A 78-year-old man fell from a ladder and suffered a right distal tibial fracture. On the seventh day after injury, he developed a low-grade fever and was isolated in a private room. Polymerase chain reaction for COVID-19 was positive (day 4 from the day of saliva sampling). On day 5, he required 1 liter per minute of oxygen and dexamethasone therapy was initiated. On day 6, his D-dimer level was 25.0 μg/mL, and continuous infusion of heparin was initiated. From day 7, he was administered remdesivir. On day 9, his oxygenation suddenly showed a remarkable deterioration. He received a tentative diagnosis of COVID-19induced pneumonia accompanied by severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and underwent urgent tracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation. He also received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) and was also administered glycyrrhizin. His oxygenation gradually improved and extubation was performed on day 15. Following rehabilitation, he did not require oxygen on day 19. On day 20, his D-dimer level was found to be increased and enhanced computed tomography revealed pulmonary embolism. He was prescribed a direct oral anticoagulant. On day 28 he was transferred to a general ward for rehabilitation.These unspecific antiviral therapies and immune modulation therapy may be useful treatments for the main cause of ARDS, which may explain the favorable outcome that was obtained in the present case.

Background: Vogesella species are common aquatic Gram-negative rods first reported in 1997. Vogesella urethralis bacterium was first isolated from human urine in 2020. Only one case of Vogesella species-caused disease has been reported; however, no case of Vogesella urethralis-caused disease has been reported. Here, we report a case of aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia caused by Vogesella urethralis. Case presentation: An 82-year-old male patient was admitted with dyspnea, increased sputum production, and hypoxia. Gram-negative rods were isolated from blood and sputum cultures from the patient. He was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia. Initially, Vogesella urethralis was wrongly identified as Comamonas testosteroni using fully automated susceptibility testing; however, additional 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified it as Vogesella urethralis. The patient was treated with piperacillin and tazobactam. Unfortunately, he developed aspiration pneumonia again and passed away during hospitalization. Conclusion: Since no database exists for rare bacteria in traditional clinical microbiology laboratories, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis was considered useful. We report the first case of Vogesella urethralis-induced aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia.

Background Vogesella species are common aquatic Gram-negative rods that were first reported in 1997. Vogesella urethralis bacterium was first isolated from human urine in 2020. Only two cases of disease caused by Vogesella species have been reported with no case of Vogesella urethralis-caused disease being reported as yet. Herein, we report a case of aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia caused by Vogesella urethralis. Case presentation An 82-year-old male patient was admitted with dyspnea, increased sputum production, and hypoxia. Gram-negative rods were isolated from the blood and sputum cultures of the patient. He was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia. Initially, Vogesella urethralis was wrongly identified as Comamonas testosteroni based on fully automated susceptibility testing; however, additional 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified the causative as Vogesella urethralis. The patient was treated with piperacillin and tazobactam. Unfortunately, he developed aspiration pneumonia again and died during hospitalization. Conclusions Since no database exists for rare bacteria in traditional clinical microbiology laboratories, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis is useful. We report the first case of Vogesella urethralis-induced aspiration pneumonia and bacteremia.

Mediastinal pancreatic pseudocysts are rare complications of pancreatitis associated with alcohol consumption. Here, we report a case of mediastinal pancreatic pseudocyst. A 61-year-old Japanese woman presented to our hospital with epigastric pain and dyspnea. A chest radiograph revealed right-sided massive pleural effusion. Thoracentesis retrieved black pleural fluid with remarkably high fluid amylase levels were. Thoracic computed tomography (CT) after drainage revealed encapsulated fluid. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) were performed because abdominal CT and ultrasonography did not reveal any pancreatic problems. MRCP showed cystic masses and pancreatic tail cysts extending to the stomach and lower oesophagus. ERCP confirmed leakage of contrast medium from the pancreatic tail into the retroperitoneum. We diagnosed the patient with a pancreatic pseudocyst extending to the mediastinum. A mediastinal pancreatic pseudocyst should be considered a differential diagnosis in patients with black pleural fluid with a high amylase level.

8576 Background: The use of platinum-based doublet chemotherapy combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has demonstrated promising outcomes in the first-line treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC). Relapsed SCLC has been classified into "sensitive" or "refractory" relapse types according to cutoff values (60 or 90 days) of duration from the last chemotherapy administration to disease progression. However, it is unclear whether these cutoff values can be applied to ICI combination therapy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a multicenter database of ES-SCLC patients who received second-line therapy after the platinum-etoposide plus ICI (atezolizumab or durvalumab). An optimal cutoff value for the platinum-free interval (PFI) was selected, which minimized the two-sided p-value and maximized hazard ratio (HR) regarding relapse type (sensitive or refractory according to a cutoff value) calculated from a multivariable Cox regression model for overall survival (OS) including performance status (PS) and sex as covariates. The internal validity of the selected cutoff value was assessed via two-fold cross-validation (CV) manner. Results: A total of 101 patients (61 deaths) from 10 hospitals were included in the study. The median follow-up period was 21.1 months. The optimal cutoff value was 75 days (p=0.0002), and when applying this cutoff value, median OS was 15.9 and 5.0 months of sensitive- (n=51) and refractory- (n=50) relapsed patients, and the HR calculated from a two-fold CV was 3.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66 to 5.90). Additionally, traditional cutoff values of 60 and 90 days also predicted prognosis better, but cutoff values of 110 days or longer did not (Table). Conclusions: Even in the era of combined immunotherapy in ES-SCLC patients, the threshold days for classifying as sensitive- or refractory- relapse did not exhibit a significant change compared to the pre-immunotherapy era. Although further validation studies with a larger sample size would be needed, relapse type classification using the selected cutoff value of 75 days is worth considering as a new prognostic factor for relapsed ES-SCLC patients. [Table: see text]