Pulmonary and mediastinal paragangliomas: rare endothoracic malignancies with challenging diagnosis and treatment.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary and mediastinal paragangliomas are rare tumors that may have neuroendocrine activity or be non-functional, incidental, in asymptomatic patients, or causing mass effect symptoms. Although being low-grade tumors, they can display an aggressive behaviour, developing local infiltration and distant metastases. We report our experience with three endothoracic paragangliomas and a Literature review, to point out diagnostic difficulties and problems related to surgical treatment. METHODS: From 2009 to 2017, we treated 3 patients with histological diagnosis of paraganglioma: 2 pulmonary, 1 mediastinal. No one presented catecholamine-secreting syndromes; pulmonary cases were asymptomatic, while the mediastinal one had aspecific cough and dyspnea. Imaging diagnosis was based on chest computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. No patient had preoperative histological diagnosis. Intraoperative pathological examination was suggestive for malignancy: in pulmonary cases, wedge resection and lobectomy were performed; the middle mediastinal mass was completely removed after challenging dissection, isolation and section of numerous vascular pedicles. RESULTS: Postoperative course was uneventful in all cases. No patient received adjuvant treatments. At a median follow-up of 47 months (range, 6-102 months), two patients are alive, without local or distant recurrence; one patient died 6 months after surgery, due to disease progression. CONCLUSIONS: Endothoracic paragangliomas, rare and often asymptomatic tumors, are of difficult diagnosis and should be considered malignant tumors, due to the potential aggressive behaviour of cases with high mitotic index and the frequent possibility of recurrence and metastases. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice and careful intraoperative manipulation is recommended, due to the high vascularity of these tumors, to prevent complications. After complete excision, long-term prognosis is generally good. However, even after surgical removal, a close, periodical and life-long follow-up is mandatory.

Nonmuscular Invasive Urothelial Carcinoma of the Bladder in Pediatric and Young Adult Patients: Age-related Outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To report 2 pediatric urology referral centers' experience on transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder (TCCB) in patients younger than 30 years, focusing on age-related prognostic factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients younger than 30 years affected by TCCB from January 1999 to December 2011 were investigated. Spearman's rank test and Kruskal-Wallis test were adopted for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were identified (8 females, 10 males) and stratified by age at presentation: 5 in group A (12 years old and younger), 7 in group B (13-19 years), and 6 in group C (20-29 years). Females were predominant in groups A and B, whereas males were predominant in group C. Pathological grading revealed low-grade papillary urothelial carcinoma in 7, papillary urothelial neoplasm of low malignant potential in 7, and high-grade urothelial papillary carcinoma in 4 patients. At a mean follow-up of 6.5 years, recurrence was observed in 2 cases. Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between age and grading. There was no statistical significance based on gender. Staging was significant between the age groups; older patients had more advanced tumors. CONCLUSION: TCCB is rarely observed in the first 3 decades of life. The prognosis is good in early-age presentation. Sex distribution, pathological grading, and prognosis were found different according to age. Patients younger than 19 years behave in a more favorable manner than those older, and should be followed up like adults.

Gene expression profiling of normal thyroid tissue from patients with thyroid carcinoma.

Gene expression profiling (GEP) of normal thyroid tissue from 43 patients with thyroid carcinoma, 6 with thyroid adenoma, 42 with multinodular goiter, and 6 with Graves-Basedow disease was carried out with the aim of achieving a better understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying the role of normal cells surrounding the tumor in the thyroid cancer progression. Unsupervised and supervised analyses were performed to compare samples from neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases. GEP and subsequent RT-PCR analysis identified 28 differentially expressed genes. Functional assessment revealed that they are involved in tumorigenesis and cancer progression. The distinct GEP is likely to reflect the onset and/or progression of thyroid cancer, its molecular classification, and the identification of new potential prognostic factors, thus allowing to pinpoint selective gene targets with the aim of realizing more precise preoperative diagnostic procedures and novel therapeutic approaches.This study is focused on the gene expression profiling analysis followed by RT-PCR of normal thyroid tissues from patients with neoplastic and non-neoplastic thyroid diseases. Twenty-eight genes were found to be differentially expressed in normal cells surrounding the tumor in the thyroid cancer. The genes dysregulated in normal tissue samples from patients with thyroid tumors may represent new molecular markers, useful for their diagnostic, prognostic and possibly therapeutic implications.

