Cutaneous melanoma in 1-year-old child: an insight on infantile melanoma.

In the past, malignant melanoma (MM) is a diagnosis of unheard in children, but nowadays MM is a very rare malignancy in children. Its diagnosis requires careful interpretation of the pathological diagnostic criteria with clinical correlation of the findings. In this study, the authors are presenting a pigmented lesion in a 12-month-old girl, which was present since her birth with increase in size and shape. The authors discussed the difficulty that confronted them in making a diagnosis of MM and the differential diagnosis.

Correlation between immunohistochemical staining and clinicopathological findings in endometrial carcinoma.

OBJECTIVES: To analyze the immunohistochemical staining pattern of mismatch repair (MMR) proteins and p53 in endometrial carcinoma cases, including different subtypes and stages, to gain insights into their role in the pathogenesis and clinical behaviour of this malignancy. METHODS: In this study, we investigate the association between MMR deficiency, p53 mutational status, and clinical outcomes in various subtypes of endometrial carcinoma. The immunohistochemical staining pattern of MMR proteins in 96 cases of endometrial carcinoma have been analyzed, including 72 endometrioid, 14 papillary serous, 5 clear cell, and 5 mixed Müllerian tumor. RESULTS: The results showed that 36 cases were MMR deficient, with the majority being of endometrioid subtype. The p53 immunostain showed a mutational pattern in a subset of cases, with a documented dismal prognosis. However, aforementioned stains failed to predict synchronous or metachronous cancers in 5 patients. CONCLUSION: These findings highlight the importance of MMR and p53 immunohistochemical staining in the classification, and prognosis of endometrial carcinoma.

Incidental Appendiceal Basidiobolomycosis in a Clinical Setting of Intestinal Intussusception in a Five-Year-Old Patient: A Case Report.

Gastrointestinal basidiobolomycosis (GIB) is a rare, critical fungal infection caused by Basidiobolus ranarum, an environmental saprophyte with a wide geographical distribution. It usually affects the immunocompetent host and presents with nonspecific clinical signs and symptoms, posing a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The coexistence of GIB and intussusception is rare, and it is far more unusual for appendiceal basidiobolomycosis and intussusception to coexist. Herein, we report a case of a five-year-old male who presented to the emergency department with a clinical and radiological picture of intestinal intussusception, for which he underwent laparoscopic exploration and reduction. The appendix was observed to be partially invaginated through the cecum and was difficult to be reduced. Subsequent histopathological examination of the laparoscopically resected appendix demonstrated fungal organisms morphologically consistent with basidiobolomycosis. The patient achieved full recovery with a combination of surgery and prolonged antifungal therapy.

Cervical cancer screening with pattern of pap smear. Review of multicenter studies.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the frequency of abnormal cervical smears and to compare the findings with earlier reported data from Saudi Arabia. METHODS: The study was divided into 2 parts. The prospective part was conducted at King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital and a private laboratory by using the Bethesda System criteria and diagnostic entities in evaluating all the pap smears that were received during the period of January 2000 to December 2004. All reliable published literature on pap smear performed at different hospitals from 1990-2004, from the Western and Abha regions of Saudi Arabia were retrospectively evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 5132 cases were evaluated in the prospective part of the study. The percentage of abnormal pap smears was 4.7%. The significant categories were atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance (2.4%), low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (0.6%), high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (0.4%) and atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (1.1%). The malignant categories were squamous cell carcinoma (0.08%), adenocarcinoma of cervix in situ (0.02%) and invasive (0.04%). Other malignancies were 0.04% and neuroendocrine carcinoma was 0.02%. In the second part of the study, the total number of cases reported in the literature were 45596. The percentage of abnormal pap smear was 1.4 %. The total cases evaluated in the current study and the previous published studies were 50,728 and the frequency of abnormal pap smear was 1.6%. CONCLUSION: The percentage of abnormal pap smear was higher in the prospective part of this study than the previously reported results. Unified national programs for diagnosing cervical precancerous lesions should be established covering different region of the Kingdom to evaluate the magnitude of the problem.

