Occurrence of thymic pathology in two families. Is familial screening justified?

The familial occurrence of thymic pathology, even though rare, is widely reported in the literature and mainly concerns cases of familial autoimmune myasthenia gravis. Other less frequent cases of familial occurrence of thymoma, thymic carcinoid and thymic hyperplasia have been described. It seems that the familial occurrence is poorly recorded and thus its prevalence is underestimated.

Clinical significance of positive Raoultella Ornithinolytica and Staphylococcus hominis cultures in a post lobectomy patient. A case report.

Raoultella Ornithinolytica (RO) is an encapsulated, Gram- negative, nonmotile aerobic rob which was reclassified from Klepsiella genus belonging in the family of Enterobacteriaceae. It is a rare human infection and few cases have been reported in post thoracotomy patients. Here we present a case of a left lower lobectomy patient that was complicated by pleural effusion and high fever with positive sputum cultures of Raoultella Ornithinolytica and positive pleural fluid cultures of Staphylococcus hominis.

Aneurysmal rib cyst.

Thoracic cage is the site of development of various primary or metastatic tumors. An aneurysmal rib cyst is a benign tumor arising from the chest wall. Aneurysmal rib cyst is considered a rare surgical entity and its presence must be followed by removal for histology examination.

Chilaiditi's sign or syndrome? Diagnostic question in two patients with concurrent cardiovascular diseases.

Chilaiditi's sign is the asymptomatic, usually incidental radiographic finding, in which a part of the intestine is located between the liver and the diaphragm. The term Chilaiditi syndrome is referred to cases with symptomatic hepatodiaphragmatic interposition. Chilaiditi's syndrome is usually associated with abdominal or lower thoracic symptoms.

Unusual symptomatic late onset presentation of aberrant right subclavian artery: report of two cases and short literature review.

Aberrant subclavian arteries are congenital vascular anomalies that usually do not cause any symptoms. When symptomatic they are considered as a rare cause of dysphagia. This presentation is known as dysphagia lusoria.

Two foreign bodies embedded in the intraventricular septum: A case report.

A 23-year old male was presented at the outpatient clinic of our department reporting that he had been subjected to insertion of foreign bodies in his chest. Physical examination was unremarkable. Imaging studies revealed the presence of two bodies in the subcutaneous tissue of the anterior chest wall and two needle-shaped intramyocardial bodies that were impacted in the intraventricular septum.

Mechanisms of oxidative stress and myocardial protection during open-heart surgery.

Cold heart protection via cardioplegia administration, limits the amount of oxygen demand. Systemic normothermia with warm cardioplegia was introduced due to the abundance of detrimental effects of hypothermia. A temperature of 32-33°C in combination with tepid blood cardioplegia of the same temperature appears to be protective enough for both; heart and brain.

Surgical treatment for malignant pleural mesothelioma: extrapleural pneumonectomy, pleurectomy/decortication or extended pleurectomy?

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an asbestos-related disease with a dismal prognosis. Ethic, social, legal and economic parameters are implicated in its management. It is quite clear that multimodality therapy is necessary to improve long-term results but precise treatment schemes have not yet been equivocally accepted.

S100A2 protein and non-small cell lung cancer. The dual role concept.

S100A2 is a member of the EF-hand motif family S100. Its role has been recently implicated in carcinogenesis and metastasis. Although its precise role in NSCLC patients is debated and conflicting results have been published, it has been associated with patient survival.

Prognostic significance of different immunohistochemical S100A2 protein expression patterns in patients with operable nonsmall cell lung carcinoma.

S100 proteins are involved in carcinogenesis, metastasis, and survival. S100A2 is a member of the S100 family, and its expression and precise role in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) has been debated. Therefore, we examined the immunohistochemical expression patterns of S100A2 in NSCLC in relation to clinicopathological parameters, important molecular biomarkers, and patient outcome.

γ-H2AX expression detected by immunohistochemistry correlates with prognosis in early operable non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Phosphorylation of the H2AX histone is an early indicator of DNA double-strand breaks and of the resulting DNA damage response. In the present study, we assessed the expression and prognostic significance of γ-H2AX in a cohort of 96 patients with operable non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Methods: Ninety-six paraffin-embedded specimens of non-small cell lung cancer patients were examined.

Intraoperative use of recombinant activated factor VII during complex aortic surgery.

Objective: Postoperative bleeding is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after complex aortic surgery. Intraoperative coagulopathy is a well-known culprit in this process. Recombinant activated factor VII is increasingly used for the postoperative management of such bleeding.

Isolated bilateral coronary artery ostial stenosis in aortitis syndrome.