Interval sentinel lymph nodes in melanoma: a digital pathology analysis of Ki67 expression and microvascular density.

The presence of interval sentinel lymph nodes in melanoma is documented in several studies, but controversies still exist about the management of these lymph nodes. In this study, an immunohistochemical evaluation of tumor cell proliferation and neo-angiogenesis has been performed with the aim of establishing a correlation between these two parameters between positive and negative interval sentinel lymph nodes. This retrospective study reviewed data of 23 patients diagnosed with melanoma. Bioptic specimens of interval sentinel lymph node were retrieved, and immunohistochemical reactions on tissue sections were performed using Ki67 as a marker of proliferation and CD31 as a blood vessel marker for the study of angiogenesis. The entire stained tissue sections for each case were digitized using Aperio Scanscope Cs whole-slide scanning platform and stored as high-resolution images. Image analysis was carried out on three selected fields of equal area using IHC Nuclear and Microvessel analysis algorithms to determine positive Ki67 nuclei and vessel number. Patients were divided into positive and negative interval sentinel lymph node groups, and the positive interval sentinel lymph node group was further divided into interval positive with micrometastasis and interval positive with macrometastasis subgroups. The analysis revealed a significant difference between positive and negative interval sentinel lymph nodes in the percentage of Ki67-positive nuclei and mean vessel number suggestive of an increased cellular proliferation and angiogenesis in positive interval sentinel lymph nodes. Further analysis in the interval positive lymph node group showed a significant difference between micro- and macrometastasis subgroups in the percentage of Ki67-positive nuclei and mean vessel number. Percentage of Ki67-positive nuclei was increased in the macrometastasis subgroup, while mean vessel number was increased in the micrometastasis subgroup. The results of this study suggest that the correlation between tumor cell proliferation and neo-angiogenesis in interval sentinel lymph nodes in melanoma could be used as a good predictive marker to distinguish interval positive sentinel lymph nodes with micrometastasis from interval positive lymph nodes with macrometastasis subgroups.

Metabolomic profile of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway identifies the central role of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in clear cell-renal cell carcinoma.

The analysis of cancer metabolome has shown that proliferating tumor cells require a large quantities of different nutrients in order to support their high rate of proliferation. In this study we analyzed the metabolic profile of glycolysis and the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) in human clear cell-renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and evaluate the role of these pathways in sustaining cell proliferation, maintenance of NADPH levels, and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Metabolomic analysis showed a clear signature of increased glucose uptake and utilization in ccRCC tumor samples. Elevated levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) in association with higher levels of PPP-derived metabolites, suggested a prominent role of this pathway in RCC-associated metabolic alterations. G6PDH inhibition, caused a significant decrease in cancer cell survival, a decrease in NADPH levels, and an increased production of ROS, suggesting that the PPP plays an important role in the regulation of ccRCC redox homeostasis. Patients with high levels of glycolytic enzymes had reduced progression-free and cancer-specific survivals as compared to subjects with low levels. Our data suggest that oncogenic signaling pathways may promote ccRCC through rerouting the sugar metabolism. Blocking the flux through this pathway may serve as a novel therapeutic target.

Pre-existing type 2 diabetes mellitus is an independent risk factor for mortality and progression in patients with renal cell carcinoma.

