Adrenocortical carcinoma arising from the colonic mesentery.

A 57-year-old woman presented with left-sided abdominal pain and was found to have a large retroperitoneal mass in the left upper quadrant. Surgical excision and histopathologic evaluation demonstrated an adrenocortical carcinoma arising from the colonic mesentery. Ectopic adrenocortical carcinomas are extremely rare tumors with an unknown incidence.

Location of the Cannula of the Left Ventricular Assist Device in Explanted Hearts After Orthotopic Heart Transplantation.

Many patients having orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) have previously had a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Such a scenario allows the study of the position of the LVAD cannula in the explanted heart. We studied the explanted hearts in 105 patients who had had a LVAD inserted earlier and later underwent OHT at Baylor University Medical Center from January 2005 to September 2019, and compared the patients in whom the margins of the LVAD cannula contacted the mural endocardium with those in whom it did not.

Cardiovascular ochronosis.

In this review, we summarize previously reported case reports (n=66) in which the presence of ochronotic pigment was found in one or more cardiovascular structures either at necropsy or after operative excision of a cardiac valve or portions of arteries or both. As illustration, we describe black pigment in operatively excised aortic valves and aorta in 2 patients, both probably examples of secondary ochronosis. Ochronosis appears to have fascinated a number of prominent historical figures in medicine, and this review also summarizes their important contributions to this topic.

Examining Hearts Containing Left Ventricular Assist Devices at Necropsy.

There are no publications describing hearts at necropsy containing left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). The purpose was to study the relation of the LVAD cannula to the left ventricular (LV) cavity and wall. We studied the hearts at necropsy of 15 adults who had an LVAD inserted from 4 to 1,423 days (median 60) earlier.