Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to V Geyer.
We present a rare case of cystitis emphysematosa in an 85-year-old female patient in whom the typical risk factors were present: diabetes of long standing, neurogenic bladder and urinary infection with E.coli. Thanks to early diagnosis by cystoscopy and abdominal CT, after antibiotic treatment, appropriate insulin therapy and continuous bladder drainage the course was uneventful. The patient was fit to leave hospital after 14 days.
There is evidence from both human and animal research that 5-hydroxytryptamine3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonists, particularly tropisetron, exert analgesic and antiinflammatory effects. However, the underlying mechanisms of these effects including the expression of 5-HT3 receptors in cells of the immune system have not yet been investigated in detail. Therefore, we investigated the expression of the 5-HT3A receptor in primary human monocytes, chondrocytes, T-cells, dendritic cells, and synovial tissue. We found that 5-HT3A receptors are expressed in monocytes, chondrocytes, T-cells, and synovial tissue but not in dendritic cells. Our data show that 5-HT3A receptors are widely expressed in cells of the immune system and that they might play an important role in inflammatory events and in the observed antiphlogistic effects of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists.
A female patient is presented who had a large carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder that became clinically manifest only 2 months before treatment. The initial treatment by transurethral resection was followed by radical cystectomy; 7 months postoperatively the patient died of local tumour recurrence with widespread metastases. Carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder is a rare tumour with a poor prognosis. The majority of such tumours are not diagnosed until tumour growth is already far advanced. Owing to the small number of cases there is no clinically proven form of management. In contrast with superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, superficial carcinosarcoma of the bladder has always invaded the lamina propria, since in addition to the carcinomatous degeneration of the mucosa, sarcomatous degeneration of the underlying submucosal stroma is also present. Any local surgical treatment, such as TUR or partial cystectomy, involves the risk of incomplete tumor removal, because the sarcomatous elements typically invade the submucosa while the overlying mucosa remains intact. Therefore, radical cystectomy appears to be the treatment of choice for both superficial and invasive carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder.