Many patients, after artificial valve replacement surgery, receive warfarin anticoagulant therapy. However, it has been reported that warfarin administration during pregnancy can cause fetal teratogenicity. With reference to this case, we will discuss how warfarin administration in mid-pregnancy caused severe cerebral hemorrhage in the newborn child. The 36-year-old patient in this case underwent aortic valve replacement surgery when she was 11 years old; this requires the continued use of warfarin after surgery. Although she was advised otherwise, the patient became pregnant. The warfarin treatment was discontinued at 5 weeks of gestation and she began self-injection of heparin; however, her health quickly deteriorated requiring an emergency, warfarin treatment. On gestation week 21, she was admitted to our hospital with a high likelihood of a spontaneous abortion. A week later, transesophageal ultrasonography revealed a thrombus in the patient's aortic valve. Because of this finding, we re-started warfarin administration. At 32 weeks of gestation, cardiotocography showed decreased fetal heart rate; thus, an emergency Cesarean section was performed. A baby was delivered, weighing 1,702 g with an Apgar Score of 1 at 1 minute and 4 at 5 minutes. Cranial computed tomography of the infant showed bilateral intraventricular hemorrhage and ventricular dilation. In order to protect the mother and prevent hemorrhage in the newborn, it is recommended that a continuous heparin infusion should be administered to the pregnant woman after the 36th week of gestation. Regarding the impact on the infant, it is considered that continuous intravenous administration of heparin is safer during the third trimester of pregnancy. However, administration of heparin alone makes the preventive effect of thrombosis uncertain. When warfarin is administered in pregnancy, pregnancy management should be performed bearing the risk of fetal cerebral hemorrhage in mind.
Extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC) of the vulva is extremely rare. We report our experience with a case of disease control by radiation therapy to a localized lesion of EMC. A 41-year-old woman presented to our clinic with a vulvar mass. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a 15 cm mass between the perineum and the medial thigh muscle. It was the "adductor magnus muscle." After the needle biopsy, a histopathological diagnosis of EMC was made. Tissue genomic analysis detected the EWSR1-NR4A3 fusion gene. A joint operation by the Department of Orthopedics, Gynecology, and Plastic Surgery was performed, which included a wide excision of the perineum, partial excision of the medial thigh muscle, and rectus abdominis valvuloplasty.
Intraoperatively, pubic infiltration was detected. Postoperative pelvic radiotherapy was administered as adjuvant therapy. Recurrent common iliac lymph node metastases outside the irradiation field and multiple lung metastases were observed. Pazopanib was administered as adjuvant therapy. Pulmonary metastases were controlled, but the pelvic tumor had spread, so the patient underwent radiation therapy. After second-line chemotherapy with doxorubicin, left pleural effusion and mediastinal lymph node metastasis appeared, and third-line chemotherapy with eribulin mesylate was administered. The pleural effusion improved, but the patient developed cough again, and trabectedin was administered as the fourth chemotherapy. In this case, there was no local recurrence for three years after radiotherapy, suggesting the effectiveness of radiotherapy in local control.
The high toxicity of chemotherapy can damage a patient's gonadal function, leading to premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). Here, we report the case of a patient suffering from POI after chemotherapy for breast cancer, who 3 years later ovulated spontaneously and became pregnant. The patient, a 31-year-old infertile women, nulligravida, was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) level in her serum was 1.85 ng/mL before multimodal treatment for cancer. She later visited our hospital for amenorrhea and 2 years after cancer treatment, she was diagnosed with POI. Her AMH level at that point was less than 0.1 ng/mL. One year after the diagnosis of POI, the patient's AMH level increased slightly to 0.14 ng/mL and she ovulated spontaneously. The patient later became pregnant using Assisted Reproductive Technology on the fourth attempt.During the course of treatment for infertility at our hospital, the AMH levels in her serum changed along with the recovery of ovarian function. These findings suggest the possibility that ovulation and pregnancy could be predicted by the chronological changes of the AMH levels in the patient's serum.
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