Spontaneous self-expulsion of an oesophageal duplication cyst

A case report of an oesophageal duplication cyst in an adult patient with chronic cough and presenting with a "coughed out lump". This is an unusual presentation highlighting the importance of considering congenital duplication cysts in patients with chronic cough and no obvious respiratory cause.

Lymphoeosinophilic cholecystitis: A rare cause of acalculous cholecystitis in immunocompetent patients - A case report

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Lymphoeosinophilic cholecystitis is an important cause of acalculous cholecystitis.

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Presentations can occur in otherwise well and immunocompetent patients.

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Cholecystectomy should be offered if the clinical picture fits cholecystitis.

Introduction

Eosinophilic and lymphoeosinophilic cholecystitis are uncommonly encountered causes of acalculous cholecystitis characterised by a clinical presentation of acute cholecystitis with eosinophilic infiltration of the gallbladder. Acalculous cholecystitis is a disease that is traditionally associated with patients who are critically unwell and immunosuppressed.

Presentation of case

A fit and well 37-year-old man presented to the emergency department with a 12 -h history of constant upper abdominal pain radiating through to his back. Abdominal examination revealed tenderness in the right upper quadrant with a positive Murphy’s sign. An abdominal ultrasound was performed, revealing a thickened gallbladder wall with probe tenderness, but no gallstones. He proceeded to an uneventful emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Histological examination of the gallbladder revealed mucosal and transmural inflammation comprising of lymphocytes and more than 50 % eosinophils. No gallstones were found. A diagnosis of lymphoeosinophilic cholecystitis was made. The patient had improvement in his symptoms and was discharged home. He was well at follow-up.

Discussion

There is a small subset of immunocompetent patients who are not critically unwell who present with acalculous cholecystitis. There is significant hesitancy in offering a cholecystectomy to these patients without radiological evidence of gallstones or sludge preoperatively. Cholecystectomy should be offered to these patients if the clinical picture fits acute cholecystitis.

Conclusion

Eosinophilic and lymphoeosinophilic cholecystitis are important causes of acalculous cholecystitis that can occur in immunocompetent patients. The decision to offer the patient a cholecystectomy should be based on clinical presentation and examination, rather than the absence or presence of gallstones.

Cancer Detection in Human Tissue Samples Using a Fiber-Tip pH Probe

Intraoperative detection of tumorous tissue is an important unresolved issue for cancer surgery. Difficulty in differentiating between tissue types commonly results in the requirement for additional surgeries to excise unremoved cancer tissue or alternatively in the removal of excess amounts of healthy tissue. Although pathologic methods exist to determine tissue type during surgery, these methods can compromise postoperative pathology, have a lag of minutes to hours before the surgeon receives the results of the tissue analysis, and are restricted to excised tissue. In this work, we report the development of an optical fiber probe that could potentially find use as an aid for margin detection during surgery. A fluorophore-doped polymer coating is deposited on the tip of an optical fiber, which can then be used to record the pH by monitoring the emission spectra from this dye. By measuring the tissue pH and comparing with the values from regular tissue, the tissue type can be determined quickly and accurately. The use of a novel lift-and-measure technique allows for these measurements to be performed without influence from the inherent autofluorescence that commonly affects fluorescence-based measurements on biological samples. The probe developed here shows strong potential for use during surgery, as the probe design can be readily adapted to a low-cost portable configuration, which could find use in the operating theater. Use of this probe in surgery either on excised or in vivo tissue has the potential to improve success rates for complete removal of cancers. Cancer Res; 76(23); 6795-801. ©2016 AACR.

Primary osteosarcoma of the clavicle and the perils of bone biopsy

We present a rare case of delayed diagnosis of osteosarcoma of the medial clavicle in a young man. He presented following a pathological fracture with a falsely reassuring core and fine-needle aspiration biopsy. The initial biopsy was suggestive of an aneurysmal bone cyst and was therefore treated conservatively without further follow-up. The rapid increase in size over the next 8 months triggered a repeat presentation and subsequent repeat biopsy. The open biopsy confirmed high-grade osteosarcoma and the patient underwent claviculectomy with neoadjuvant chemotherapy.