Internal medicine
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Case Reports
A Case of Sarcoid-like Granulomatous Lung Disease with Subacute Progression in Silicosis.
A 67-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with cough and fatigue. He had had long-term exposure to silica due to cement processing. Chest computed tomography showed bilateral centrilobular nodules, and hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy with calcification, suggesting chronic silicosis. ⋯ A lung biopsy revealed sarcoid-like granulomas with birefringent particles under polarized light without malignancy or infection. He was diagnosed with silicosis-associated sarcoid-like granulomatous lung disease, rather than sarcoidosis, according to the clinicopathological findings. His pulmonary manifestations improved after the discontinuation of silica exposure and combination therapy of corticosteroid and azathioprine.
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A 78-year-old woman with multiple lung nodules, epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon 20 insertion mutations, and diagnosed with advanced lung adenocarcinoma (cT4N3M1a, stage IVA), was referred to our hospital. She received immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. ⋯ We subsequently performed right upper lobectomy for multiple primary lung cancer (MPLC). The surgical specimen contained EGFR exon 19 deletion mutations and not exon 20 insertion mutations.
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Takayasu's arteritis is an inflammatory disease of unknown etiology that causes stenosis, occlusion, or dilatation of the aorta and its major branches, the pulmonary arteries, and the coronary arteries. The incidence of extracranial carotid artery aneurysm in patients with Takayasu's arteritis is reportedly 1.8-3.9%. ⋯ Carotid ultrasonography revealed a thrombus within the fusiform aneurysm on the right common carotid artery. We speculated that fragmentation from the intra-aneurysmal thrombus was caused by neck massage.
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A 62-year-old man showed abnormal behavior. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed multifocal lesions on T2-weighted images. Initial screening revealed that he was seropositive for antibodies against glutamate decarboxylase, which usually indicates treatment resistance to autoimmune encephalitis (AE). ⋯ In line with this, we also detected seropositivity for antibodies against leucine-rich glioma-inactivated 1 and gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptor (GABAAR). Brain imaging and treatment responsiveness suggested that antibodies against GABAAR were the main cause of symptoms. Furthermore, the patient showed the presence of triple anti-neural antibodies in the absence of malignancy and had a favorable clinical course.
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Optic neuritis (ON) is a rare complication of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α inhibitors. The autoantibody serostatus, treatment, and outcome of TNF-α inhibitor-associated ON remain unclear. We herein report a 50-year-old woman with ON following adalimumab therapy. ⋯ Adalimumab was discontinued, and intravenous methylprednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) were administered. However, her visual acuity improved only up to counting fingers. IVIg may be ineffective depending on the pretreatment severity.