Sentinel lymph node biopsy with intraoperative touch imprint cytology (TIC) in breast cancer: experience of a mild-volume center.

Although considered the gold standard in treatment of EBC, sentinel node biopsy still remains a debated issue. What to do in case of positive sentinel node and the need of intraoperative histological examination are the most topics under discussion. In this study we have retrospectively evaluate our case series of 359 sentinel node biopsy in the managing of breast cancer from January 2011 to December 2018, focusing on the TIC technique for performing intraoperative examination. It results in 12,8% "FALSE NEGATIVE" rate, in which only 4,2% in macrometastases, with an overall sensitivity of 68,4% (macrometastases: 86%; micrometastases: 11%), overall specificity of 98,7% and an overall accuracy of 89,7%. The intraoperative examination of SLN allows to reduce delayed surgery procedures and greater therapeutic safety in case of mastectomy. The TIC method can be considered valid, simple and rapid in identifying macrometastases, also allowing to avoid under-staging. The low sensitivity for micrometastases is not a limit, considering that recent evidence has drastically reduced the indications for ALND in these cases. Further ongoing trials and the possible validation of NOMOGRAMMS and SCORE are necessary to identify low risk cases in which to definitively omit the ALND and/or even the SLNB itself.

Epithelioid angiosarcoma arising in schwannoma of the kidney: report of the first case and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Schwannoma and angiosarcoma are infrequent pathologies that have been rarely reported in the kidney. Angiosarcoma is an uncommon malignant tumor presenting a recognizable vascular differentiation. It can develop in any site but the most common locations include the skin, soft tissues, breast, bone, liver, and spleen while renal localization has been very rarely reported in the literature. Schwannoma is a benign peripheral nerve sheath tumor composed of cells with the immunophenotype and ultrastructural features of differentiated Schwann cells. It has a wide anatomical distribution but the most frequent locations include subcutaneous tissues of the extremities and the head and neck region and the retroperitoneal and mediastinal soft tissues. The occurrence of an angiosarcoma in a pre-existing schwannoma is an extremely rare event with <20 cases reported in worldwide literature. In the present study, a renal case of angiosarcoma arising in schwannoma is presented with a detailed review of the pertinent literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A 56-year-old man was admitted with a few days history of lower back pain and hematuria. Abdominal ultrasound showed a mass inside the left renal medulla. Subsequent imaging investigations with computed tomography and magnetic resonance confirmed the presence of the lesion and showed a pulmonary metastasis. CONCLUSIONS: The final histopathological examination led to the diagnosis of epithelioid angiosarcoma arising in a schwannoma. The patient came to death a few months later due to a massive hemothorax. To the best of our knowledge, the present is the first case of an angiosarcoma arising in a schwannoma of the kidney.

Multiple cementoblastoma: a rare case report.

Benign cementoblastoma is a rare ectomesenchymal odontogenic tumor that originates from the root of the tooth and that is characterized by the formation of cementum-like tissue. A 60-year old man was referred to us complaining of pain in his right jaw. The patient underwent TC dental scan of the mandible, which highlighted the presence of three well-circumscribed, round, unilocular neoformations of radiopaque appearance with a radiotransparent edge, one of which was in close contact with the roots of the lower right second molar. Microscopic examination of the greater sample consisted, in its central portion, of dense mineralized acellular trabeculae of basophilic tissue cement-like, devoid of vessels, adhering to the root of the tooth, while peripherally was observed a zone of vascularized osteoid surrounded, occasionally, by a thin rim of cementoblasts mixed with fibrous tissue and inflammatory elements. This lesion was diagnosed as cementoblastoma. The second lesion appeared radiologically and histologically entirely identical to cementoblastoma, but it did not show the intimate association with the root of involved tooth. After a careful review of the literature, the diagnosis of residual cementoblastoma was made. The clinicopathologic features, treatment, and prognosis of this rare tumor are here discussed for the young dental practitioner.

Extraskeletal osteosarcoma: a very rare case report of primary tumor of the colon-rectum and review of the literature.

Extraskeletal osteosarcoma (ESOS) is a malignant mesenchymal tumor in which neoplastic cells produce bone osteoid in variable amounts. An 81-year-old woman presented with severe abdominal pain, tenesmus, constipation and rectal bleeding. The digital rectal exploration showed a large lesion of hard consistency, occupying the lumen, with the presence of splinters that "pierced" the endoscopist's glove. Endoscopic examination and CTscan revealed an ulcerative exophytic neoplasia of the lower rectum in which multiple calcified areas were found. The lesion showed no bone involvement. An abdominal perineal resection sec Miles was performed. The histological examination revealed a highly cellular mesenchymal lesion, with spindle and epithelioid cells with moderate nuclear pleomorphism. The calcified component consisted of widespread osteoid deposition. The immunohistochemical investigations of neoplastic cells showed strong positivity for vimentin and osteonectin. The definitive histological diagnosis of primary extraskeletal osteosarcoma arising from the colon-rectum was made. To our knowledge, only one previous case of colonic osteosarcoma was published in the literature in 2001, reported by Shimazu and other authors. The extreme rarity of the tumor at this location, also confirmed by morphological and immunohistochemical data, prompted us to present this case report and to review the literature.

