The Histopathological Parameters Affecting Biochemical Recurrence in Radical Prostatectomies.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between biochemical recurrence and other histopathological factors in prostate cancer. STUDY DESIGN: Analytical study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Pathology and Urology Departments, Izmir Ataturk Training and Research Hospital, between 2001 - 2013. METHODOLOGY: 117 cases diagnosed with prostatic adenocarcinoma and treated by radical prostatectomy were reviewed retrospectively for histopathological features; whereas, other prognostic findings were noted. PSA levels and many other histopathological parameters were assessed in order to put forth their effect on biochemical recurrence. RESULTS: PSA level (p<0.001), tumor volume (p<0.001), Gleason score (p<0.001), extraprostatic extension (p<0.001), perineural invasion (p<0.001), ganglion involvement (p=0.040), vascular invasion (p<0.001), positive surgical margins (p<0.001), presence of tertiary pattern (p=0.004) and the involvement of the seminal vesicles (p<0.001) were found to be statistically related to the pathological stage. Age, perineural invasion, high grade tertiary pattern, intraluminal mucin, collagenous micronodules and foamy cytoplasmic changes were unrelated to recurrence. CONCLUSION: Histopathological features can be helpful in predicting prognosis in prostatic adenocarcinomas. However some of the histopathological factors such as intraluminal mucin and foamy cytoplasmic changes may not reflect high recurrence.

Clinicopathological diagnosis of orofacial granulomatosis.

Orofacial granulomatosis is a rare chronic inflammatory disorder characterized by persistent or recurrent soft tissue swellings, oral ulceration, and other orofacial features in the absence of an identifiable granulomatous disease. We report a case of a 61-year-old woman with recurrent ulcerations and swellings in her oral mucosa. She was diagnosed as orofacial granulomatosis based upon clinicopathological correlation after exclusion of other granulomatous diseases and showed a favorable response to systemic corticosteroid treatment.

Small Cell Carcinomas of the Bladder Highly Express Somatostatin Receptor Type 2A: Impact on Prognosis and Treatment--A Multicenter Study of Urooncology Society, Turkey.

Small cell carcinoma (SmCC) is a rare and aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma of the bladder. Neuroendocrine carcinomas expressing somatostatin receptors (SSTR) in other viscera such as lung, pancreas, and gastrointestinal system respond to therapy with somatostatin analogs. In the present study, expressions of SSTRs 1 to 5 including type 2A are investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and their relationship with clinicopathologic factors was evaluated. Hundred primary bladder SmCC cases were collected from 12 centers in Turkey. Forty-three cases were pure SmCC. Other cases had mostly papillary urothelial carcinoma as a second component. The percentage of the SmCC component ranged from 5% to 100%. SSTR-2A expression was membranous, whereas the other receptors showed cytoplasmic staining. The percentages of positive cases for SSTR-1, SSTR-2A, SSTR-3, SSTR-4, and SSTR-5 were 4% (3/75), 61.4% (54/88), 2.4% (2/84), 24.4% (20/82), and 6.25% (5/80), respectively. The percentage of SmCC component was positively correlated with the percentage of SSTR-2A expression (P=0.003) while negatively correlated with patient age (P=0.032). SSTR-2A expression was correlated with survival as a bad prognostic factor (P=0.018). SSTR-1, SSTR-3, SSTR-4, and SSTR-5 expressions did not show any statistical significance with any parameter. In conclusion, although the limited number of cases with adequate term follow-up, SSTR-2A expression could be a prognostic factor and somatostatin analogs therapeutic candidate for SmCCs of the bladder as these tumors show high percentage of SSTR-2A expression.

Primary inoculation tuberculosis: a report of a rare entity.

Primary inoculation tuberculosis is an exogenous infection resulting from direct inoculation of bacteria into individuals with no acquired immunity to the organism. We report a 63-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with primary inoculation tuberculosis on the basis of clinical appearance and histopathological examination. The findings from this case emphasize the importance of clinical and histopathological findings in this rarely seen form of skin tuberculosis if the organism cannot be shown to grow in culture.

Primary inoculation tuberculosis: a report of a rare entity

Primary inoculation tuberculosis is an exogenous infection resulting from direct inoculation of bacteria into individuals with no acquired immunity to the organism. We report a 63-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with primary inoculation tuberculosis on the basis of clinical appearance and histopathological examination. The findings from this case emphasize the importance of clinical and histopathological findings in this rarely seen form of skin tuberculosis if the organism cannot be shown to grow in culture.

Splenogonadal fusion: a very rare congenital anomaly in the differential diagnosis of a testicular mass.

Splenogonadal fusion is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by congenital fusion between the spleen and testicular tissue. In the literature, there are approximately 175 reported cases, and most of them are associated with cryptorchidism. In this article, we report an unusual case of splenogonadal fusion that was pre-diagnosed as a solid testicular mass in a patient who underwent orchiectomy.

Transglottic laryngeal paraganglioma: a rare location for this tumor.

