Higher accuracy of surgical over core needle biopsy for the diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders.

INTRODUCTION: The diagnosis of lymphoproliferative disorders (LPDs) is based on histological evaluation of representative tissue samples. Despite surgical excision biopsies (SEBs) are reference procedures for such diagnoses, lymph node core needle biopsies (LNCBs) are increasingly performed. The diagnostic yield of LNCB is, however, debated and few studies have compared the reproducibility of LNCB and SEB findings. METHODS: To address the diagnostic value of LNCB and SEB, the present study considered a retrospective series of 43 paired LNCB/SEB samples. After histological revision, concordance rates between matched LNCB/SEB samples were evaluated, assuming SEB as gold standard procedure. The actionability of LNCB and SEB-based diagnoses (i.e., relevance for planning further medical interventions) was also assessed. RESULTS: Overall, LNCB provided actionable diagnoses in 39/43 (90.7%) cases, but a consistent subset of them (7/39 [17.9%]) turned out to be wrong at SEB. The cumulative diagnostic inaccuracy of LNCB (i.e., inadequate samples plus wrong diagnoses) was 25.6% and the mean diagnostic delay in such cases was 54.2 days. CONCLUSIONS: Although limited by selection biases due to its retrospective nature, this study highlights the intrinsic limitations of LNCB for the diagnosis of LPDs. SEB remains the gold standard procedure and should be performed in all suitable cases.

Biliary Atresia in an Infant Presenting With Kabuki Syndrome: An Autopsy Report and Review of the Literature.

Biliary atresia (BA) is an inflammatory obliterative cholangiopathy which is very common during neonatal and infancy period. We present an autopsy report of a BA in an infant suffering from a genetic syndrome.

HER2-low-positive breast cancer: evolution from primary tumor to residual disease after neoadjuvant treatment.

Approximately a half of breast tumors classified as HER2-negative exhibit HER2-low-positive expression. We recently described a high instability of HER2-low-positive expression from primary breast cancer (BC) to relapse. Previous studies reporting discordance in HER2 status between baseline biopsy and residual disease (RD) in patients undergoing neoadjuvant treatment did not include the HER2-low-positive category. The aim of this study is to track the evolution of HER2-low-positive expression from primary BC to RD after neoadjuvant treatment. Patients undergoing neoadjuvant treatment with available baseline tumor tissue and matched samples of RD (in case of no pCR) were included. HER2-negative cases were sub-classified as HER2-0 or HER2-low-positive (IHC 1+ or 2+ and ISH negative). Four-hundred forty-six patients were included. Primary BC phenotype was: HR-positive/HER2-negative 23.5%, triple-negative (TN) 35%, HER2-positive 41.5%. HER2-low-positive cases were 55.6% of the HER2-negative cohort and were significantly enriched in the HR-positive/HER2-negative vs. TN subgroup (68.6% vs. 46.8%, p = 0.001 χ2 test). In all, 35.3% of non-pCR patients (n = 291) had a HER2-low-positive expression on RD. The overall rate of HER2 expression discordance was 26.4%, mostly driven by HER2-negative cases converting either from (14.8%) or to (8.9%) HER2-low-positive phenotype. Among HR-positive/HER2-negative patients with HER2-low-positive expression on RD, 32.0% and 57.1% had an estimated high risk of relapse according to the residual proliferative cancer burden and CPS-EG score, respectively. In conclusion, HER2-low-positive expression showed high instability from primary BC to RD after neoadjuvant treatment. HER2-low-positive expression on RD may guide personalized adjuvant treatment for high-risk patients in the context of clinical trials with novel anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugates.

Congenital anomalies of the tubular gastrointestinal tract.

Congenital anomalies of the tubular gastrointestinal tract are an important cause of morbidity not only in infants, but also in children and adults.The gastrointestinal (GI) tract, composed of all three primitive germ layers, develops early during embryogenesis. Two major steps in its development are the formation of the gut tube (giving rise to the foregut, the midgut and the hindgut), and the formation of individual organs with specialized cell types.Formation of an intact and functioning GI tract is under strict control from various molecular pathways. Disruption of any of these crucial mechanisms involved in the cell-fate decision along the dorsoventral, anteroposterior, left-right and radial axes, can lead to numerous congenital anomalies, most of which occur and present in infancy. However, they may run undetected during childhood.Therapy is surgical, which in some cases must be performed urgently, and prognosis depends on early diagnosis and suitable treatment.A precise pathologic macroscopic or microscopic diagnosis is important, not only for the immediate treatment and management of affected individuals, but also for future counselling of the affected individual and their family. This is even more true in cases of multiple anomalies or syndromic patterns.We discuss some of the more frequent or clinically important congenital anomalies of the tubular GI, including atresia's, duplications, intestinal malrotation, Meckel's diverticulum and Hirschsprung's Disease.

