A Case of Merkel Cell Polyomavirus-Negative Merkel Cell Carcinoma Concurrent with Squamous Cell Carcinoma / 대한피부과학회지

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma, is most common in sun-exposed areas of aged individuals. Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is one causative agent of MCC. Cases of MCC concurrent with other skin tumors, especially squamous cell carcinoma, are rarely reported. Immunohistochemical staining is performed using antibodies to the MCPyV large-T antigen (CM2B4) only in select cases. To date, no cases of MCPyV have been reported in Korea. Here we report a case of MCC concurrent with squamous cell carcinoma in an aged man and discuss the pathogenesis of the case through CM2B4 staining.

High-Grade Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma Ex Metastasizing Pleomorphic Adenomas in the Parotid Gland and Parapharyngeal Space: a Case Report and Literature Review

Pleomorphic adenoma is the most common benign neoplasm of the salivary glands. Its three malignant variants include carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma, carcinosarcoma, and metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma. Among the subtypes of carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma, high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma has rarely been reported. Additionally, metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma is rare.We report the imaging findings of a high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma ex metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma of the parotid gland and parapharyngeal space in a 42-year-old man.

Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma of the Small Intestine with Distant Endobronchial Metastasis Presenting as Intussusception: A Case Report

Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is a high-grade soft tissue sarcoma that arises from mesenchymal tissue. Primary UPS of the small intestine is extremely rare, and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. Its presentation is usually nonspecific; however, it may occasionally present as intussusception with intermittent abdominal pain. It is a highly aggressive tumor with a propensity for early distant metastasis to the peritoneum, lymph nodes, other abdominal organs, lungs and brain. To our knowledge, there are no reported cases of endobronchial metastasis from small intestine UPS. We report a rare case of UPS of the small intestine with endobronchial metastasis presenting as intussusception.

High-Grade Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma Ex Metastasizing Pleomorphic Adenomas in the Parotid Gland and Parapharyngeal Space: a Case Report and Literature Review

Pleomorphic adenoma is the most common benign neoplasm of the salivary glands. Its three malignant variants include carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma, carcinosarcoma, and metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma. Among the subtypes of carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma, high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma has rarely been reported. Additionally, metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma is rare.We report the imaging findings of a high-grade mucoepidermoid carcinoma ex metastasizing pleomorphic adenoma of the parotid gland and parapharyngeal space in a 42-year-old man.

Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma of the Small Intestine with Distant Endobronchial Metastasis Presenting as Intussusception: A Case Report

Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) is a high-grade soft tissue sarcoma that arises from mesenchymal tissue. Primary UPS of the small intestine is extremely rare, and only a few cases have been reported in the literature. Its presentation is usually nonspecific; however, it may occasionally present as intussusception with intermittent abdominal pain. It is a highly aggressive tumor with a propensity for early distant metastasis to the peritoneum, lymph nodes, other abdominal organs, lungs and brain. To our knowledge, there are no reported cases of endobronchial metastasis from small intestine UPS. We report a rare case of UPS of the small intestine with endobronchial metastasis presenting as intussusception.

Primary Cutaneous Nodular Amyloidosis in Both Lip Angles / 대한피부과학회지

Primary cutaneous nodular amyloidosis is a rare variant of primary cutaneous amyloidosis and manifests as nodular, light-chain, amyloid deposits that are localized to the skin. The pathogenesis of the disease is still unclear. It usually originates in the lower extremities, face, scalp, and genitals and presents clinically as waxy, yellowish erythematous colored nodules. Histological characteristics include diffuse homogenous eosinophilic deposits in the dermis or subcutaneous regions along with interspersed plasma cells. We report a case of a 72-year-old man who presented with fissured, erythematous, waxy nodules on the bilateral lip angles. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case report of primary cutaneous nodular amyloidosis of the lip angles in Korean dermatological literature.

