Internal medicine
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Case Reports
Transient and Recurrent Pulmonary Infiltrations Associated with Familial Mediterranean Fever.
Chest symptoms and pleural effusion due to serositis in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) are occasionally misdiagnosed as acute pneumonia. However, the actual pulmonary involvement of FMF is extremely rare. A 67-year-old man was referred to our hospital due to repeated and transient anterior chest pain. ⋯ Colchicine treatment without antibiotics rapidly improved these symptoms and findings. Pericarditis, pleurisy and the response to colchicine indicated FMF. FMF should be considered as a causative disease of pulmonary infiltrations, especially if it occurs repeatedly.
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Multicenter Study
Clinicopathological Characteristics of Superficial Barrett's Adenocarcinoma in a Japanese Population: A Retrospective, Multicenter Study.
Objective Although Barrett's adenocarcinoma (BA) remains a minor disease in Japan, its incidence has been gradually increasing. We analyzed the characteristics of BA in Japanese populations. Methods We retrospectively reviewed medical records and analyzed the clinicopathological differences between short-segment Barrett's esophagus (SSBE) and long-segment Barrett's esophagus (LSBE), as well as metastasis. ⋯ The 5-year cumulative incidence rate of metachronous BA after ER was 0% in patients with SSBE and 40% in patients with LSBE (p=0.0005). Conclusion Superficial BA was likely to be detected at the right anterior wall of SSBE in the Japanese population. The risk for metachronous BA after ER was high in Japanese patients with LSBE, as in Western patients.
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A 70-year-old woman with complaints of edema, general malaise, and hypotension was diagnosed with renal amyloidosis, and laser microdissection mass spectrometry revealed her amyloidosis to predominantly comprise the apolipoprotein A-IV type. The M-protein turned from negative to positive during the course, and a bone marrow biopsy showed smoldering myeloma. ⋯ Western blotting of urine samples at the time of the renal biopsy showed that amyloid light-chain κ amyloidosis had been present since the onset. Unlike the myeloma, Congo red staining was positive in the plasma cells of the bone marrow.