Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine
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Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. · Jan 1989
Case ReportsFatal iatrogenic salicylate intoxication in a long-term user of enteric-coated aspirin.
A 64-year-old woman, who was taking long-term enteric-coated aspirin therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, was prescribed approximately twice her normal dosage (7.1 g daily) during a ten-day convalescence following surgery. Although she presented with features mimicking sepsis, biochemical analysis, ie, a spuriously high carbon dioxide content, suggested salicylate intoxication (admission salicylate concentration, 5.13 mmol/L). She died on the third day after admission. ⋯ The metabolism of salicylate, particularly its excretion kinetics, can make small upward dosage adjustments hazardous. Salicylate has widespread metabolic effects that can mimic other medical conditions, leading to delayed diagnosis of salicylate intoxication. Increased mortality and morbidity may result.
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Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. · Nov 1988
Prune-belly syndrome with prostatic hypoplasia, bladder wall rupture, and massive ascites in a fetus with trisomy 18.
An association has been noted between trisomy 18 and genitourinary abnormalities, with six previous reports of the prune-belly syndrome occurring in patients with trisomy 18. We have observed a 120-g fetus of 18 weeks' gestational age at autopsy in whom there was severe prune-belly syndrome and trisomy 18. Serial histologic sections and reconstruction of the lower urinary tract demonstrated severe prostatic hypoplasia with a dilated, angulated prostatic urethra. ⋯ The bladder was distended and hypertrophic, and had a disruption of its wall near the apex. Massive ascites and intraabdominal urine accumulation had produced abdominal distention and pulmonary hypoplasia. The findings in this case lend support to the concept of prostatic hypoplasia as a cause of prune-belly syndrome and to the unexplained association between trisomy 18 and genitourinary anomalies including the prune-belly syndrome.
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Dendriform pulmonary ossification is a rare entity associated with chronic lung disease that is almost invariably discovered as an incidental finding at autopsy. Antemortem chest roentgenograms of patients with dendriform pulmonary ossification are often interpreted as pulmonary fibrosis and/or bronchiectasis. Radiographic and pathologic findings in two cases are described herein.
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Arch. Pathol. Lab. Med. · Sep 1987
Nerve growth factor and the concept of neural-epithelial interactions. Immunohistochemical observations in two cases of vasitis nodosa and six cases of prostatic adenocarcinoma.
The so-called perineural invasion is a well-recognized, but poorly understood, phenomenon occurring in vasitis nodosa, a benign epithelial proliferation of the vas deferens; such unusually close epithelial-neural interactions also occur, among others, in benign and malignant conditions of the prostate. In the present study, immunoreactive nerve growth factor was found in the epithelium of these organs. This nerve growth factor is thought to possibly play a role in the process of the so-called perineural invasion.