A fertility-oriented method for histological processing of testicular biopsies in men with azoospermia.

The present study was designed to evaluate whether tissue preparation by glutaraldehyde and glycol methacrylate (G/GMA) improves the diagnostic assessment of testicular biopsies from azoospermic men when compared to the standard tissue preparation using Bouin's solution and paraffin. We prospectively included a total of 21 testicular biopsies of sexually mature men aged 29-50 years with infertility and azoospermia. One testicular biopsy fragment from each patient was processed by the G/GMA method, whereas another tissue fragment was contemporarily processed by the conventional Bouin/paraffin (B/P) method. The G/GMA method provided better resolution of cytological details of the seminiferous epithelium, changing the final diagnosis in four cases. The medians of Bergmann's spermatogenesis scores were 0.25 (interquartile range 0.04-0.88) for B/P preparations and 0.79 (interquartile range 0.17-0.96) for G/GMA preparations. Both techniques allowed accurate prediction of sperm recovery from the biopsies (B/P, area under the receiver operating characteristics [ROC] curve 0.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75-1.00; G/GMA, area under the ROC curve 0.94, 95% CI 0.86-1.00). We conclude that human testicular biopsy preparation with G/GMA improved image resolution under light microscopy and produced more reliable results for the evaluation of spermatogenesis in comparison with B/P, allowing a more precise fertility-oriented diagnosis in azoospermic men.Abbreviations: B/P: Bouin/paraffin; GMA: glycol methacrylate; G/GMA: glutaraldehyde and glycol methacrylate; ICSI: intracytoplasmic sperm injection; OA: obstructive azoospermia; NOA: nonobstructive azoospermia; TESE: testicular sperm extraction.

Carcinoma of the collecting ducts of Bellini and renal medullary carcinoma: clinicopathologic analysis of 52 cases of rare aggressive subtypes of renal cell carcinoma with a focus on their interrelationship.

Carcinoma of the collecting ducts of Bellini and renal medullary carcinoma are rare aggressive neoplasms of putative distal nephron origin. First described in 1949, case reports and review articles constitute a major source of information on collecting duct carcinoma, whereas Davis and colleagues and the pediatric tumor registry have contributed the seminal works on renal medullary carcinoma. Here we present a detailed study of collecting duct carcinoma (n=39) and renal medullary carcinoma (n=13), characterizing these rare neoplasms and analyzing their interrelationship. Both collecting duct carcinoma and renal medullary carcinoma exhibited significant similarities, such as predilection for the right kidney, tumor mass with an epicenter in the renal medulla, and a mean size of 7 cm. Overall, both tumors exhibited a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma histology with desmoplastic stromal response (100%), inflammatory infiltrate (100%), frequent perinephric extension (collecting duct carcinoma: 97%; renal medullary carcinoma: 83%), lymphovascular invasion (100%), intraluminal mucin (collecting duct carcinoma: 42%; renal medullary carcinoma: 73%), high nuclear grade (97%), overlapping immunoreactivity for Ulex europaeus agglutinin 1 (collecting duct carcinoma: 75%; renal medullary carcinoma:55%), CK7 (collecting duct carcinoma: 44%; renal medullary carcinoma: 71%), and high-molecular weight cytokeratin (collecting duct carcinoma: 26%; renal medullary carcinoma: 29%), and nonimmunoreactivity for Ksp-cadherin. Histologically, collecting duct carcinoma frequently had tubular, tubulopapillary, or irregular glandular architecture, whereas renal medullary carcinoma commonly demonstrated islands of anastomosing tubules and cords forming irregular microcystic spaces. Multiple metastases to the lymph nodes, lung, bone, and liver were observed in both categories at presentation (collecting duct carcinoma: 17%; renal medullary carcinoma: 36%). Only patients with organ-confined small tumors were disease free beyond the median survival time. Differential clinical features between collecting duct carcinoma and renal medullary carcinoma included proclivity for younger male individuals of African ancestry with hemoglobin abnormalities and a shorter median survival of 17 weeks (vs. 44 wk for collecting duct carcinoma) for renal medullary carcinoma. The markedly overlapping clinical features, histology, immunophenotype, metastasis patterns, and uniformly aggressive outcome in collecting duct and renal medullary carcinomas suggest that renal medullary carcinoma is a distinctive clinicopathologic subtype within the entity of collecting duct carcinoma. The extremely poor prognosis and ongoing clinical trials with specific therapeutic protocols argue for their accurate distinction from other renal cell carcinoma subtypes.