High-quality cell block preparation from scraping of conventional cytology slide: a technical report on a modified cytoscrape cell block technique

Background: Immunocytochemistry (ICC) on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded cell blocks is an ancillary tool commonly recruited for differential diagnoses of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) samples. However, the quality of conventional cell blocks in terms of adequate cellularity and evenness of distribution of cytologic material is not always satisfactory for ICC. We introduce a modified agarose-based cytoscrape cell block (CCB) technique that can be effectively used for the preparation of cell blocks from scrapings of conventional FNAC slides. Methods: A decoverslipped FNAC slide was mounted with a small amount of water. The cytological material was scraped off the slide into a tissue mold by scraping with a cell scraper. The cytoscrape material was pelleted by centrifugation and pre-embedded in ultra-low gelling temperature agarose and then re-embedded in conventional agarose. The final agarose gel disk was processed and embedded in paraffin. Results: The quality of the ICC on the CCB sections was identical to that of the immunohistochemical stains on histological sections. By scrapping and harvesting the entirety of the cytological material off the cytology slide into a compact agarose cell button, we could avoid the risk of losing diagnostic material during the CCB preparation. Conclusion: This modified CCB technique enables concentration and focusing of minute material while maintaining the entire amount of the cytoscrape material on the viewing spot of the CCB sections. We believe this technique can be effectively used to improve the level of confidence in diagnosis of FNAC especially when the FNAC slides are the only sample available.

Prognostic Implication of Semi-quantitative Immunohistochemical Assessment of CD20 Expression in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma

BACKGROUND: Immunohistochemical demonstration of CD20 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is prerequisite not only for the diagnosis but also for assigning patients to rituximab-containing chemotherapy. However, little is known about the impact of abundance of CD20 expression assessed by immunohistochemistry on the clinical outcome of DLBCL. We performed a semi-quantitative immunohistochemical analysis of CD20 expression in DLBCL to examine the prognostic implication of the level of CD20 expression. METHODS: Pre-treatment diagnostic tissue samples from 48 DLBCL patients who were treated with rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) regimen were represented in a tissue microarray and immunostained for CD20. The relative abundance of CD20 expression was semi-quantitatively scored using a web-based ImmunoMembrane plug-in. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine a prognostically relevant cut-off score in order to dichotomize the patients into CD20-high versus CD20-low groups. RESULTS: The levels of CD20 expression were heterogeneous among the patients, with a wide and linear distribution of scores. Patients in CD20-low group showed significantly poor clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The levels of CD20 expression in DLBCL are heterogeneous among the patients with DLBCL. A subgroup of the patients with CD20 expression levels below the cut-off score showed poor clinical outcome.

A Case of Cervical Thoracic Duct Cyst / 대한이비인후과학회지

Thoracic duct cysts are very rare. They are usually asymptomatic but sometimes cause compressive effects on structures near them due to enlarged supraclavicular mass. The etiology of thoracic duct cysts is not fully understood, but the possibility of congenital weakness or atherosclerotic changes of ductal wall, trauma, and inflammatory reactions have been suggested. Although image studies are helpful, the excision of mass and the histological studies are needed for definite diagnosis. We now report this extremely rare case of cervical thoracic duct cyst in the left supraclavicular fossa, including its diagnostic methods and pathogenesis.

Ectopic Human Fasciola hepatica Infection by an Adult Worm in the Mesocolon

We report here an ectopic case of Fasciola hepatica infection confirmed by recovery of an adult worm in the mesocolon. A 56-year-old female was admitted to our hospital with discomfort and pain in the left lower quadrant of the abdomen. Abdominal CT showed 3 abscesses in the left upper quadrant, mesentery, and pelvic cavity. On surgical exploration, abscess pockets were found in the mesocolon of the sigmoid colon and transverse colon. A leaf-like worm found in the abscess pocket of the mesocolon of the left colon was diagnosed as an adult fluke of F. hepatica. Histologically, numerous eggs of F. hepatica were noted with acute and chronic granulomatous inflammations in the subserosa and pericolic adipose tissues. Conclusively, a rare case of ectopic fascioliasis has been confirmed in this study by the adult worm recovery of F. hepatica in the mesocolon.

