No abstract

Echinococcus granulosus, an intestinal tapeworm of dogs and other canids, infects humans in its larval stage and causes human echinococcosis or hydatid disease. In the Republic of Korea, 31 parasite-proven human echinococcosis cases have been reported, most of which were imported from the Middle East. We recently examined a 61-year-old Korean man who had a large cystic mass in his liver. ELISA was negative for tissue parasitic infections, including echinococcosis, cysticercosis, paragonimiasis, and sparganosis. The patient underwent surgery to remove the cyst, and the resected cyst was processed histopathologically for microscopic examinations. In sectioned cyst tissue, necrotizing protoscolices with disintegrated hooklets of E. granulosus were found. In some areas, only freed, fragmented hooklets were detected. The patient had traveled to western and central Europe in 1996, and had no other history of overseas travel. We report our patient as a hepatic echinococcosis case which was probably imported from Europe.

Liposarcoma develops extremely rarely in the oesophagus. Microscopically, it exhibits subtle atypia of H&E-stained features. Accordingly, immunohistochemical features and chromosomal alterations are used for its confirmatory diagnosis. However, cytogenetic analysis has not been performed for oesophageal liposarcoma. We studied chromosomal alterations using array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), as well as endoscopic, radiological, H&E-stained and immunohistochemical features in the oesophageal well-differentiated liposarcoma of a 67-year-old man. Array CGH analysis revealed the presence of high-level amplifications at chromosomal locations 1p12-1q21.2, 12q13.2-12q15 and 12q21.33-12q23.1. At least 29 genes were highly amplified (log(2) ratio >2), among which CDK4 and MDM2 were the most highly amplified (log(2) ratio >4) and were accepted as major target genes. Moreover, the amplification of AMDHD1, HAL and LTA4H (log(2) ratio = 3.153) was a novel finding. This case suggests the presence of a characteristic profile of gene amplification in well-differentiated liposarcoma of the oesophagus. The amplified genes may be of pathogenic importance for primary oesophageal well-differentiated liposarcoma.

We report a case of thymic hyperplasia accompanied by pericardial lipomatosis and right facial hemihypertrophy in an 8-year-old boy. On imaging studies, the hyperplastic thymus had prominent curvilinear and nodular fatty areas simulating a fat-containing anterior mediastinal mass, which is an unusual finding in children. To our knowledge, this is the first report on a child with a combination of thymic hyperplasia, pericardial lipomatosis, and right facial hemihypertrophy. The radiologic findings are presented with a brief discussion.