Interobserver agreement of Gleason score and modified Gleason score in needle biopsy and in surgical specimen of prostate cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Gleason score, which has a high interobserver variability, is used to classify prostate cancer. The most recent consensus valued the tertiary Gleason pattern and recommended its use in the final score of needle biopsies (modified Gleason score). This pattern is considered to be of high prognostic value in surgical specimens. This study emphasized the evaluation of the modified score agreement in needle biopsies and in surgical specimen, as well as the interobserver variability of this score. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three pathologists evaluated the slides of needle biopsies and surgical specimens of 110 patients, reporting primary, secondary and tertiary Gleason patterns and after that, traditional and modified Gleason scores were calculated. Kappa test (K) assessed the interobserver agreement and the agreement between the traditional and modified scores of the biopsy and of the surgical specimen. RESULTS: Interobserver agreement in the biopsy was K = 0.36 and K = 0.35, and in the surgical specimen it was K = 0.46 and K = 0.36, for the traditional and modified scores, respectively. The tertiary Gleason grade was found in 8%, 0% and 2% of the biopsies and in 8%, 0% and 13% of the surgical specimens, according to observers 1, 2 and 3, respectively. When evaluating the agreement of the traditional and modified Gleason scores in needle biopsy with both scores of the surgical specimen, a similar agreement was found through Kappa. CONCLUSION: Contrary to what was expected, the modified Gleason score was not superior in the agreement between the biopsy score and the specimen, or in interobserver reproducibility, in this study.

Interobserver agreement of gleason score and modified gleason score in needle biopsy and in surgical specimen of prostate cancer

INTRODUCTION: Gleason score, which has a high interobserver variability, is used to classify prostate cancer. The most recent consensus valued the tertiary Gleason pattern and recommended its use in the final score of needle biopsies (modified Gleason score). This pattern is considered to be of high prognostic value in surgical specimens. This study emphasized the evaluation of the modified score agreement in needle biopsies and in surgical specimen, as well as the interobserver variability of this score MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three pathologists evaluated the slides of needle biopsies and surgical specimens of 110 patients, reporting primary, secondary and tertiary Gleason patterns and after that, traditional and modified Gleason scores were calculated. Kappa test (K) assessed the interobserver agreement and the agreement between the traditional and modified scores of the biopsy and of the surgical specimen RESULTS: Interobserver agreement in the biopsy was K = 0.36 and K = 0.35, and in the surgical specimen it was K = 0.46 and K = 0.36, for the traditional and modified scores, respectively. The tertiary Gleason grade was found in 8 percent, 0 percent and 2 percent of the biopsies and in 8 percent, 0 percent and 13 percent of the surgical specimens, according to observers 1, 2 and 3, respectively. When evaluating the agreement of the traditional and modified Gleason scores in needle biopsy with both scores of the surgical specimen, a similar agreement was found through Kappa CONCLUSION: Contrary to what was expected, the modified Gleason score was not superior in the agreement between the biopsy score and the specimen, or in interobserver reproducibility, in this study.

Kidney carcinoma associated with Xp11.2 translocation / TFE3 (ASPL-TFE3) gene fusion.

We report the case of a 58-year old patient, showing a solid image in the right kidney, who underwent radical nephrectomy that revealed neoplasia, whose pathological study led to the diagnosis of kidney carcinoma associated with Xp11.2 translocation / TFE3 (ASPL-TFE3) gene fusion. The authors discuss aspects related to this lesion, such as frequency, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, histopathology and outcome, as observed in the literature.

Kidney carcinoma associated with Xp11.2 translocation / TFE3 (ASPL-TFE3) gene fusion

We report the case of a 58-year old patient, showing a solid image in the right kidney, who underwent radical nephrectomy that revealed neoplasia, whose pathological study led to the diagnosis of kidney carcinoma associated with Xp11.2 translocation / TFE3 (ASPL-TFE3) gene fusion. The authors discuss aspects related to this lesion, such as frequency, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, histopathology and outcome, as observed in the literature.

