Methylation Analysis of Urinary Sample in Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Carcinoma: Frequency and Management of Invalid Result.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies showed that methylation analysis represents a newly developed urinary marker based on DNA methylation changes in a panel of genomic biomarkers and it could represent a valid tool in terms of the diagnosis and prediction of high-grade urothelial carcinoma recurrences. One of the limits of the use of this new molecular method during a follow-up is represented by the number of invalid tests in routine practice. METHOD: A total of 782 patients with a diagnosis of non-muscle-invasive high-grade carcinoma (NMIBC) was studied. The Bladder EpiCheck test (BE) was performed together with cytology in all cases within 1 year after the end of treatment. In 402 patients, the urinary samples were voided urine (UV), while, in 380 cases, the samples were collected after bladder washing (IU). For all the patients with invalid BE results, a second BE test was performed following the instructions for use that indicated the test should be repeated with a new urinary sample in the case of an invalid result. RESULTS: Analyzing the two different groups (UV and IU), we found the invalid BE results seemed to be not related to urinary samples (p = 0.13 Fisher's exact test), suggesting that the collection method was not relevant in order to reduce the number of invalid tests. CONCLUSIONS: In the follow-up for NMIBC, for patients for whom a BE test is planned, a combined approach of cytology and a methylation test is recommended in order to repeat the BE test with an invalid result only in those cases with a cytological diagnosis of atypical urothelial cells (AUC) suspicious for high-grade urothelial carcinoma (SHGUC) and high-grade urothelial carcinoma (HGUC).

Jejunal metastasis of Merkel cell carcinoma: case report.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) of the skin is a rare but aggressive cutaneous neuroendocrine-derived malignancy that predominantly affects elderly white males. The presence of distant nodal metastases significantly impacts survival. Typical metastatic sites of MCC are liver, bone, brain and skin. Gastrointestinal metastases are uncommon and small bowel is the most common site followed by stomach. We report a case of symptomatic MCC jejunal metastasis.