Toward realization of remote controlled telecytopathology-a validation study from a large academic medical center from the southeast United States.

INTRODUCTION: With increase in the number and types of biopsies requiring rapid on-site evaluation for adequacy, telecytopathology is one of the solutions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using a microscope camera with MS Surface Pro, a live telecytopathology audio video feed for the adequacy of 55 study set validation cases was sent over Zoom from the satellite hospital over 10 miles away with cytopathologists at the main hospital. The study set cases included Diff-Quik-stained smears and core imprints. RESULTS: The overall percent of positive agreement (accuracy) for adequacy during rapid on-site evaluation via telecytopathology was 96%. Core imprint percentage for positive agreement was slightly higher (96.2%), than fine-needle aspiration smears (95.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Use of telecytopathology is the best solution for optimizing the cytopathologist's time for evaluating biopsy adequacy from distant sites.

Anomalous origin of left coronary arteries from the pulmonary artery in an asymptomatic adult: An autopsy case report.

RATIONALE: Anomalous Origin of Left Coronary Arteries from the Pulmonary Artery (ALCAPA), also known as Bland-White-Garland (BWG), is a rare form of coronary artery anomaly that is usually discovered in the first few months of life. Only rarely can patients with this anomaly reach adulthood without symptoms. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 28-year-old female was witnessed suddenly collapse with a seizure-like episode by her colleagues at work. DIAGNOSIS AND INTERVENTION: Routine cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed by emergency medical service technologists. The patient was unable to be revived. Postmortem examination revealed the patient had ALCAPA with a focal chronic ischemic injury of the left ventricle. Moreover, a high take-off of the right coronary artery was also discovered. OUTCOMES: The patient passed away due to ALCAPA. The mechanism of death was cardiac arrhythmia being triggered by myocardial ischemic changes. LESSONS: In the rare cases where ALCAPA manifests in an asymptomatic adult, the mortality rate is very high. This case demonstrates the importance of awareness of such patients living under the tremendous risk of sudden cardiac death.

Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyl Transferase Is Increased in Osteosarcomas and Chondrosarcomas Compared to Benign Bone and Cartilage.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Primary bone neoplasms include osteosarcomas (OS), chondrosarcomas (CS), and giant cell tumors (GCT). Nicotinamide phosphoribosyl transferase (NAMPT) catalyzes the rate-limiting step of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide synthesis and is increased in multiple tumor types. In malignancies, NAMPT expression often correlates positively with tumor grade, chemotherapy resistance, and metastatic potential. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tissue microarray was used to examine NAMPT expression in benign bone and cartilage, GCTs, OS, and different CS grades. RESULTS: For the first time, we showed that NAMPT expression was increased in GCTs and OS compared to benign bone, and in CS compared to benign cartilage. Its expression also increased with higher CS grade. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that NAMPT plays a role in bone sarcomas and GCTs, and its higher expression may contribute to increased tumor aggressiveness.

Plasmablastic Lymphoma, a Rare Entity in Bone Marrow with Unusual Immunophenotype and Challenging Differential Diagnosis.

Plasmablastic lymphoma (PBL) is an aggressive malignancy that usually occurs in the setting of immunosuppression. The immunohistochemical profile of PBL is that of terminally differentiated B lymphocytes. CD138, CD38, and MUM1 are usually immunopositive. However, pan B-cell markers such as CD20 and PAX-5 are usually negative. MYC rearrangement is the most commonly encountered genetic alteration, with immunoglobulin (IG), especially immunoglobulin heavy (IGH) chain, being the most frequent partner. We report a case of PBL in a 48-year-old human immunodeficiency virus- (HIV-) positive male who was admitted to the hospital with signs and symptoms suspicious for tumor lysis syndrome. Bone marrow examination revealed hypercellular marrow with trilineage hypoplasia and sheets of intermediate to large neoplastic cells with basophilic vacuolated cytoplasm comprising the majority of cellular elements of the bone marrow. The neoplastic cells were negative for conventional B-cell, T-cell, plasma cell, and myeloid markers, while flow cytometric analysis revealed an abnormal CD45-dim population that was partially weakly positive for CD71 and CD79b. The diagnosis was initially thought to be a high-grade primitive hematopoietic neoplasm, possibly an acute undifferentiated leukemia. BOB-1, however, was immunopositive in the neoplastic cells, confirming its B-cell origin. MYC was positive by immunohistochemistry and break-apart FISH, as were CD45, MUM-1, and EMA immunostains. There was immunoglobulin kappa (IGK) light chain gene rearrangement by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Additionally, Epstein-Barr virus- (EBV-) encoded small RNAs (EBER) were positive by in situ hybridization (ISH). The tumor proliferation index by Ki-67 immunostaining approached 95%. Although the tumor cells were negative for CD38 and CD138, the diagnosis of PBL was still rendered. We recommend using a broad spectrum of B-cell markers, including BOB-1 and OCT-2, in such challenging cases of B-cell lymphomas with no expression of conventional B-cell markers. We also emphasize that the negative CD38 and CD138 should not exclude PBL from the differential diagnosis.