Breast cancer screening.

Breast cancer is a very common health problem in Saudi females that can be reduced by early detection through introducing breast cancer screening. Literature review reveals significant reduction in breast cancer incidence and outcome after the beginning of breast cancer screening. The objectives of this article are to highlight the significance of breast cancer screening in different international societies and to write the major guidelines of breast cancer screening in relation to other departments involved with more emphasis on the Pathology Department guidelines in tissue handling, diagnostic criteria and significance of the diagnosis. This article summaries and acknowledges major work carried out before, and recommends similar modified work in order to meet the requirement for the Saudi society.

Histopathological and immuno-histochemical characteristics of primary renal primitive neuroectodermal tumor.

We report a 32-year-old male who presented with huge (17 x 10.5 x 5 cm) right kidney with metastasis in the liver and retroperitoneal lymph nodes. Histological, detailed immunohistochemical studies and electron microscopic examinations were performed. Microscopy revealed small to intermediate sized cells with hyperchromatic nuclei, scanty cytoplasm, abundant mitosis with no pseudorossete formation. Immunohistochemical study revealed positive staining of the tumor cells for S100, neurofilaments, neuron specific enolase, vimentin and myoglobin. Primitive neuroectodermal tumors are rare malignant round cell tumors of the kidney. A correct diagnosis can be made on light microscopic features, and by immunohistochemically positive staining for more than one neural marker. This neoplasm should be differentiated from other renal neoplasms composed of small round cells.

Frequency of benign and preinvasive breast diseases.

OBJECTIVE: The importance of benign proliferative and non-invasive breast lesions as a risk factor preceding the development of invasive mammary carcinoma is well established in the literature. The objective of this study is to estimate the magnitude of benign proliferative diseases as well as mammary intra-epithelial neoplasia in the Western region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), in order to encourage nationwide breast cancer screening programs for early detection of the high risk proliferative and pre-invasive breast lesions. METHODS: We reviewed histopathology records (reports and slides of selected cases) of 2129 breast cases including mastectomies and breast biopsies from January 1985 to December 2002 in King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital and King Khalid National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, KSA. All the cases and diagnosis are listed and reclassified using systematized nomenclature of medicine (SNOMED) coding system and then regrouped based on the associated risk factors of developing breast carcinoma. RESULTS: Two thousand one hundred and twenty-nine reports were reviewed and 2343 diagnosis were identified as some cases had more than one diagnosis. The total of benign diagnosis were 1504 after exclusion of malignant diagnosis (558), normal breast tissue, gynecomastia, and non-mammary tissue (281). All diagnosis (1504) were reclassified based on anatomical prognostic indicators into non-proliferative (1283/1504), proliferative (140/1504), atypical hyperplasia (AH) (8/1504), and carcinoma in situ (CIS) (73/1504). We compare our findings with the literature and we found that the percentage of benign non-proliferative diagnosis was 85.3% that is higher than the literature 69.7%. Proliferative diseases were 9.3% and atypical hyperplasia was 0.5%, which was lower than the literature 26.2% and 3.6%. On the other hand, CIS diagnosis was 4.9%, which is much higher than the reported literature 1.7%. The study findings could be explained on the basis of higher prevalence of benign breast lesions in our population, or it is related to the number of cases studied, or to the diagnostic criteria followed initially. CONCLUSION: These findings should encourage us to refine our diagnostic criteria of proliferative diseases, AH and CIS (mammary intraepithelial neoplasia [MIN]). In addition, we strongly encourage a breast cancer screening program, nationwide.

Changing pattern of epithelial cell abnormalities using revised Bethesda system.