Metastatic Thymic Adenocarcinoma from Colorectal Cancer

This report describes the case of a 57-year-old man with an anterior mediastinal tumor. Four years previously, he underwent laparoscopic anterior resection for sigmoid colon cancer. Thirty months after that procedure, bilateral pulmonary metastasectomy was performed. Twelve months later, follow-up computed tomography revealed a 1-cm pulmonary nodule on the upper lobe of the right lung and a solid mass on the anterior mediastinum, and the patient was also observed to have an elevated serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level. Repeated pulmonary nodule resection and total thymectomy were performed. Immunohistochemical staining of the anterior mediastinal tumor revealed adenocarcinoma, and his serum CEA level returned to normal after the operation. These findings strongly suggested metastatic thymic adenocarcinoma from a colorectal cancer.

A Case of Disseminated Extranodal Interdigitating Dendritic Cell Sarcoma Arising from Parotid Gland / 고신대학교의과대학학술지

Interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma (IDCS) is an extremely rare tumor derived from professional antigen presenting cell and primarily found in lymph nodes, with rarer case report about extranodal presentation of IDCS. A 71-yr-old man was admitted with progressively enlarging and painless mass in the right parotid area for 2 months. Computed tomography of the neck and chest revealed enhancing mass in right parotid gland, multiple lymphadenopathies around neck and mediastinum, and an osteolytic metastasis at thoracic spine. Morphological and immunohistochemical analysis of an excisional biopsy specimen from parotid mass were consistent with a diagnosis of IDCS. Palliative chemotherapy with 6 cycles of CHOP (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisolone) regimen and 2 cycles of ABVD (adriamycin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine) regimen plus radiotherapy on parotid mass failed in tumor reduction. We describe a rare case of disseminated extranodal IDCS arising from parotid gland.

The Clinicopathological Significance of Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition Associated Protein Expression in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

BACKGROUND: Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) has an important role in invasion and metastasis of tumor cells. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the roles of EMT-associated proteins on progression and metastasis as a prognostic/predictive factor in curatively-resected (R0) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: A total of 118 patients who received curative surgery for HNSCC at Inha University Hospital between January 1996 and December 2011 were included. We used protein immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression of E-cadherin, vimentin, and EZH2 on tissue microarrays. Also, we reviewed all medical records and analyzed the relationship between the expression of EMT-associated proteins and prognosis. RESULTS: The E-cadherin-negative group showed more moderate/poor differentiation of cancer cell type than the higher E-cadherin-expressing group (p=.016) and high EZH2 expression was significantly correlated with nodal metastasis (p=.012). Our results demonstrate a significant association between high expression of EZH2 and vimentin and presence of distant progression (p=.026). However, expression of E-cadherin, vimentin, and EZH2 was not significantly associated with overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that an EMT-associated protein expression profile is correlated with aggressiveness of disease and prognosis, and could be a useful marker for determination of additional treatment in curatively-resected HNSCC patients.

Preparation of Compact Agarose Cell Blocks from the Residues of Liquid-Based Cytology Samples

BACKGROUND: Inevitable loss of diagnostic material should be minimized during cell block preparation. We introduce a modified agarose cell block technique that enables the synthesis of compact cell blocks by using the entirety of a cell pellet without the loss of diagnostic material during cell block preparations. The feasibility of this technique is illustrated by high-throughput immunocytochemistry using high-density cell block microarray (CMA). METHODS: The cell pellets of Sure- Path residues were pre-embedded in ultra-low gelling temperature agarose gel and re-embedded in standard agarose gel. They were fixed, processed, and embedded in paraffin using the same method as tissue sample processing. The resulting agarose cell blocks were trimmed and represented on a CMA for high-throughput analysis using immunocytochemical staining. RESULTS: The SurePath residues were effectively and entirely incorporated into compact agarose cell buttons and embedded in paraffin. Sections of the agarose cell blocks revealed cellularities that correlated well with corresponding SurePath smears and had immunocytochemical features that were sufficient for diagnosis of difficult cases. CONCLUSIONS: This agarose-based compact cell block technique enables preparation of high-quality cell blocks by using up the residual SurePath samples without loss of diagnostic material during cell block preparation.

