[Abdominal pain and unclear focal liver lesion in 46-year-old female patient]

A 46-year-old woman presented with recurrent right upper quadrant pain. Abdominal ultrasound revealed an inhomogeneous liver lesion (4 × 7 cm) with complex echotexture. Since further contrast-enhanced imaging tests were inconclusive and lesion integrity remained unclear, a left hemihepatectomy was performed. Histological examination revealed a hepatic epithelioid angiomyolipoma. Hepatic epithelioid angiomyolipoma is a rare, mostly benign, mesenchymal hepatic tumor, composed of smooth muscle cells, adipose tissue, and blood vessels of varying proportions, and its correct diagnosis remains a clinical challenge.

[Abdominal ultrasound in emergency and critical care medicine]

Abdominal ultrasound is established as an important and low-risk diagnostic procedure in emergency and intensive care medicine that allows rapid and precise diagnosis in symptomatic patients and helps to evaluate which further diagnostic steps are needed. Abdominal ultrasound should be performed as the initial imaging modality in all symptomatic patients in an emergency or intensive care unit and can be used with great accuracy to detect the presence of various abdominal pathologies, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm, abscess, ureterolithiasis or free fluid. Furthermore ultrasound represents the imaging modality of choice for guiding many diagnostic and interventional percutaneous procedures in emergency and intensive care medicine and can be used e. g. to drain pleural fluid or abdominal abscesses. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) can additionally be performed to provide a more reliable assessment of solid organ injuries and has the potential to detect parenchymal lesions or active bleeding from a variety of traumatic origins. Abdominal ultrasound is aimed to integrate rapidly detectable sonographic findings into the clinical context. To ensure required standards, regular training is necessary and it is important to understand methodological limitations.

Patients with xeroderma pigmentosum complementation groups C, E and V do not have abnormal sunburn reactions

BACKGROUND

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of DNA repair. It is divided into eight complementation groups: XP-A to XP-G (classical XP) and XP variant (XP-V). Severe and prolonged sunburn reactions on minimal sun exposure have been considered a cardinal feature of classical XP. However, it has recently become clear that not all patients have abnormal sunburn reactions.

OBJECTIVES

To examine sunburn reactions in a cohort of patients with XP and correlate this to the complementation group.

METHODS

Sixty patients with XP attending the U.K. National XP Service from 2010 to 2012 were studied. Their history of burning after minimal sun exposure was assessed using a newly developed sunburn severity score. The age at which the first skin cancer was histologically diagnosed in each patient, and the presence of any neurological abnormality, was also recorded.

RESULTS

Sunburn severity scores were abnormally high in patients with XP-A, XP-D, XP-F and XP-G compared with non-XP controls. There was no significant difference in sunburn score of patients with XP-C, XP-E and XP-V compared with controls (P > 0·05). Patients with XP-C, XP-E and XP-V were more likely to have skin cancer diagnosed at an earlier age than those with severe sunburn on minimal sun exposure. In addition, patients with XP with severe sunburn had an increased frequency of neurological abnormalities.

CONCLUSIONS

Not all patients with XP have a history of severe and prolonged sunburn on minimal sun exposure. The normal sunburn response of patients with XP-C, XP-E and XP-V may relate to the preservation of transcription-coupled DNA repair in these groups. Those with a history of severe sunburn on minimal sun exposure developed their first skin cancer at an older age compared with patients with XP-C, XP-E and XP-V, but they had an increased frequency of neurological abnormalities. Physicians need to be aware that about half of all patients with XP will present without a history of abnormal sunburn.

[Contrast-enhanced ultrasound]

Contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is increasingly accepted in the clinical use for diagnostic imaging. The new guidelines and recommendations provide general advice for the use and procedure of CEUS.