Internal medicine
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A 75-year-old man presented with cognitive decline, headaches, and ataxic gait. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed acute infarcts in multiple brain regions, and vessel wall MRI (VW-MRI) demonstrated concentric arterial wall thickening and enhancement in some intracranial arteries, initially suggesting primary central nervous system vasculitis (PCNSV). ⋯ A skin biopsy revealed intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVLBCL), and autopsy revealed tumor cells in the arterial walls corresponding to the VW-MRI findings. This case highlights the risk of a misdiagnosis of PCNSV based solely on imaging findings and underscores the need for histological confirmation.
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Objective To investigate the clinical course of ulcerative colitis (UC) during pregnancy, focusing on their mutual influence. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 58 patients with UC who had 73 pregnancies and 3 patients with newly developed UC during pregnancy. We recorded the rate of relapse of UC; the relationship between medication use and UC relapse during pregnancy; treatment for relapse; and the incidence of pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn abnormalities. ⋯ In two of the three patients with new-onset UC, UC was severe and required intensive care; however, the pregnancies continued uneventfully. Conclusion Although the progress of pregnancies complicated by UC was mostly uneventful, discontinuing medication carries the risk of UC relapse. Thus, appropriate management of medical treatments for UC during pregnancy is important.
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Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, such as dermatomyositis, are implicated as possible risk factors for venous thromboembolism. We herein report the first known case of a 50-year-old woman who presented to our hospital with a fever, chest pain, and elevated creatine kinase levels and was ultimately diagnosed with pulmonary embolism and anti-OJ antibody-positive antisynthetase myopathy. ⋯ However, only a few cases of pulmonary embolism developing before the diagnosis of inflammatory myositis have been reported. Idiopathic inflammatory myopathy should be considered as a differential diagnosis when creatine kinase levels are elevated in patients with pulmonary embolism.
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A 72-year-old Japanese woman presented to our hospital with progressive hearing loss and dysphagia. Blood tests revealed elevated C-reactive protein and myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (MPO-ANCA). ⋯ She was diagnosed with Garcin syndrome associated with otitis media with ANCA-associated vasculitis (OMAAV) and treated with high-dose glucocorticoid therapy followed by intravenous cyclophosphamide and rituximab. Therefore, OMAAV should be considered in the differential diagnosis of refractory otitis media with unilateral cranial nerve involvement.
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Hepatic undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is a rare malignant mesenchymal tumor with unclear cancer-related genetic mutations. In a 60-year-old Japanese woman with a rapidly growing, inoperable hepatic UPS, a genetic mutation analysis revealed KRAS and TP53 mutations. Despite initiating hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy, the tumor continued to grow, and the patient's poor performance status complicated the transition to a phase I KRAS mutation drug trial, leading to death eight months after the symptom onset. A timely genetic mutation analysis may facilitate effective treatment transitions in hepatic UPS despite the lack of established treatments.