Hemangioendotelioma epitelióide da pleura – Uma apresentação rara a propósito de um caso clínico

AbstractEpithelioid Hemangioendothelioma (EHE) is a vascular tumour with rare pleural presentation. As there are a small number of cases described in the literature the authors present the case of a 65-year-old woman, who was admitted to the Emergency Department for a right-sided chest pain, which progressed over 7 months, after a thoracic trauma. The chest X-ray showed signs of a moderate right-sided pleural effusion. A pleural-pulmonary biopsy carried out by toracotomy established the histological diagnosis of EHE of the pleura.Due to the locally advanced stage of the tumour, chemotherapy with carboplatin and etoposide was prescribed and the patient died 6 months later.This case confirms that pleural EHE has an aggressivebehaviour, similar to an angiossarcoma, with a median survival of only a few months after diagnosis.Rev Port Pneumol 2010; XVI (3): 477-48

Streptococcal tonsillitis as a cause of urticaria Tonsillitis and urticaria

BACKGROUND: The primary role of infections in chronic urticaria (CU) is controversial. We hypothesised that streptococcal tonsillitis (ST) could be a primary cause of CU or acute recurrent urticaria (ARU). METHODS: Retrospective study of 14 outpatients observed between January 2000 and December 2009, with CU/ARU and clinical and/or laboratorial suspicion of an aetiopathogenic link with ST. Clinical history, objective examination and laboratorial study were looked for. Three groups were defined: spontaneous resolution of urticaria, resolution after tonsillectomy, and still symptomatic. RESULTS: In these patients, a causal relationship between ST and urticaria is supported by: markers of streptococcal infection, the perception of a clinical relationship between tonsillitis and urticaria, the decrease of urticaria severity with early antibiotherapy to tonsillitis and urticaria resolution after tonsillectomy. CONCLUSIONS: Our study encourages the investigation of tonsillitis in these otherwise idiopathic patients, especially until young adulthood and even in the absence of any symptoms