OBJECTIVES: In developing countries and worldwide cervical cancer is an important cause of female mortality. Reports describing the frequency and pattern of abnormal Pap smears in Saudi Arabia, using the revised Bethesda system (RBS) are very few. The current study was conducted to explore the changing pattern of epithelial cell abnormalities (ECA) detected in Pap smears (PS) in females of the Western region of Saudi Arabia at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah using the RBS. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was designed to review all the PSs from the archives of Cytopathology Department at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, starting from January 2000 to October 2012 using RBS. Cytological aspects of PSs were reviewed with age distribution. RESULTS: Of the 15805 PS, 84 (0.53%) unsatisfactory smears were excluded. There were 2295 cases (14.52%) with ECA. In the abnormal squamous cell category the distribution of lesions was as follows: Atypical squamous cells of indeterminate significance (ASC-US) were 7.1%; atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude high squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H) were 1.08%; low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) including human papillomavirus was 2.2%, high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) was 0.8% and high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion with suspicious invasion was 0.06% smears. The mean age (MA) incidence was 39,43,45,46 and 45 years respectively. CONCLUSION: The percentage of abnormal PS is increasing (14.52%) over the last decade. This increase is evident by different studies conducted across Saudi Arabia. Under present circumstances the need for mass screening.

Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast: an immunohistochemical study.

BACKGROUND: Metaplastic breast carcinoma is a rare entity of breast cancer expressing epithelial and/or mesenchymal tissue within the same tumor. The aim of this study is to evaluate the clinicopathological features of metaplastic breast carcinoma and to confirm the triple negative, basal-like and/or luminal phenotype of this type of tumor by using immunohistochemical staining. METHODS: Seven cases of MBC were evaluated for clinico-pathological features including follow up data. Cases were studied immunohistochemically by CK-Pan, Vimentin, ER, PR, HER2, basal markers (CK5/6, p63, EGFR, SMA and S-100), luminal cytokeratins (CK8, CK18 and CK19), markers for syncytial cells (ß-HCG and PLAP), as well as prognostic markers (p53, ki-67 and calretinin). RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 36 years. Three cases showed choriocarcinomatous features. All of our cases were negative for ER, PR and HER2. Six out of the 7 cases showed basal-like differentiation by demonstrating positivity with at least one of the basal/myoepithelial markers. Also 6 out of the 7 cases expressed luminal type cytokeratins (CK8, CK18 and/or CK19). P53 was positive in 3 cases, ki-67 was strongly expressed in only one case, while calretinin was expressed in 6 cases. CONCLUSION: Metaplastic breast carcinoma presents in our population at a younger age group than other international studies. All cases are categorized immunohistochemically under the triple negative group of breast cancer and 86% of them exhibited basal-like and luminal phenotype. Majority of cases developed local recurrence and distant metastasis in a relatively short period of time. VIRTUAL SLIDES: The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1101289295115804.

Pattern of cervical smear abnormalities using the revised Bethesda system in a tertiary care hospital in Western Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate Pap smear (PS) diagnoses at a tertiary care hospital using the revised Bethesda system, and to compare the results with other similar studies. METHODS: We designed a retrospective study to review all PS from the Cytopathology Department of King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from January 2005 to December 2009. RESULTS: Of the 7297 cases reviewed, 1254 cases (17.3%) had epithelial cell abnormalities. The categories included: atypical squamous cell of undetermined significance (ASC-US) found in 9.3%, atypical squamous cell, cannot exclude high squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H) in 0.8%, low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) in 2.7%, and high grade squamous cell lesion (HSIL) in 0.9%. The mean age incidence (MAI) was 40 years for ASC-US, 42 years for ASC-H, 47 years for LSIL, and 45 years for MAI. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was found in 0.06% with mean age incidence of 46 years. In the atypical glandular cell category, there was 3.2% atypical glandular cell of undetermined clinical significance not otherwise specified, 0.1% atypical glandular cells favoring neoplasm, and 0.08% atypical endometrial cells favoring neoplasm. CONCLUSION: The incidence of abnormal PS has increased from previously 4.7%, to 17.3% in the present study. The ASC-US among total PS examined has also significantly increased. The increase in the number of positive PS raises concerns of whether the new BS results are an artificial increase in the prevalence and the predictive value of cytology to some extent.