Cause of Chest Pain in a Patient with Previous Myocardial Infarction: Look Outside the Heart for Extracardiac Mass

We report a case of thymic carcinoma that was initially detected by echocardiography in an 80-year-old male who visited the emergency room for chest pain and had a history of myocardial infarction and percutaneous coronary intervention. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a huge extracardiac mass that was located in the anterior mediastinum and was diagnosed as a thymic carcinoma by biopsy

Supplementary Material for: Early Detection of Desiccation and Curettage Failure in the Treatment of Basal Cell Carcinoma

<p><b><i>Background/Aims:</i></b> Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a malignant neoplasm of keratinocytes. Electrodessication and curettage (ED&C) published cure rates vary widely, and the authors of this study are unaware of any previous literature which has attempted to rapidly identify treatment failures. <b><i>Objective:</i></b> To identify BCC ED&C failures by histologically analyzing the fragments produced by the third round of curettage. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> The monitoring of routine therapy of 862 cases of BCC that were treated by ED&C followed by the submission of cautery fragments of the third round of curettage for histological and immunohistochemical testing. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Of the 862 cases, 764 (89%) had no residual BCC seen in their curetting. Of these patients, zero recurrences (0%) were noted. Forty-eight of the 862 cases had residual BCC seen in their curetting and elected to receive no additional therapy. Eighteen (38%) had a recurrence detected. Fifty of the 862 cases had residual BCC seen in their curetting and elected for immediate re-excision. Thirty-five (70%) had histological evidence of residual BCC. <b><i>Limitations:</i></b> The study was performed at a single center with 2 years of follow-up. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Pathological examination of curettage fragments in combination with immunohistochemistry testing appears to be beneficial in predicting which patients are likely to have recurrence of BCC after ED&C.</p