We report a rare case of multiple retroperitoneal schwannomas, initially believed to be an adrenal carcinoma with metastasis. These benign tumors were discovered in a patient presenting with vague back pain. Preoperative radiographic and endocrine evaluations suggested a nonfunctioning adrenal tumor. The final diagnosis and its juxta-adrenal origin were confirmed by histological and immunohistochemical studies. A review of the literature on retroperitoneal schwannoma is included.

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The authors describe a sixty-seven-year-old hypertensive, diabetic man with a mycotic abdominal aortic aneurysm infected with Clostridium septicum. The patient had colonic polyps but no malignant disease. They could find only one other report of a mycotic aneurysm infected with C. septicum. In that case, as in most other cases of C. septicum bacteremia, the patient had gastrointestinal cancer. Their case suggests that treatment for a clostridial infection should be considered in patients with known gastrointestinal disease, signs and symptoms of sepsis, and abdominal pain. Conversely, patients known to have a C. septicum infection should be evaluated for gastrointestinal lesions.

Renal cell carcinoma with inferior vena caval tumor thrombus extending to the level of the right atrium occurs in about 1 % of all cases. Dynamic two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography is a minimally invasive safe technique that can demonstrate preoperatively the cephalad extent of the cavoatrial tumor thrombus with an accuracy that appears equal to or better than that of any other method currently available. When used intraoperatively, it provides invaluable data to aid in the anesthetic and surgical management of the patient, obviating the need for and potential risk of placing a Swan-Ganz pulmonary artery catheter before complete removal of the tumor thrombus.