Cholesteatoma of the upper urinary tract

We report the case of a 57-year old patient with complex cystic image in right kidney. Following radical nephrectomy, the pathological study established the diagnosis of renal cholesteatoma. We discuss the frequency, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, propedeutics, histological findings and proposes for intervention observed in the literature.

Cholesteatoma of the upper urinary tract.

We report the case of a 57-year old patient with complex cystic image in right kidney. Following radical nephrectomy, the pathological study established the diagnosis of renal cholesteatoma. We discuss the frequency, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, propedeutics, histological findings and proposes for intervention observed in the literature.

Beta defensin-1, parvalbumin, and vimentin: a panel of diagnostic immunohistochemical markers for renal tumors derived from gene expression profiling studies using cDNA microarrays.

The common histopathologic subtypes of renal epithelial neoplasms include conventional, or clear cell, renal cell carcinoma (RCC), papillary RCC, chromophobe RCC, and renal oncocytoma. These subtypes differ clinically and pathologically, making accurate classification important. However, this differential diagnosis can be challenging because of overlapping morphology, suggesting a potential utility for ancillary immunohistochemical markers. We used cDNA microarrays to identify candidate markers for distinguishing renal tumor subtypes. In this report we validated differential expression of three candidate markers, beta defensin-1, parvalbumin, and vimentin, and evaluated the use of this immunohistochemical panel as a potential diagnostic tool. Consistent with our cDNA microarray data, chromophobe RCCs and oncocytomas exhibited similar expression profiles: 8 of 8 examples of each subtype were immunohistochemically positive for beta defensin-1 and parvalbumin and negative for vimentin (sensitivity 100%, specificity 100%); 4 of 7 papillary RCCs were positive for beta defensin-1, parvalbumin, and vimentin (sensitivity 57%, specificity 97%); and 22 of 23 conventional RCCs were negative for beta defensin-1, parvalbumin, or both markers (sensitivity 96%, specificity 96%) as well as positive for vimentin (sensitivity 83%). The immunohistochemical panel distinguished renal tumor subtypes with greater specificity than any marker used alone. This work demonstrates that a useful panel of immunohistochemical markers can be derived from differential gene expression profiles determined using cDNA microarrays.

Morphologic criteria for the diagnosis of prostatic adenocarcinoma in needle biopsy specimens. A study of 250 consecutive cases in a routine surgical pathology practice.

CONTEXT: The diagnosis of prostate adenocarcinoma in needle core biopsy specimens is based on multiple diagnostic criteria and supportive features, most of which have been defined mainly from observations in transurethral resection and prostatectomy specimens. There is little information on the frequency with which diagnostic and supportive features of prostate cancer occur within benign glands. The few reports dealing with diagnostic criteria of cancer in needle biopsies have been largely confined to analysis of selected cases that posed particular diagnostic difficulty. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the frequency with which numerous diagnostic or supportive features of prostate cancer occur in an unselected, consecutively performed series of 18-gauge prostate needle biopsy specimens. DESIGN: Two hundred fifty consecutive 18-gauge prostate needle biopsy specimens (150 malignant and 100 benign) were evaluated, using hematoxylin-eosin-stained histologic sections. RESULTS: The frequency of the histologic features in malignant and benign glands was as follows: prominent nucleoli (94% and 25% of malignant and benign specimens, respectively), marginated nucleoli (88% and 7%), multiple nucleoli (64% and 0%), blue-tinged mucinous secretions (52% and 0%), intraluminal crystalloids (40.6% and 1%), intraluminal amorphous eosinophilic material (86.7% and 2%), collagenous micronodules (2% and 0%), glomerulations (15.3% and 0%), perineural invasion (22% and 0%), retraction clefting (38.6% and 7%), and invasion of fat (0.7% and 0%). CONCLUSIONS: Since not all diagnostic or supportive features of cancer are evident in any single case of cancer, particularly in needle biopsy specimens in which sampling is limited, awareness of these data would be helpful in the assessment of small foci of atypical glands being considered for cancer.