Laryngeal paragangliomas are rare neoplasms that originate in the neural crest cells of the laryngeal paraganglia. Although the vast majority of these tumors are benign, they exhibit different types of biologic behavior that require different treatment modalities. Therefore, differentiation among these tumors is extremely important. We report a rare case of laryngeal paraganglioma that presented as a transglottic lesion in a 68-year-old man. The atypical location of the tumor led to difficulties in diagnosis and management. To the best of our knowledge, this is only the third such case to be reported in the English-language literature.

Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of urinary bladder; case presentation.

Large cell neuroendocrine tumor of the urinary bladder is very rare. It is a type of neuroendocrine carcinoma that is morphologically different from small cell carcinoma. This manuscript describes a 67-year-old man who presented with hematuria. Ultrasonogrophic and computer tomography revealed a 5 cm mass in right posterolateral wall of the bladder that invaded perivesical tissue and he subsequently underwent transurethral resection. Microscopic examination showed a tumor with a sheet-like and trabecular growth pattern comprising necrotic areas which infiltrated the muscularis propria. Tumoral cells had coarse chromatin, prominent nucleoli, moderate amount of cytoplasm and immunohistochemically stained strongly positive with synaptophysin, chromogranin and CD56. There are only few case reports of large cell neuroendocrine tumor of the urinary bladder so the biological behavior and the treatment protocol of these tumors are still obscure. Appropriate management protocols and prognostic estimation could be achived by the increased number of cases being reported. Therefore in a case of a poorly differentiated tumor in bladder, although rare, it is important to consider large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma in differential diagnosis.

Spider bite-induced erythema multiforme.

Erythema multiforme (EM) is an immune-mediated mucocutaneous eruption characterized by symmetrically distributed, polymorphic targetoid lesions, mostly on the distal parts of the extremities. It occurs mostly in the setting of an infection in certain predisposed individuals. A 30-year-old pregnant woman was presented with a necrotic erythematous lesion on her right thigh following a spider bite. As she was pregnant for 16 weeks, no systemic medication was given. On the 8th day of the spider bite an erythematous vesicular and targetoid rash was seen on the distal parts of her extremities. Based on the clinical and histopathological findings, lesions were diagnosed as EM. She had not used any medication for 4 months and she gave no prior history of herpetic infection. So her EM lesions were thought to be an ID reaction most probably due to the spider bite. As far as we know, this is the first reported case of EM induced by a spider bite.

Metastases of renal cell carcinoma to the larynx and thyroid: Two case reports on metastasis developing years after nephrectomy.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has a high metastatic potential due to its hematogen and vascular features. It metastasizes frequently to the lungs, the bones, the liver, the lymph nodes and the brain. Metastasis of RCC to the head and neck region is quite rare. In this case report, two RCC patients with head and neck metastases are presented: one occurring after 5 years and the other occurring 17 years after diagnosis.

Nucleophosmin expression in renal cell carcinoma and oncocytoma.

The objective of this study was to investigate nucleophosmin/B23 (NPM) expression in renal cell carcinomas (RCC) and renal oncocytomas. The expression of NPM was studied by immunohistochemical methods on 59 RCCs, 9 oncocytomas, and 19 tumour-negative renal tissues. The expression was assessed relative to various clinicopathological variables and histological subtypes, to determine its potential role as a prognostic and diagnostic marker. All tumours showed nuclear staining, and a minority also exhibited cytoplasmic immunoreactivity. Two patterns of nuclear staining were observed: nuclear staining with a prominent nucleolus (nucleolar staining) and nuclear staining without a prominent nucleolus. There were significant differences, in both nuclear staining and cytoplasmic NPM expression, between oncocytomas and chromophobe RCCs (p < 0.001) and clear cell RCCs (p < 0.001). Cytoplasmic NPM expression was markedly lower in RCCs than in oncocytomas. A statistically significant correlation was discovered between nucleolar staining and nuclear grade (p < 0.001, r = 0.5). No relationship was found between cytoplasmic expression of NPM and any of the clinicopathological parameters or survival. NPM might be a useful immunohistochemical marker for differential diagnosis between oncocytoma and chromophobe RCC. In addition, increased nucleolar NPM expression in RCCs appears to be associated with tumour progression.

A case of recurrent impetigo herpetiformis treated with systemic corticosteroids and narrowband UVB.

Impetigo herpetiformis is a rare pustular eruption with usual onset during the third trimester of pregnancy. The disease tends to remit after delivery, but may recur in subsequent pregnancies. Here we present a recurrent case of impetigo herpetiformis with earlier onset and poor response to corticosteroids in the subsequent pregnancy. She had widespread, erythematosquamous patches with tiny superficial pustules in the third trimester of her first pregnancy. Histopathological and clinical findings were consistent with impetigo herpetiformis. She was treated with systemic prednisolone and had a healthy baby without any complication. Three years later, the patient presented with impetigo herpetiformis again in the second trimester of her second pregnancy. After six weeks of oral prednisolone treatment, the lesions improved, but there were still new pustule formations and narrowband ultraviolet B treatment was added. Skin eruption cleared and she had a healthy baby in the 38th week of her second pregnancy. The corticosteroid dose was tapered gradually and stopped after delivery. Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial in impetigo herpetiformis because of the risk of maternal and fetal complications. When prednisolone is not enough to control the eruption alone, narrowband UVB can safely be added to the treatment.

