Skin tumors with adnexal differentiation are commonly reported in dogs and cats, while only anecdotal evidence is available in sheep. Here we illustrate the macroscopic, histologic, and immunohistochemical features of a cutaneous lesion with adnexal differentiation in a 6-year-old female Sarda breed sheep, surgically treated for a horn-like mass located in the left pinna. Additionally, we investigate a possible contribution of Ovine Papillomaviruses (OaPVs). Histologically, the dermis was expanded by an expansive and unencapsulated multilobulated nodule composed of cuboidal to spindle basaloid cells arranged in variably-sized cytokeratins (CK) AE1-AE3, CK 5/6 and CK 34 beta E12, p63-positive winding cords with a characteristic palisade arrangement of neoplastic cells in the periphery of the tumor. Based on these results, the cutaneous neoplasm was diagnosed as a trabecular trichoblastoma with spindle cells and rare structures resembling papillary mesenchymal bodies. Additionally, multiple enlarged sebaceous lobules clustered around dilated ducts suggestive of sebaceous gland hyperplasia were detected near the trichoblastoma. No PV DNA was found in the examined tissues, suggesting that ovine PVs are not involved in the pathogenesis of the present skin tumors with adnexal differentiation. Further investigations and efforts are required to elucidate the prevalence of skin tumors with adnexal differentiation in this species.
AIM: The etiopathogenesis of non-syndromic biliary atresia (BA) is obscure. The primary aim was to investigate intrahepatic bile duct cilia (IHBC) in BA at diagnosis and its correlation with clinical outcome. The secondary aim was to analyze IHBC in routine paraffin-embedded liver biopsies using conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM). METHODS: Surgical liver biopsies taken at diagnosis from 22 BA infants (age range, 39-116 days) and from eight children with non-BA chronic cholestasis (age range, 162 days -16.8 years) were evaluated for IHBC by immunofluorescence (IF) and SEM. A minimum 18-month follow-up after surgery was available for all patients. RESULTS: By IF, cilia were present in 6/8 (75%) non-BA but only in 3/22 (14%) BA cases, and cilia were reduced or absent in 19/22 (86%) BA and 2/8 (25%) non-BA livers (P < 0.01). In BA, cilia presence was found to be associated with clearance of jaundice at 6-month follow-up (P < 0.05). However, high overall survival rates with native liver, >90% at 12 months, and >70% at 24 months post-surgery, were recorded regardless of cilia presence/absence at diagnosis. Electron microscopy was able to detect bile ducts and cilia in routine liver biopsies, revealing significant abnormalities in 100% BA livers. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of IHBC in BA livers at the diagnosis was associated with resolution of cholestasis, although was not predictive of short-term survival with native liver. Scanning electron microscopy represents a powerful new tool to study routine liver biopsies in biliary disorders. Cilia dysfunction in BA pathogenesis and/or disease progression warrants further investigation.
We present the case of a 62 year-old woman who was admitted to our institute of radiological sciences for a breast mass developed in the last few months. The final diagnosis was primary breast chondrosarcoma and the surgical treatment performed, based on imaging and pathological findings, was the mastectomy.
