Situs inversus totalis (SIT) is a relatively rare congenital anomaly, occurring at an incidence of 1 in 10 000-50 000 live births. Although there are some case reports of SIT with the presence of cancer, there are few reports on the relationship between SIT and cancer. However, the recent phylogenetic investigations of this condition suggest that this may be linked to the development and progression of cancer on the molecular level. The key elements are one of the intracellular motor proteins, the KIF3 complex, and the cell-adhesion factors N-cadherin and beta-catenin. We herein present the cases of advanced gastric cancer and lung cancer with SIT, and review the relationship between SIT and the development and progression of cancer.
Patients who undergo thoracic aortic surgery with deep hypothermia frequently have postoperative respiratory failure as a complication. Severe lung injury in these patients results in a fatal outcome. A specific neutrophil elastase inhibitor, sivelestat sodium hydrate, is an innovative therapeutic drug for acute lung injury. We evaluated the protective effects of sivelestat sodium hydrate on severe lung injury after thoracic aortic surgery with deep hypothermia. From January 2002 to July 2007, 71 consecutive patients underwent thoracic aortic surgery with deep hypothermia. Of these patients, 22 had postoperative respiratory failure with PaO 2 /FiO 2 ratios of less than 150. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group (Group S, n = 10) was administered sivelestat sodium hydrate continuously at 0.2 mg/kg/h until weaning from mechanical ventilation; the second group (Group C, n = 12) was not administered sivelestat sodium hydrate. The groups were comparable with respect to clinical data. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, operation duration, total cardiopulmonary bypass time, circulatory ischemia time, cardiac arrest time, intraoperative blood loss, and total transfusion volume. The improvement of pulmonary function was observed in the both groups, but more marked in Group S by statistical analysis using analysis of variance for repeated measurements. Especially, in the early phase, pulmonary function improvement was more marked in Group S. The duration of mechanical ventilation, the length of stay in the intensive care unit, and the length of hospital stay were shorter in Group S, but not significantly. Sivelestat sodium hydrate is a specific neutrophil elastase inhibitor that improves pulmonary function in patients with severe postoperative respiratory failure following thoracic aortic surgery with deep hypothermia. The drug may shorten the duration of postoperative ventilation, intensive care unit stay, and hospital stay.
A 41-year-old woman presented with severe and sudden anterior neck swelling, pain, and dysphagia. Computed tomography (CT) scan and ultrasound of the neck showed a giant mass in the retropharyngeal space, displacing the trachea and esophagus anteriorly. Aspiration cytology was done, following which extensive cervical and chest ecchymosis occurred and her symptoms immediately improved. A repeat CT scan demonstrated that the cervical giant mass had vanished, but there was a residual mass in the left paratracheal space. Exploratory surgery of the neck revealed a parathyroid cyst with severe adhesion to the surrounding tissues. We considered that a ruptured parathyroid cyst had induced massive hemorrhage into the cervical tissues and mediastinum, but that the hemorrhage had been absorbed. Extracapsular hemorrhage from a parathyroid adenoma or cyst is rare, especially from a parathyroid cyst. In fact, to our knowledge, this represents only the third case of symptomatic spontaneous bleeding of a parathyroid cyst. Nevertheless, this entity should still be considered in the differential diagnosis of all rapidly progressing retropharyngeal masses.
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