Early effects of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide on inflammation and proliferation in human choroidal neovascularization.

Objective: To evaluate the early effects of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) on inflammation, proliferation, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in human choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Methods: Retrospective review of an interventional case series of 29 patients who underwent macular translocation. Fourteen CNV membranes without previous therapy (control CNV group) and 4 CNV membranes excised 3 days after photodynamic therapy (PDT CNV group) comprised the control groups.

Early effects of triamcinolone on vascular endothelial growth factor and endostatin in human choroidal neovascularization.

Objective: To evaluate the early effects of triamcinolone acetonide as monotherapy or as an adjuvant to ocular verteporfin photodynamic therapy (PDT) on angiogenesis in human choroidal neovascularization (CNV) secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: Retrospective review of an interventional series of 55 patients who underwent CNV extraction. Eleven patients were treated with intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (4 mg) monotherapy (triamcinolone-treated CNV group [n = 5]) or with PDT-triamcinolone combination therapy (PDT-triamcinolone-treated CNV group [n = 6]) 3 to 9 days before surgery.

Consequences of verteporfin photodynamic therapy on choroidal neovascular membranes.

Objective: To examine the impact of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on angiogenesis in human choroidal neovascular membranes with respect to vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, proliferation, and vascularization.

Methods: Retrospective review of an interventional case series of 50 patients (50 eyes) who underwent removal of choroidal neovascular membranes. Choroidal neovascularization was secondary to age-related macular degeneration.

[Elastolytic granulomas of the legs in familial visceral lymphangiodysplasia with chronic lymphedema].

Annular elastolytic giant cell granuloma is a rare skin condition of unknown origin characterized by giant cell granulomas with elastophagocytosis and loss of elastic tissue. Sun-exposed areas are most commonly affected. We report on an unusual case of elastolytic granulomas developing in chronic lymphedema of the legs in a female patient with visceral lymphangiodysplasia.

Intravascular lymphoma - a rare cause of hemolytic anemia and neurologic disorders.

Intravascular lymphoma is an uncommon and often overlooked form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma characterized by extensive proliferation of lymphoid cells within the lumina of small and medium-sized vessels. Clinical symptoms of the disease are variable and often nonspecific, mostly neurologic in nature. With an aggressive course, intravascular lymphomatosis has a poor prognosis and is rarely diagnosed ante mortem.

Primary diagnosis of Whipple's disease in bone marrow.

Whipple's disease (WD) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease of infectious origin caused by Tropheryma whipplei (TW). Abdominal pain and recurrent diarrhea are usually the main symptoms leading to the suspicion of a primary bowel disease. Systemic manifestations can mimic hematologic disorders.

Hepatic progenitor cells in human liver cirrhosis: immunohistochemical, electron microscopic and immunofluorencence confocal microscopic findings.

Aim: To investigate whether hepatic progenitor cells (HPC), that reveal the features of oval cells in rodents and small epithelial cells (SEC) in certain human liver disease, were also found in human liver cirrhosis (HLC).

Methods: Surgical liver specimens from 20 cases of hepatitis B virus-positive HLC (15 cases containing hepatocellular carcinoma) were investigated by light microscopic immunohistochemistry (LM-IHC). Among them specimens from 15 cases were investigated by electron microscopy (EM) and those from 5 cases by immunofluorencence confocal laser scanning microscopy (ICLSM).

Sarcoma of follicular dendritic cells in the dorsal mediastinum.

Follicular dendritic cell sarcomas (FDCSs) are very rare and usually originate in lymph nodes. We report an exceedingly rare case with localization in the dorsal mediastinum and, for the first time, provide positron emission tomography (PET) data for this tumor. This report describes the case of a 76-year-old man with a clinically aggressive tumor in the dorsal mediastinum.

Expression of endoglin in choroidal neovascularization.

Endoglin (CD105) is a membrane protein involved in the TGF-beta receptor signalling pathway with predominant expression by proliferating endothelial cells. The aim of this study is to analyze the expression of Endoglin in choroidal neovascularization membranes (CNVM) and to compare it to the overall proliferative status of CNVM. Thirty surgically excised CNVM, secondary to age-related macular degeneration, were investigated using light microscopic immunohistochemistry and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy using verified antibodies directed against the endothelial cell markers Endoglin, von Willebrand factor (vWF) and CD34 and the proliferation marker Ki-67.

Adult hypocellular acute leukaemia with lymphoid differentiation.

The rare hypocellular variants of acute leukemia (AL) previously also termed smouldering leukemia, almost always exhibit myeloid differentiation. Very rare cases of hypocellular AL with lymphoid differentiation have been reported, usually in children. This paper describes two cases (an 87-year-old woman and a 79-year-old man) in whom the blood findings were suggestive of AL.

Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis resembling carcinoma with extensive tumorous infiltration of the liver and colon.

Background: Xanthogranulomatous cholecystitis is a macrophage-rich inflammatory condition of the gallbladder that occasionally presents with tumorlike appearance.

Case Presentation: In the present case the inflammation involved all the layers of the gallbladder, the surrounding connective tissue, and part of the right lobe of the liver and right transverse colon. The clinical and radiological findings were suggestive of advanced carcinoma of the gallbladder.