Isolated bilateral coronary artery ostial stenosis is a rare condition that has been associated with various diseases. We present the case of a 47-year-old male with bilateral coronary ostial stenosis. The patient's history was not significant for systemic diseases.

Superior vena cava syndrome in a patient with previous cardiac surgery: what else should we suspect?

Background: Although mediastinal tumors compressing or invading the superior vena cava represent the major causes of the superior vena cava syndrome, benign processes may also be involved in the pathogenesis of this medical emergency. One of the rarest benign causes is a pseudoaneurysm developing in patients previously having heart surgery.

Case Report: We present the case of a large pseudoaneurysm of the ascending aorta, five years after primary surgery, with a significant compression of the right mediastinal venous system causing superior vena cava syndrome, detected at chest CT angiography.

Simultaneously performed off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and colectomy: a case report.

This is written so as to report the case of a 71-year-old male with a diagnosis of sigmoid adenocarcinoma accompanied by severe coronary artery disease and unstable angina, which was subject to simultaneous surgical treatment. The patient initially underwent an off-pump coronary artery revascularization in order to avoid the complications of cardiopulmonary bypass, providing the opportunity of a colectomy at the same time with the use of safe surgical means. Our case suggests that performing an off-pump bypass procedure prior to cancer surgery can be an appropriate course of action in carefully selected cases.

Acute aortic dissection in a young patient without Marfan fibrillinopathy: a case report.

Introduction: Acute aortic dissection is a rare clinical entity that mainly affects patients older than 50 years. It is unusual in younger patients and its presence has been traditionally associated with trauma, Marfan syndrome, bicuspid aortic valve and pregnancy. Heavy weightlifting and other fibrillinopathies have been also implicated in the literature.

Sarcomatoid lung carcinomas: a case series.

We report on three Caucasian Greeks 2 males and 1 female (67, 54 and 62 years old) that were operated with sarcomatoid carcinoma of the lung, an uncommon tumor that sometimes is referred as pleomorphic carcinoma (spindle and giant cell carcinomas). These tumors are encountered in the thorax far more often than true sarcomas. There are many erroneous reports of pulmonary sarcomas made before the advent of adjunctive pathologic screening, including immunohistochemical studies.

Low incidence of bronchopleural fistula after pneumonectomy for lung cancer.

Bronchopleural fistula (BPF) after pneumonectomy for NSCLC remains a highly morbid complication. We examined possible factors including the surgical techniques associated with BPF development. From 221 pneumonectomies for NSCLC, bronchial stump closure was mechanically performed in 192 patients and manually in the remaining 29.

The role of omental transposition for the management of postoperative mediastinitis: a case series.

Introduction: The aim of our study is to present our experience from the management of six patients with deep sternal wood infection and mediastinitis after aortocoronary by pass grafting.

Case Series: Five Caucasian Greek male patients and a Caucasian Greek female were subjected to aortocoronary by pass grafting. Mean time of sternal dehiscence and mediastinitis was 9-17 (mean 11) days.

Bilateral pulmonary contusion, flail chest and respiratory failure on late iatrogenic diaphragmatic eventration and severe kyphoskoliosis: a case report.

Background: We present a case of a 79 year old Caucasian Greek female with multiple acute and chronic diseases that in conjunction led to a critical condition.

Case Presentation: She had a chronic iatrogenic diaphragmatic eventration, chronic severe kyphoskoliosis and an acute thoracic trauma due to a falling. We decided to perform an operation for the diaphragmatic eventration and the flail chest on this patient in the hope of improving her respiratory capacity.

The management of Castleman's disease of the mediastinum: a case report.

Castleman's disease or angiofollicular lymph node hyperplasia is a rare clinical entity that may present in many sites and with a variety of symptoms. We report here a case of unicentric Castleman's disease (hyaline vascular pattern) located in the mediastinum as a solitary mass. The patient was a Caucasian female 58 years old presented after incidental discovery of the mass in a x-ray.

Abdominal compartment syndrome post-late Bochdalek hernia repair: A case report.

The aim of this case report is to discuss the rare postoperative complication of abdominal compartment syndrome in a 19-year-old Caucasian Greek male that was electively operated on for a congenital diaphragmatic hernia. The hernia was completely asymptomatic and was found in chest radiography for employment reasons. Abdominal compartment syndrome is related in most reports with trauma and abdominal operations.

Left atrial giant thrombus infected by Escherichia Coli. Case report.

Background: Left atrial thrombi are mostly related to mitral valve disease. The differential diagnosis of clots and myxomas in the left atrium is mostly based on echocardiography. Infection of intracardiac thrombi is extremely rare and mostly reported in ventricular clots or aneurysms following myocardial infarction.