT angiography showed no signs of thrombosis in mesenteric veins or arteries. PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 virus from rectal biopsy sample was positive. Patient was treated with methylprednisolone iv for two days and peroral prednisone afterwards, with mesalamine, metronidazole and enoxaparin. Sigmoidoscopy was repeated after two weeks showing only mild hyperemia. At that time, the patient had normal stool, normal CRP, liver enzyme, fibrinogen, and D-dimer levels, and normocytic anemia (hemoglobin level of 103 g/L). We wanted to show that severe gastrointestinal symptoms, such as hemorrhagic colitis, can be the main presentation of COVID-19, even in young patients with no prior comorbidities. In such a case, PCR test in biopsy samples can be performed to prove SARS-CoV-2 infection of bowel mucosa.

Giant primary pleomorphic adenoma of the lung presenting as a post-traumatic pulmonary hematoma: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Pleomorphic adenomas, also known as benign mixed tumors, are the most common tumors of glandular origin in the head and neck and although they are generally benign they can undergo malignant transformation. Primary pleomorphic adenomas of the lung are extremely rare tumors with less than 40 cases reported in the literature by now. This is the first case in the literature describing overlapping with a traumatic event and also one of the rare cases describing primary adenoma of the lung reaching this impressive size. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a rare case of a giant primary pleomorphic adenoma of the lung presenting as a post-traumatic pulmonary hematoma. A 38-year-old Caucasian male patient came to the Urgent Trauma Center after being hit in the chest by a bull and, after a number of tests, was diagnosed with primary pleomorphic adenoma of the lung. Operative treatment was performed and the surgical excision was successfully done. CONCLUSIONS: Our conclusion is that the surgical excision is the main treatment for pleomorphic adenoma of the lungs and we recommend lifelong follow-up and regular check-ups. Furthermore, we consider our case an interesting one due to its concurrence with the chest trauma and the dilemma about the optimal approach considering the entity could have been a large interlobular hematoma.