Verrucous carcinoma of the foot with bone invasion: a case report.

Verrucous carcinoma of the foot often affects deep structures such as tendons, muscles, or bones. A 74-year-old man presented with a foot lesion that had been diagnosed as a skin infection 7 years earlier. He was treated with multiple excisions and superficial biopsies associated with antibiotic therapy without success. In our department he underwent an aggressive and accurate debridement with marginal excision harvesting multiple biopsies. Pathological evaluation of tissue at the time of operation confirmed the diagnosis of verrucous carcinoma of the foot. Therefore, the patient underwent an amputation below knee, and there were no postoperative complications; the patient was able to walk with the aid of a prosthesis with no signs of recurrence. The lesion follows a chronic course evolving from a discrete focal lesion to a large fungating deeply penetrating mass often compromised by local infection. The slow growth and confusing early-stage appearances can lead to delays in diagnosis of 8 to 15 years causing the extracutaneous involvement that requires a leg amputation. Many patients are initially treated with many topical medications without success, and most tumors have been treated as recalcitrant warts or corns for some time, whereas the basic approach is surgical.

Fibrous Variant of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis as a Diagnostic Pitfall in Thyroid Pathology.

Fibrous variant of Hashimoto's thyroiditis is a rare condition occurring in about 10% cases, mainly middle age people. It is characterized by an extensive fibrous proliferation without extension into the surrounding structures. A 55-year-old female was referred to our department for an unexplained onset of cervical discomfort. She presented a voluminous goiter of hard consistence, dyspnea and dysphagia. Given the compressive symptoms and the non-diagnostic result of the biopsy, a total thyroidectomy was performed. Microscopically the thyroid parenchyma was characterized by broad bands of fibrosis with severe atrophy of thyroid follicles and lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate distributed within and around the lobules. In view of the morphological and immunohistochemical findings, a diagnosis of HTFV was made. The fibrosclerotic process is the key feature of several thyroid diseases so that the clinician and the pathologist have to consider that many diagnostic pitfalls can occur in this field. The differential diagnosis between HTFV and RD is sometimes arduous due to the partial clinical and morphological overlapping and to the poor efficacy of conventional cytology as well as pre-surgical biopsy. Considering these features, histological examination is mostly mandatory.

Concomitant occurrence of a primary renal NHL and of a papillary urothelial ureter cancer.

In this manuscript for the first time we describe the concomitant diagnosis of primary renal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (PRL) and of a papillary urothelial cancer in a patient with megaloblastic anemia. PRL is a rare disease, since the kidney is one of the extranodal organs usually not containing lymphoid tissue. The disease usually affects adults with an average age of 60 years and slight male preponderance. Flank pain is the most common presenting symptom and different histologies have been reported. A review of literature indicated that simultaneous diagnosis of PRL and papillary urothelial carcinoma of the urether, makes our case unique. The early diagnosis of both diseases allowed the eradication of the two neoplasms by nephro-ureterecthomy and by performing subsequent systemic chemotherapy.

Blood and plasma viscosity after acipimox treatment in hypertriglyceridemic patients.

Acipimox, a nicotinic acid analog, is known to reduce the plasma lipid concentration in hyperlipidemic patients. In a study to check whether the drug improved hemo-rheological parameters, 21 patients (17 M, 4 F) with asymptomatic hypertriglyceridemia were treated with acipimox (250 b.i.d.) for 30 days. Plasma lipid concentrations were measured before and after therapy, together with blood and plasma viscosity. Mean plasma cholesterol and triglyceride levels decreased from 234 +/- 51 (SD) mg/dl to 202 +/- 53 mg/dl (p less than 0.01) and from 515 +/- 231 mg/dl to 298 +/- 130 mg/dl (p less than 0.01) respectively. Blood viscosity decreased (p less than 0.05 and less than 0.01) (range of reduction 6-20%) at all shear rates examined (from 2.25 s-1 to 450 s-1); plasma viscosity was significantly reduced only at lower shear rates (2.25 and 4.50 s-1). Changes in blood and plasma viscosity after acipimox treatment were not related to changes in plasma triglycerides. Acipimox seems to act beneficially on hemo-rheological parameters, independently of its hypolipidemic effect and could be usefully prescribed to patients with clinical signs of arteriosclerosis.