p40 in Conjunction With CK20 and E-Cadherin Distinguishes Primary Adnexal Neoplasms of the Skin.

Although basal cell carcinomas (BCC) show typical histomorphologic features, they sometimes remain difficult in distinction from benign adnexal skin tumors of follicular origin like trichoepithelioma (TE) or trichoblastoma (TB). Consequently, an immunohistochemical marker panel separating described entities would be helpful in clinical routine. Thus, we stained 22 skin lesions (BCC, TE, and TB) against ß-catenin, CK20, E-cadherin, p40, and p63. The staining pattern was described and quantified using an immunohistochemical score. Although p40 and p63 revealed a strong staining intensity of all skin lesions without distinction between BCC and benign lesions (P=1.000), established Merkel cell marker CK20 illustrated a loss of staining in BCC compared with TE and TB (P=0.007). In contrast, BCC exhibited an increased expression of E-cadherin in relation to TE and TB (P=0.009). Single application of CK20 or E-cadherin could predict diagnosis of BCC in 81.8% or 72.7%, respectively. Combining consecutive staining of E-cadherin and CK20 could even enhance specificity toward diagnosis of TE or TB. Hence, findings of our study imply that sequential staining of CK20 and E-cadherin prevents false-positive classification of BCC. Furthermore, our study demonstrated that p40 exhibits the same staining pattern in BCC, TE, and TB. Therefore, p40 might replace p63 equivalently establishing diagnosis of primary adnexal neoplasms of the skin in the form of BCC as well as benign adnexal tumors. As a result, the depicted immunohistochemical marker panel may be applied for adnexal skin neoplasms as a diagnostic adjunct especially in surgically challenging body regions.

Inguinal Hernias Represent the Most Frequent Surgical Complication after Kasai in Biliary Atresia Infants.

Biliary atresia (BA) is an orphan medical condition of the newborn, resulting in end-stage liver cirrhosis due to obliterative cholangiopathy of the extrahepatic bile duct. Although Kasai's hepatoportoenterostomy (KPE) is the well-established first-line therapy, little is known about its surgical complications. 153 patients receiving open KPE treated at a single center between 1994 and 2014 were analysed retrospectively regarding short-term complications and survival with the native liver. In brief, 40.5% of patients suffered from 1-3 surgical complications, inguinal hernias (IH) being most prevalent (40.0%). In BA patients, incidence of IH was associated with male gender (p = 0.002), the syndromic form of BA (p = 0.038), and percutaneous drainage for ascites (p = 0.002). No association was found with prematurity (p = 0.074) or birth weight (p = 0.912) in our study. In conclusion, IH frequently develops after open KPE of BA patients, but this complication does not negatively affect the patient's outcome. Nevertheless, inspection of the internal inguinal ring and prophylactic closure of inapparent hernias should be discussed in order to prevent secondary surgical procedures.

Development of a standardized trauma-related lung injury model.

BACKGROUND: The pathophysiology of acute lung injury is multifactorial, and the mechanisms are difficult to prove. We have devised a study of two known and standardized animal models (hemorrhagic shock [HS] and oleic acid [OA]) to more closely reproduce the pathophysiology of posttraumatic acute lung injury. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Pressure-controlled HS (group HS) was performed by withdrawing blood over 15-min until mean arterial pressure reached 35 mm Hg for 90 min. In an additional group, HS and standardized lung injury induced by OA were combined (group lung injury [HS + OA]). After the shock period, both groups were resuscitated over 15 min by transfusion of the removed blood and an equal volume of lactate Ringer solution. The end point was 6 h. Plasma interleukin (IL)-6, keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC), IL-10, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and lung histology were carried out. RESULTS: The posttraumatic lung injury group demonstrated significantly higher IL-6 levels when compared with HS group (744.8 ± 104 versus 297.7 ± 134 pg/mL; P = 0.004). Histologic analysis confirmed diffuse alveolar congestion and moderate-to-severe lung edema in animals with HS + OA. Lung injury was mild in mice with isolated HS or OA injection. CONCLUSIONS: We established a posttraumatic lung injury model combining two different standardized protocols (HS and OA). This model leads to pronounced inflammation and lung injury. This model allows the analysis of the dynamics of sterile lung injury and associated organ dysfunction.