Sunday, January 27, 2013

Answer to Case 243

Answer:  Echinococcal cysts of E. granulosus

As several viewers pointed out, daughter cysts of E. granulosus can be surgically removed and submitted intact to the laboratory, whereas the those of E. multilocularis cannot. This is because the cysts of the latter are not contained within a larger "mother" cyst like E. granulosus, but instead grow in an infiltrative pattern (much like a malignancy) and the individual daughter cysts are connected to one another by surrounding cellular stroma.  Examples of E. granulosus and E. multilocularis infection in histologic sections can be seen in Case 71

And now, a poem to go with this case from the talented Blaine Mathison:

There was a young man from the Caucasus

who one night did create such a ruckus
He was in such horrible pain
that his liver they did drain
and found the canine cestode Echinococcus

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