A Case of Esophageal Fibrovascular Polyp That Induced Asphyxia during Sleep

Esophageal fibrovascular polyps are rare, benign, submucosal tumors of the upper digestive tract that usually have an indolent course until the lesion attains a very large size. The most frequent complaints associated with these tumors include dysphagia and foreign body sensation. However, a long pedunculated polyp can regurgitate into the pharynx or oral cavity and cause asphyxia and sudden death if the larynx is occluded. We describe the case of a 51-year-old man who experienced snoring and occasional asphyxia during sleep. Upper endoscopy was performed, which indicated the presence of a pedunculated esophageal polyp that regurgitated into the vocal cords. The polyp was removed using a polypectomy snare and was confirmed to be a fibrovascular polyp based on pathologic examination findings. Three months after the excision of the polyp, the patient was found to be doing well without any further occurrence of asphyxia or sleep disturbances.

MR Images of Infarction of Wandering Spleen Associated with Intestinal Non-rotation

Wandering spleen is a rare clinical condition caused by lax splenic suspensory ligaments. The laxity of ligaments causes torsion of splenic vascular pedicle. CT scan of a 7-year-old girl with abdominal pain showed a non-enhancing lobular mass in lower abdomen. Small bowel loops were located at the right-sided abdomen and colonic loops at the left-sided abdomen. MRI scan showed non-enhancing heterogeneous mass with twisted vascular pedicle. To our knowledge, only a few cases have been reported about wandering spleen diagnosed on MRI.

Myoepithelial Carcinoma of Soft Tissue: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

No abstract available.

Incidental diagnosis of vaginal schwannoma in a patient with thigh pain

Schwannoma commonly arises from Schwann cells of the neural sheath, and is rare in the groin region. Here, we describe a vaginal schwannoma incidentally detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a patient with thigh pain. A 43-year-old woman presented with thigh pain with burning and tingling sensations in the medial aspect of her left thigh. MRI revealed a mass lesion of heterogeneous intensity 5.2 x 5.7 cm in the left vaginal wall. The mass was resected and histology revealed schwannoma.

A Case of a Glomus Tumor in the Hand Associated with Raynaud's Disease / 대한내과학회지

Although it is difficult to reach a diagnosis in patients who complain of pain or sensitivity to cold in their hands, Raynaud's phenomenon is most often suspected in such cases. Symptoms of Raynaud's phenomenon include pallor, cyanosis, and redness following cold exposure. Glomus tumors can also increase patients' sensitivity to cold. In this case, our patient complained of symptoms indicative of Raynaud's phenomenon. Although treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon improved the symptoms, pain persisted in the fourth finger of the left hand. We diagnosed the patient with a glomus tumor and, after surgical treatment, the patient's symptoms improved. Here, we have also reviewed and discussed a number of reports of glomus tumors associated with Raynaud's disease. Diagnosing a glomus tumor in the hand may take some time, and the diagnosis could be further delayed if accompanied by Raynaud's phenomenon. Although glomus tumors are rare, we suggest that clinical awareness is important for early diagnosis and treatment.

Recurrent Bilateral Breast Abscess Due to Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infection / 한국유방암학회지

Since recurrent bilateral breast infection due to nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) is rare, its diagnosis is easily overlooked; in addition, complete recovery is often difficult to achieve. We report a case of recurrent bilateral infection in a 35-year-old woman who had completed treatment for NTM. Although various infectious diseases show similar clinical conditions and imaging findings, recurrences should raise suspicion of NTM infection, and this possibility should be considered in differential diagnoses.