Malignancies are one of the main causes of mortality in diabetic patients; however, to date, very limited data have been reported on the specific influence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on the survival of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In the present long-term retrospective study, we investigated whether T2DM may influence the overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival (CSS), and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with surgically treated RCC. Medical records of 924 patients treated by radical or partial nephrectomy for sporadic, unilateral RCC were reviewed. Patients with type-1 DM and with T2 DM receiving insulin treatment were excluded. Survival estimates were calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the Cox regression model.Of the 924 RCC patients, 152 (16.5%) had T2DM. Mean follow-up was 68.5 months. Mean OS was 41.3 and 96.3 months in T2DM and non-T2DM patients, respectively (P < 0.0001).The estimated CSS rates at 1, 3, and 5 years in T2DM versus non-T2DM patients were 63.4% versus 76.7%, 30.4% versus 56.6%, and 16.3% versus 48.6%, respectively (P = 0.001). Mean PFS was significantly lower (31.5 vs 96.3 months; P < 0.0001) in the T2DM group. At multivariate analysis, T2DM was an independent adverse prognostic factor for OS (hazard ratio [HR]  = 3.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]:2.40-4.92), CSS (HR = 6.39; 95% CI: 3.78-10.79), and PFS (HR = 4.71; 95% CI: 3.11-7.15). In conclusion, our findings suggest that patients with RCC and pre-existing T2DM have a shorter OS, increased risk of recurrence, and higher risk for kidney cancer mortality than those without diabetes.

TTF-1 expression in nephroblastoma.

The unexpected observation of nuclear immunoreactivity for thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) associated with an apparent lack of nuclear immunoreactivity for Wilms tumor-1 protein (WT1) in the pulmonary metastasis of a morphologically typical case of nephroblastoma affecting a 6.5-year-old male prompted us to examine the expression of these 2 markers (and CD56) in a series of 48 nephroblastomas, 5 adult metanephric adenomas, and 1 pediatric cystic nephroma. TTF-1 was found to be positive in 8 of 48 (16.6%) nephroblastomas and negative in all 5 metanephric adenomas. WT1 was positive in 43 of 48 (89.6%) nephroblastomas and 4 of 5 (80.0%) metanephric adenomas. CD56 was positive in 45 of 47 cases that were so tested (95.74%), but negative in all metanephric adenomas. The single cystic nephroma was TTF-1-negative, WT1-negative, and CD56-positive. The finding of TTF-1 expression in one sixth of nephroblastomas constitutes a potential source of misdiagnosis. The biologic significance of this surprising finding is unclear. It may reflect the embryonal nature of these tumors and may conceivably result-directly or indirectly-in interference with the transcriptional control of target genes and other molecular events in the pathway leading to the development of nephroblastoma.

Current insights in renal cell cancer pathology.

In recent years molecular biologists and pathologists have described new entities of renal cell cancer (RCC) with a totally different morphology and biology among the histotypes of renal carcinoma, but always referring to the same renal cancer disease. The evidence of a distinct biological behavior and long-term prognosis among these makes the correct pathological diagnosis of renal cancer critically important for the clinician. Advances in understanding of the pathogenesis, behavior, and importance of prognostic factors for RCC have paved the way for a revision of its classification and staging. We reviewed the role of histological classification, microscopic tumor necrosis, microscopic venous invasion, lymph node involvement and, particularly, pathological stage. In our series of patients who underwent renal surgery for neoplasm, a retrospective study established the predictive role of tumor size on recurrence rate, compared with other known prognostic factors, and we conclude that histological grade, pathological stage and tumor size remain relevant prognosticators in early stage RCC patients. In order to optimize the management of patients with RCC it is necessary to develop an interdisciplinary approach (surgeon, radiologist, pathologist, oncologist) and find new prognostic parameters at molecular and cellular levels. Many efforts are ongoing to integrate molecular data (from tissue microarrays) and clinical data (traditional prognosticators) into a molecular integrated staging system. In the postgenomic era, new tumor-associated antigens and molecules can be identified at the protein level using proteomics, providing a major opportunity for screening and finding novel targets that are the basis of new emerging therapies for RCC.

