Breast Carcinoma vs. Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma
Some authors have estimated that 4-9% of patients with breast carcinoma will eventually develop second pulmonary carcinomas. As a result, many pathologists have been faced with the problem of trying to determine whether a particular lung carcinoma represents metastatic breast carcinoma or a new primary pulmonary adenocarcinoma. This month, we will briefly review antibodies that may be useful in addressing this differential diagnostic problem.GCDFP-15(gross cystic disease fluid protein-15): This marker has good specificity for breast carcinoma, although its sensitivity is not high, as only about 50% of breast carcinomas exp...
Source: Oncopathology - December 30, 2010 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Breast Carcinoma vs. Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma Source Type: blogs

Breast Core needle biopsy procedure
Patients undergo breast core biopsy generally due to one of the 3 main reasons:1) Presence of a mass or mass-like lesion either clinically palpable or diagnosed on imaging.2) Presence of suspicious calcifications on screening mammography.3) Nipple discharge or skin/nipple changes.Advantages of breast core needle biospy over Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) are as follows:•Most cases can be definitely categorised•Provides architectural information•Microcalcifications can be directly visualisedThe biopsy techniques and imaging modalities used by radiologists vary and is generally dependent on the type of lesion, ...
Source: Oncopathology - September 29, 2010 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Breast Biopsy Procedure Source Type: blogs

Microcystic adenocarcinoma of the prostate-pseudobenign carcinoma
Reference :Microcystic Adenocarcinoma of the Prostate: A Variant of Pseudohyperplastic and Atrophic Patterns : Yaskiv, Oksana et al.The American Journal of Surgical Pathology: April 2010 - Volume 34 - Issue 4 - pp 556-561Do you see anything in this prostate that's worrisome for malignancy?dilated glands admixed with small acini in a noduleI don't, at least not at this power, and yet this is an example of"microcystic" adenocarcinoma of the prostate. Higher power will show clear-cut cytologic features of malignancy.If this doesn't concern you about the risk of scanning prostate slides at 4x, it should!Microcystic adenocarcin...
Source: Oncopathology - April 13, 2010 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Microcystic adenocarcinoma of the prostate-pseudobenign carcinoma Source Type: blogs

High Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN)
:Common questions asked about HGPIN are :-How do we as pathologists make these diagnoses?-What do they mean for the patient in terms of cancer risk?-What is/are the optimal strategies for follow-up so that if cancer does eventually develop it is caught at an early, curable stage?Pathology criteria for diagnosis of HGPIN:-Architecturally benign acini/ducts lined by atypical cells.-These cells show large nuclei and prominent nucleoli (cytologic features of carcinoma).-Generally at least 10% of the luminal cells should show these features to make the diagnosis. Diagnosis of HGPIN has been shown to be reproducible. Low grade p...
Source: Oncopathology - March 2, 2010 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: High Grade Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia (HGPIN) Source Type: blogs

Desmoplastic melanoma, a common missed diagnosis.
Introduction:Although desmoplastic melanoma represents less than 2 percent of all melanomas, it's frequently misdiagnosed, due to a lack of distinctive clinical presentation features. Histologic diagnosis is rarely straightforward either.Patients are often middle age-to-elderly and present with the tumor most often on the head and neck region. The lesion may resemble a scar as it is often a hard nodule or plaque.Pigmentation is variable but often absent. The tumor has ill-defined margins and is very infiltrative, making local control difficult. Sentinel lymph node excision is routinely performed but rarely positive.Histolo...
Source: Oncopathology - November 7, 2009 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: a common misdiagnosis. Desmoplastic melanoma Source Type: blogs

Dysplasia in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
As we all know, chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) presents a risk for dysplasia and subsequent malignancy in patients with long standing disease.The risk for adenocarcinoma increases with a number of factors includingthe linear extent of disease within the bowel,early age at onset of disease,severity of disease and duration of disease.The pathologic reporting of endoscopic biopsy specimens with inflammatory bowel disease must convey the information the clinician needs in a clear and consistent manner in order to properly manage the patient's disease.Every biopsy report should, of course, give an assessment of the di...
Source: Oncopathology - September 24, 2009 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Dysplasia in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Source Type: blogs

Work up of Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP)
It is often important to determine the site of origin of a metastatic carcinoma of unknown primary site, particularly because this may affect the choice of the treatment. Determination of the primary site may take several steps.Clinical features, such as age, sex, and site of metastases may give a first indication.A detailed pathologic examination of the most accessible biopsied tissue specimen is mandatory in CUP cases. Pathologic evaluation typically consists of hematoxylin-and-eosin stains and immunohistochemical tests.Electron microscopy is rarely used currently, although it may beselectively useful when making treatme...
Source: Oncopathology - May 4, 2009 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Work up of Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP) Source Type: blogs

Molecular Cancer Pathology Update
Genetic variant may eventually enable clinicians to differentiate between aggressive, indolent prostate tumors.Medscape reported, "One of the biggest issues in prostate cancer is differentiating between men who have aggressive tumors that could be fatal and men who have indolent tumors that might never become clinically significant."But, findings from a University of California-San Francisco study may ease some of that difficulty. The team identified a genetic variant, which "is located on the KIAA1217 gene," saying that "it shows a person's predisposition to aggressive prostate cancer." The hope is that it will, will enab...
Source: Oncopathology - April 23, 2009 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Molecular Cancer Pathology Update Source Type: blogs