Internal medicine
-
Hydroxycarbamide, an antimetabolic agent used to treat myeloproliferative disorders, causes side effects, including myelosuppression, skin ulcers, and oral mucositis. Gastrointestinal ulcers are uncommon, and esophageal ulcers have not been previously reported. ⋯ When new signs and symptoms occur, drug-induced etiologies should be considered as a potential cause. Timely diagnostic treatment with discontinuation of medication is crucial in such cases.
-
Many cases of primary aldosteronism (PA) in patients who developed hypokalemia-induced rhabdomyolysis and underwent adrenalectomy for aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) have been reported; however, the immunohistopathological and molecular features remain unknown. We herein report the case of a 28-year-old woman with PA who presented with hypokalemia-induced rhabdomyolysis and underwent adrenalectomy for unilateral APA. ⋯ A genetic analysis revealed a somatic mutation in the KCNJ5. These findings suggest a strong aldosterone production capacity in our patient's adenoma, which was presumably related to her severe hyperaldosteronism and the resultant hypokalemia-induced rhabdomyolysis.
-
Undifferentiated carcinoma of the liver is a rare and difficult-to-detect form of primary liver cancer. We herein report the first case of undifferentiated carcinoma of the liver in a 70-year-old Japanese woman with primary biliary cholangitis. The patient was diagnosed with cStage IVA liver cancer (85 mm in diameter) and treated with hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy, 30 Gy radiotherapy, and 11 courses of on-demand transarterial chemoembolization. Although the hepatic tumor had markedly shrunk (from 85 to 20 mm), the patient ultimately died 16 months after the diagnosis due to rapid growth of lymph node metastases.