Temporal trend, clinicopathologic and sociodemographic characterization of age at diagnosis of breast cancer among US women diagnosed from 1990 to 2009.

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the distribution of age at diagnosis of female breast cancer and its association with temporal trend, clinicopathologic and sociodemographic variables in the presence of two latent clusters that are directly unobservable. Such clusters help to identify two subpopulations of either young or old patients whose etiologies are thought to be different. A large sample drawn from registry data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program from 1990 to 2009 was analyzed using a two-component Gaussian mixture model. Evidence of a steady delay of age at diagnosis and an increasing proportion of young patients being diagnosed during the 20-year period was found. Histopathologic effects indicate that duct and lobular carcinomas differ significantly in regard to subpopulation membership, which confirms that they represent different etiologies. While the presence of estrogen receptor status in the model overlaps the effects of other important variables it is highly correlated with, it is found that the grade, extension and size of the tumor along with lymph node involvement status, race and marital status are important predictors of age at diagnosis. The results highlight the significant impacts that such features can have on breast cancer control efforts, and point to the importance of ensuring that medical decision making should use them along with an indicator of the age subpopulation a patient may belong to.

[Intrathyroid parathyroid adenomas: right and lower]. / Adenomas paratiroideos de localización intratiroidea: derechos y bajos.

INTRODUCTION: Intrathyroidal parathyroid adenomas (IPA) are a not an uncommon cause of persistent hyperparathyroidism. There is no consensus on their prevalence, embryological origin and position within the thyroid. PATIENTS AND METHOD: Retrospective review of prospectively recorded surgical protocols of patients having had parathyroidectomy for primary (n = 437) or secondary (n = 137) hyperparathyroidism by the same surgeon. Cases with IPA were identified and the following data were recorded: age, most probable embryological origin, position within the thyroid (side and height), results of imaging techniques and surgical implications. RESULTS: Seventeen IPA were detected in 16 patients (6M, 10F, prevalence 3.2%); 9 belonged to IIIP and 8 to IVP. Three lower IPA were supernumerary glands. Eight IPA were included within the right lower thyroid lobe. Twelve IPA (70.6%), were found during the initial parathyroidectomy: 3 were enucleated and 9 were treated with a partial thyroidectomy or hemithyroidectomy. Of the 3 enucleations, 2 had a local benign recurrence due to an incomplete capsule resection. No patients treated with thyroidectomy had a recurrence. The remaining 5 IPA, found in 4 patients, were not identified initially and caused persistence of the disease leading to 5 reinterventions. CONCLUSIONS: IPA are present in 3% of patients submitted to parathyroidectomy. They predominate in the right thyroid lobe and can be IIIP, IVP and supernumerary. They often cause persistence. Thyroid resection affords the best results since complete enucleation can be difficult and leaving behind a fragment of the IPA results in local recurrence.

Metastatic small cell carcinoma to the thyroid gland: a pathologic and molecular study demonstrating the origin in the urinary bladder.

Small cell carcinomas may occur in the thyroid gland. Infrequently, they are primary tumors, and have been interpreted as variants of medullary thyroid carcinoma. However, the vast majority of small cell carcinomas involving the thyroid gland are metastatic tumors. In some cases, demonstration of the primary tumor is not easy. An example of a small cell carcinoma metastatic to the thyroid is presented in this report. The primary tumor was a small cell carcinoma that occurred as a minor component in a transitional carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The microscopical and immunohistochemical features of both tumors, in the thyroid and the bladder, were identical. Moreover, both tumors exhibited an identical mutation in p53, as well as similar loss of heterozygosity at 10q23 and RASSF1A promoter hypermethylation, clearly indicating that the bladder tumor was the site for the primary tumor of the patient.

A forgotten method to induce experimental chronic renal failure in the rat by ligation of the renal parenchyma.

BACKGROUND: Animal models of chronic renal failure have been widely used in the experimental nephrology laboratories. The most common technique used is the 5/6 reduction of renal mass, either by surgical resection or by infarction. METHODS: In the present work, we describe a forgotten technique based in the ligation of the renal parenchyma in both renal poles. This technique combines the advantages of the resection model, like the reproducibility and homogeneity, with the ones of the infarction technique, like the absence of bleeding. RESULTS: 8 weeks after the procedure, animals showed a decrease in creatinine clearance together with an increase in plasma creatinine. Furthermore, glomeruli of animals with 5/6 nephrectomy showed a marked hypertrophy, with a glomerular volume significantly higher than control animals. Serum levels of parathyroid hormone were also increased, consistent with the development of secondary hyperparathyroidism. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the present technique is a valid and improved tool for the study of chronic renal failure.

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor of the thyroid: a clinicopathological and ultrastructural study of one case.

Thyroid malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (TMPNST) are very uncommon neoplasms that can be confused with anaplastic carcinoma, Riedel's thyroiditis, or other soft tissue tumors that may occur in the thyroid region. An example of TMPNST is presented in this report. The tumor occurred in a 56-yr-old woman. Fine needle aspiration did not provide adequate material. After thyroidectomy, the lesion posed important problems in differential diagnosis. Immunohistochemical, molecular, and electron microscopic features were taken into consideration to arrive at the correct diagnosis. Tumor cells were focally positive for keratins, a feature that has not been described in peripheral nerve sheath tumors of the thyroid, but that has been occasionally seen in tumors from other locations. After thyroidectomy, the patient received radiotherapy. She is well without evidence of recurrence 10 mo after surgery.