CASE 918: MADELUNG DISEASE in a Young Asian Woman, Dr PHAN THANH HẢI, Dr JASMINE THANH XUÂN, Dr VÕ NGUYỄN THÀNH NHÂN, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER and Dr NGUYỄN PHAN TÚ DUNG, VIETNAM.

A 24 year-old nurse with height 1600cm, weight 90kg is suffering from her big size of butt circumference # 136cm.

She would like to reduce her butt size by cosmetic management.

Ultrasound notes hypertrophy of fatty tissue which was hypoechoic homogeneous pattern without capsule of her butt, no tumor inside.

MSCT confirmed symmetric fatty tissue of the butt and nothing abnormal detected in the abdomen and bone or vessels.

Surgery with ultrasound knife removed the fatty tissue # 2.5kg each side.

Specimen were benign lipoma. 

Madelung disease, also known as Madelung-Launois-Bensaude syndrome or neck lipomatosis or multiple symmetric lipomatosis. That is a rare benign entity clinically characterized by the presence of multiple and symmetric, non-encapsulated masses of fatty tissue. The extra fatty tissues are usually involving the neck and the upper region of the trunk, mainly in the posterior aspect. Limb involvement is usually proximal and around the shoulder and hip girdles.

Madelung’s disease causes fatty tissue to grow on neck, upper back and shoulders. It can cause symptoms like difficulty swallowing, talking or moving the head.

Madelung’s disease is a rare condition where extra fatty tissue builds up in places it normally wouldn’t, like around the neck and shoulders. It causes painless, fatty masses that grow over time. If the lumps get too big, they can affect nearby body functions. 

Less commonly, fatty deposits appear on Abdomen, Chest, Hips, Thighs.

This fatty tissue is different than a fatty lump (lipoma) or typical body fat. It spreads and mixes under the skin — looking like jelly spread on a piece of bread. It also grows evenly. For example, it will be on both the left and right sides of the shoulders.

Risk factors

Alcohol use disorder is one of the biggest risk factors. Between 60% and 90% of people with this disease also have cirrhosis of the liver from heavy alcohol use.

Other risk factors include:

Being male and between the ages of 30 and 70

Having a biological family history of the disease

Having a metabolic disorder, like diabetes or hyperlipidemia

May classify the type of Madelung’s disease based on where the fat has built up:

Type 1 (classic type): This type is most common in men. Fat builds up in only the neck, shoulders and upper body. It can sometimes give someone athletic-looking appearance. It’s strongly associated with alcohol use disorder.

Type 2: This type is more common in women, but rarer overall. Fat builds up in the upper body, like Type 1. It also builds up in the abdomen, thighs and hips. It doesn’t have a strong connection to alcohol use disorder.

So our case may be classified in type 2 of Madelung disease based on: no alcohol intake,  symmetric lipomatosis  at the butt.

REFERENCES:

1/ https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/madelungs-diseases

2/

3/ Việt Đức Hospital: A 45 yo woman with a lipoma at her posterior neck and two fatty masses at her back. A published Madelung disease case of female patient.

4/ Some 24 other cases in drunken men in Vietnam from northern hospitals were published on Internet.

https://tapchiyhocvietnam.vn/index.php/vmj/article/view/7064

CASE 917: ABSCESSES post FILLING of BREAST AUGMENTATION for 24 years, Dr PHAN THANH HẢI, Dr JASMINE THANH XUÂN, Dr VÕ THỊ PHƯƠNG TRINH, Dr LÊ HỮU LINH, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER and Dr NGUYỄN PHAN TÚ DUNG, VIETNAM.

A 48 year-old with two huge breasts due to filling breast augmentation by artificial fat liquid for 24 year in oversea. She got painful breast for one month.

X-ray saw no breast abscess.

Ultrasound detected  intricate fluid into breasts which were not like abscess fluid.

Because MRI with breast coil could not fit with the huge breast, MSCT was done in note the  filling fluid was not silicone.

WBC: 16,3×10^9/L

Emergency surgery was done in the same day to remove the breast complex contents which were amount # 2.5 liters each breast.

In surgery, many granulomata inside the breast fields were many amorphous nodules into breast fluid on ultrasound. 

Specimen was the inflamed tissue with reaction  of foreign body phagocytosis of macrophages.

The female patient remains well and discharges after two days in hospital. 

Major medical regulators like the FDA strongly warn against using any liquid injectable fillers (including silicone, hydrogels, or facial dermal fillers) for breast augmentation due to severe safety risks:  

• Product Migration: Free liquid fillers can travel into other parts of the body, causing chronic pain, hard lumps (granulomas), and severe inflammation.  

• Vascular Occlusion: Injected fluid can enter blood vessels, leading to tissue death (necrosis) or life-threatening embolisms.  

• Mammogram Interference: Foreign liquid materials obscure breast tissue, making early detection of breast cancer extremely difficult.

• Removal Difficulty: Unlike solid breast implants, free fluid cannot simply be "taken out" if something goes wrong; it bonds with natural tissue and often requires destructive surgery to excise.

CASE 916: COMPLICATED DIVERTICULITIS, Dr PHAN THANH HẢI, Dr NGUYỄN QUANG HUẤN, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER, HCMC, VIETNAM.