Acute airway failure secondary to thyroid metastasis from renal carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Secondary involvement of the thyroid gland by malignant metastases is uncommon. Acute respiratory crisis due to infiltration of the upper airways is a recognised complication of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma or thyroid lymphoma. Renal cell carcinoma is a tumour that metastasizes diffusely and in an unpredictable manner. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a 73-year-old man with a painful neck mass, dyspnoea, stridor and dysphonia that was evaluated in emergency. A right radical nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma was performed 8 years previously. An emergency endotracheal intubation was followed by total thyroidectomy. Histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of thyroid metastasis from renal cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: A literature review regarding emergency treatment for acute respiratory compromise resulting from secondary thyroid tumours was undertaken. Only two cases of metastatic colon cancer and one case of metastatic meningioma requiring emergency thyroidectomy for acute respiratory failure are reported in the literature. This appears to be the first case of emergency surgery performed for acute respiratory compromise due to thyroid metastasis from renal cell carcinoma.

Substernal oxyphil parathyroid adenoma producing PTHrP with hypercalcemia and normal PTH level.

BACKGROUND: Parathyroid adenoma is the most common cause of primary hyperparathyroidism. Preoperative serum calcium and intact-parathyroid hormone levels are the most useful diagnostic parameters that allow differentiating primary hyperparathyroidism from non-parathyroid-dependent hypercalcemia. Parathyroidectomy is the definitive treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism. Approximately 5% of patients who underwent parathyroidectomy present with persistent or recurrent hyperparathyroidism due to ectopic localization of the adenoma. Functioning oxyphil parathyroid adenoma is an uncommon histological form, seldom causing primary hyperparathyroidism. Parathyroid adenoma with hypercalcemia exhibiting normal parathyroid hormone level is rare. An incidence of 5% to 33% has been documented in the literature; no etiologic explanation has been given. In 1987, parathyroid-hormone-related peptide was isolated as a causative factor of humeral hypercalcemia of malignancy. The presence of parathyroid-hormone-related peptide in parathyroid tissue under normal and pathological conditions has been described in the literature; however, its role in causing hyperparathyroidism has not yet been defined. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a case of persistent hypercalcemia with a normal level of intact-parathyroid hormone due to a substernal parathyroid adenoma, treated with radioguided parathyroidectomy. The final histological diagnosis was oxyphil adenoma, positive for parathyroid-hormone-related peptide antigens. CONCLUSION: In clinical practice, this atypical biochemical presentation of primary hyperparathyroidism should be considered in the differential diagnosis of hypercalcemia. The parathyroid-hormone-related peptide should be considered not only in the presence of malignancy.

Cutaneous lesions as presenting symptoms of primary biliary cirrhosis: an undifferentiated connective tissue disease-like onset.

We describe two patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) who presented with specific symptoms mimicking an undifferentiated connective tissue disease (arthromyalgia, fatigue, cutaneous lesions either morbillous-like or urticarial, the latter with an eosinophil infiltrate of upper dermis). Subsequent detection firstly of eosinophilia in the blood and secondarily of antimitochondrial antibodies with results of liver biopsy allowed a diagnosis of asymptomatic PBC. In our cases, a peculiar sign of early stage of PBC was represented also by the eosinophilia in the liver.

Diffuse neuroendocrine tumor of the small bowel: an exceptional case with long survival and literature review.

Malignant tumors of the small intestine are uncommon. Carcinoid tumors represent 20% of all malignancies occurring in this segment. We report the case of a 53-year-old female who was treated surgically for intestinal obstruction secondary to carcinoid tumors diffuse to the small intestine. This is the first case described in the literature. Carcinoids are considered less aggressive than the more common intestinal adenocarcinomas, but because of the extensive localization of the neoplasm this case can be considered a high-grade malignancy with an aggressive pattern of growth. Surgical resection, although noncurative in this case, can provide the patient with a long survival rate and a good quality of life.