Cutaneous and subcutaneous metastases from bladder carcinoma.

Cutaneous metastases of bladder carcinoma are very rare. The rate of cutaneous metastasis in urologic malignancies is 1.3% and this rate was found to be 0.84% for bladder carcinomas. Cutaneous metastasis of bladder carcinoma can be confused with cellulitis. This case report presents a 60-year-old patient operated on for bladder carcinoma and undergoing treatment for cellulitis because of erythematous lesions appearing in the suprapubic region in the early postoperative period. As there was no response to antibiotic treatment, skin biopsy was performed and cutaneous metastasis was diagnosed. Subsequently, chemotherapy with carboplatin and gemcitabine was started. The prognosis of bladder carcinoma with cutaneous metastasis has been reported to be poor.

Progressive symmetrical erythrokeratoderma - response to topical calcipotriol.

BACKGROUND: Progressive symmetrical erythrokeratoderma is characterized by well-demarcated, symmetrically distributed, erythtematous and hyperkeratotic plaques. Treatment options are topical retinoids, emollients, keratolytics and topical corticosteroids with limited or no success. Oral retinoids have been shown to be successful in some cases, but recurrence is to be expected on cessation of therapy. Topical calcipotriol is an established mode of treatment for psoriasis and also reported to be effective in many hyperkeratotic skin diseases. MAIN OBSERVATIONS: A 20-year-old female patient presented with reddish-brown lesions in her axillae, groins, submammary regions and on the eyelids. Clinical and histological findings were consistent with the diagnosis of progressive symmetrical erythrokeratoderma. She had noted that her lesions did not improve with topically applied steroids and emollients. We recommended our patient to use topical calcipotriol and observed a remarkable improvement within two weeks. CONCLUSION: When compared with the other treatment modalities, topical calcipotriol is a safe and effective drug with minimal side effects and it would be a good alternative.

The enigmatic role of nucleophosmin in malignant melanoma: does it have an effect?

BACKGROUND: Melanoma is quite a heterogeneous group of diseases of the skin. Prognostic markers of tumor behavior are important to precisely assign individual patients for appropriate treatment protocols. AIM: The aim of our first study was to investigate nucleophosmin expression in melanoma patients and to determine its relationship with the tumor characteristics and patient prognosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the immunohistochemical expression of nucleophosmin in 55 melanoma patients. The immunostaining pattern was classified into two groups: Diffuse nuclear and nucleolar relocalization. We also investigated the relationship between the expression of nucleophosmin and the clinicopathological parameters such as Clark level, tumor thickness, stage, histological type, location, and survey. RESULTS: In all cases the neoplastic cells were strongly positive for nucleophosmin (14 cases diffuse nuclear, 41 cases nucleolar relocalization). No correlation was demonstrated between the expression pattern of nucleophosmin and the clinicopathological parameters and survey. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of our results, nevertheless, are that the immunohistochemical detection of nucleophosmin is not a valuable tool for predicting the outcome of patients with melanoma or identifying subgroups of patients who may be at a higher risk.

Sarcomatoid chromophobe renal cell carcinoma with osteosarcoma-like differentiation which presented as a retroperitoneal mass: a case report.

Sarcomatoid component can occur in all histological subtypes of renal cell carcinoma but most commonly accompanies chromophobe renal cell carcinoma. The majority of the sarcomatoid components consist of malignant fibrous histiocytoma, fibrosarcoma or undifferentiated sarcoma areas. Heterologous differentiation in the form of osteosarcoma or rhabdomyosarcoma is very rarely encountered. We report a very rare case of a chromophobe renal cell carcinoma with osteosarcomatous differentiation that presented as a retroperitoneal mass. Renal cell carcinoma with sarcomatoid change should be always kept in mind when a retroperitoneal mass with sarcomatoid differentiation is encountered.

Malakoplakia of the prostate diagnosed by elevated PSA level and transrectal prostate biopsy.

Malakoplakia is an inflammation which is thought to develop secondary to chronic Escherichia coli infections. Although often seen in the genitourinary tract, it can also be seen in colon, stomach, lung, liver, bone, uterus, and skin. In this case report, we present prostatic malakoplakia diagnosed by elevated prostate-specific antigen level and transrectal prostate biopsy.

Papillary renal cell carcinoma with lipocyte-like cells: a rare morphological variant or an indication of aggressiveness?

Papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC) is the second most common carcinoma of the kidney, which is classified into two types. Type 1 displays single layer of cells with scanty pale cytoplasm and type 2 has pseudostratified high-grade nuclei with eosinophilic cytoplasm. Recently, apart from these two types, oncocytic PRCC and clear-cell PRCC have been described. To the best of our knowledge, lipocyte-like cells have not yet been reported to accompany any subtypes of renal cell carcinoma. Herein, we report a case of PRCC with lipocyte-like cells and sarcomatoid features. Lipocyte-like cells might represent a special type of PRCC or this feature may be an indication of poor prognosis regarding its association with sarcomatoid change.