Incidental lymphomas in surgical pathology: diagnostic clues and clinical-pathological correlations.

Incidental lymphomas (ILs) are rare and challenging lesions with poorly characterized clinical-epidemiological and histological features. The present study addressed the open issues concerning these tumors, by assessing the clinical-pathological features of 28 consecutive ILs, diagnosed over a 10-year period at a tertiary center for surgical pathology. ILs were more frequently documented in elderly males (mean age at surgery 70.8 years; M/F ratio 3.3), with sharp prevalence of gastrointestinal and urinary tract involvement (22/28 [78.6%] cases). Low-grade B-cell lymphomas outnumbered all other entities, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) was the most common subtype (18/28 [64.3%] cases). Compared to other ILs, CLL/SLL occurred at older age and was the sole lymphoid neoplasm affecting the urinary tract. In conclusion, ILs are rare lesions, mostly affecting the gastrointestinal and urinary tract of elderly males. The diagnosis of IL is based on a high degree of suspicion and on careful morphological/phenotypic characterization.

Beware of Histiocytes: Whipple Adenopathy and its Mimics.

Histiocytic proliferations are heterogeneous lesions with distinct pathogenic and clinical-pathological features. While many of these conditions are nonspecific immune responses to variable causes, a minority of them is associated with specific etiological factors and unique clinical-pathological pictures. By presenting a rare case of Whipple adenopathy, we address the peculiar histological features of this condition and the differential diagnosis of nodal histiocytosis in general.

An Overview of Intracranial Ependymomas in Adults.

Ependymomas are rare primary central nervous system tumors. They can form anywhere along the neuraxis, but in adults, these tumors predominantly occur in the spine and less frequently intracranially. Ependymal tumors represent a heterogenous group of gliomas, and the WHO 2016 classification is based essentially on a grading system, with ependymomas classified as grade I, II (classic), or III (anaplastic). In adults, surgery is the primary initial treatment, while radiotherapy is employed as an adjuvant treatment in some cases of grade II and in all cases of anaplastic ependymoma; chemotherapy is reserved for recurrent cases. In recent years, important and interesting advances in the molecular characterization of ependymomas have been made, allowing for the identification of nine molecular subgroups of ependymal tumors and moving toward subgroup-specific patients with improved risk stratification for treatment-decisions and future prospective trials. New targeted agents or immunotherapies for ependymoma patients are being explored for recurrent disease. This review summarizes recent molecular advances in the diagnosis and treatment of intracranial ependymomas including surgery, radiation therapy and systemic therapies.

Evolution of HER2-low expression from primary to recurrent breast cancer.

About a half of HER2-negative breast cancer (BC) show HER2-low expression that can be targeted by new antibody-drug conjugates. The main aim of this study is to describe the evolution of HER2 expression from primary BC to relapse by including HER2-low category in both primary and recurrent BC samples. Patients with matched primary and relapse BC samples were included. HER2 was evaluated according to ASCO/CAP recommendations in place at the time of diagnosis. A cutoff of >10% cells staining for HER2-positivity was applied. HER2-negative cases were sub-classified as HER2-low (IHC = 1 + /2+ and ISH not amplified), or HER2-0 (IHC-0). 547 patients were included. The proportion of HER2-low cases was 34.2% on the primary tumor and 37.3% on the relapse samples. Among HER2-negative cases, HER2-low status was more frequent in HR-positive vs triple-negative tumors (47.3% vs 35.4% on primary tumor samples, 53.8% vs 36.2% on relapse samples). The overall rate of HER2 discordance was 38.0%, mostly represented by HER2-0 switching to HER2-low (15%) and HER2-low switching to HER2-0 (14%). Among patients with a primary HER2-negative tumor, the rate of HER2 discordance was higher in HR-positive/HER2-negative vs triple-negative cases (45.5% vs 36.7% p = 0.170). This difference was mostly driven by cases switching from HER2-0 to HER2-low. HER2-low expression is highly unstable during disease evolution. Relapse biopsy in case of a primary HER2-0 tumor may open new therapeutic opportunities in a relevant proportion of patients.

Bifid cardiac apex and high take off: an unusual association in a case of sudden death.

Bifid cardiac apex is a very rare finding in human and its presence is generally associated with other heart defects. We present the case of an 11-year old boy, with a positive family history for sudden cardiac death, who died while he was playing with his friends. An autopsy was performed, and on gross examination, bifid cardiac apex and high take off of right coronary artery were found. Furthermore, on histological examination, signs of myo-pericarditis were observed. This is, at our knowledge, the first case in literature in which bifid cardiac apex is associated with a high take off of right coronary artery.