 A 71 year-old diabetic man with lower abdominal pain for one week.

Ultrasound detected an # 46x57mm abscess close by the sigmoid colon and above the urinary bladder.

Lab data: HbA1c: 7.79 H, FBS: 5.49mmol/L , WBC: 9.03x10^9/L, CRP: 26.78g/L.

MSCT confirmed an abscess which connected with one of diverticula.

Abscess of a inflamed diverticule of colon is a rare entity. 

Complicated diverticulitis occurs when inflammation of small inflamed pouche (diverticulitis) of the colon leads to secondary structural issues—such as an abscess, perforation, fistula,  or stricture.

Key Ultrasound Findings in Diverticulitis

When assessing suspected diverticulitis, transabdominal ultrasound typically looks for:

• Colon Wall Thickening: Colonic wall thickness greater than 4 mm over a segment.
• Outpouchings: Outpouchings (diverticula) sticking out from the colon wall.
• Inflamed Fat: Non-compressible, bright (hyperechoic) fat surrounding the affected colon segment.
• Localized Tenderness: Direct tenderness when pressure is applied with the transducer over the affected colon segment.

CASE 915: LIVER CANCER post 10 year-treated -HCV- infection, Dr PHAN THANH HẢI, Dr PHAN HỮU BỘI HOÀN, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER, HCMC, VIETNAM

 A 70 year-old woman with history of 10 year-infected HCV. She underwent a treated HCV process  in three months and well remaining.

Ultrasound has been followed her liver at her local province. But in an ultrasound examination at Medic Center she was noted her METAVIR in F4 classified with micronodular pattern and a node of the right lobe and an one another in the left lobe.

  

Lab data showed AntiHCV positive, platelets low result  and GAAD score positive.

MRI confirmed a #19x18mm HCC of the right liver  on a liver of cirrhosis and a # 2, 3mm nodule in the left lobe.

The patient went through a RFA  (radio frequency ablation) for the liver tumor and chemotherapy in hospital. She was under a treated liver cancer management.

Liver cancer may appear whenever post antivirus 

management.

REFERENCE;

CASE 914: INVERTED PAPILLOMA: Dr PHAN THANH HẢI, Dr TRƯƠNG THỊ NGỌC TIẾN, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER, HCMC, VIETNAM.

 A  63 year-old woman with dizziness and headache in general check-up. She went up a right nephrectomy ten years ago. She denied hematuria and using any chemical agent or smoking.

Ultrasound detected a # 9x6mm small nodule at the  triangle of urinary bladder which was nearby the orifice of the left ureter.

Bladder endoscopy confirmed the bladder tumor on the left side.

 

Result of biopsy was an uroepithelial carcinoma.

MSCT noted the removed right kidney and a papilloma of the urinary bladder.

Endoscopic heated resection of the tumor and bladder irrigation were done for the female patient.

The last diagnosis was an inverted papilloma.

In this case the SWE ultrasound technique was not applied. SWE could predict the malignancy and tumor staging by evaluation the stiffness of the tumor and the invasion through the detrusor muscular layer of the bladder. But it is still rarely published paper on this topic nowadays.

CASE 913: INTRAHEPATIC CHOLANGIOCARCINOMA, Dr PHAN THANH HẢI , Dr HỒ TẤN ĐẠT, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER, HCMC, VIETNAM.

 A 71 year-old woman in check-up for 4 times.

Ultrasound in the first time was not interesting.

In the second time ultrasound noted  a cyst in the left lobe of the liver.

  

MSCT resulted some hepatic cysts.

Ultrasound in the third time detected a right lobe mass maybe a liver tumor and a left lobe cyst.

But MSCT replayed a hepatic hemangioma.

In the fourth time ultrasound thought about a # 44x30mm liver tumor including HCC.

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But the result of lab data with WAKO test was negative intead of the marker AntiHBc positive.

On hepatic MRI the result was  a #55x40 mm bile duct cancer of the right lobe of liver.

Surgery removed the right lobe liver tumor and the last diagnosis was a an  CCA, intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

After 5 months post op, CCA speaded as multifocal in the liver and a chemotherapy management was done.

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is challenging to diagnose early due to its ambiguous clinical presentation and highly aggressive nature. Consequently, if a suspected liver hemangioma exhibits rapid growth, an MRI should be performed to confirm the diagnosis.

CASE 912: SUBMUCOSAL GASTRIC PSEUDOTUMOR, Dr PHAN THANH HAI, Dr TRAN LAM, MEDIC MEDICAL CENTER, HCMC, VIETNAM.

 A 84 year-old woman with diarrhea and tormina (colicky pain).

Ultrasound noted only gallblader stone anf fatty liver.

Gastroendoscopy detected a gastric submucosal tumor.

Medical management stopped diarrhea but was failed to reduce the tormina.

MSCT detected a fishbone in the gastroduodenal wall.

Gastroscopy in second time detected the foreign body in the  gastric wall maybe fishbone.

Endoscopic surgery and open surgery removed the fishbone from the stomach.

Intramuscular fishbone is rarely entity that ultrasound and endoscopy could not detect.