Internal medicine
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A 70-year-old woman with anti-aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase (ARS) antibody-positive interstitial lung disease (ARS-ILD) received daily medications and regular cyclophosphamide cycles for recurring exacerbations. Approximately four years after immunosuppression initiation, the patient was admitted for progressive dyspnea on exertion. ⋯ A bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) examination revealed amorphous globules and alveolar macrophages with eosinophilic granules. Owing to negative anti-GM-CSF antibody tests, a diagnosis of secondary pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) was established.
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Home healthcare is important for allowing patients to live their lives. However, home-care bedridden patients often experience pressure ulcers in the lower extremities, which can lead to life-threatening infections requiring decisions on the need for amputation. ⋯ Administration of wound dressing, AQUACEL® Ag, led to complete epithelialization. Such shared decision-making and dressing were feasible in a home-care setting and broadened its scope.
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A 72-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with a complaint of breathlessness. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a tumor with intense early enhancement and pleural effusion. Although the pleural effusion was not bloody, the tumor showed a hypervascular area on angiography. ⋯ After embolization, chest radiography revealed decreased pleural effusion. The tumor was resected and pathologically diagnosed as a mediastinal cavernous hemangioma. To our knowledge, mediastinal hemangiomas with pleural effusion are extremely rare; thus, this is the first report of reduced pleural effusion in mediastinal hemangiomas after artery embolization.
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The patient was a 79-year-old male. At three years and eight months after his initial presentation, upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a black-flattened elevated lesion in the middle third of the esophagus, which was diagnosed as malignant melanoma on biopsy. No lymph node or distant metastasis was found. ⋯ The postoperative diagnosis was pT1a (MM), N0, M0, vascular invasion+, stage 0. The patient was recurrence-free for 14 months after surgery. We presume that an aggressive biopsy diagnosis is important for the early detection of malignant melanoma.