Spinal dysraphism in an early missed abortion: embryofetoscopic diagnosis.

Embryofetoscopy is an endoscopic technique that enables direct visualization and morphologic study of embryos during the first trimester and allows a selective tissue sample to be obtained. We describe an early missed abortion in the first trimester, apparently without cause according to findings at ultrasound. Embryofetoscopy revealed a remarkable dorsal cystic formation covered by a blood clot in the thoracolumbar region of the spine, suggestive of meningocele or myelomeningocele. A selective tissue biopsy specimen of the cystic lesion demonstrated meningeal tissue such as a meningocele. Embryofetoscopy in missed abortion could provide information about the causes of severe defects in embryo development so that parents can be effectively advised insofar as future pregnancies.

Synchronous bilateral multifocal canalicular adenoma: a case report of an unusual finding.

Canalicular adenoma is a benign neoplasm of the minor salivary glands. The most common site is the upper lip, and the adenoma usually appears as a single lesion. Few cases of multiple foci of canalicular adenoma (CA) have been reported in literature. We report a case of a 78-year-old woman with CA of the nasolabial wrinkle on both sides of the nose, which occurred at the same time. The lesions recurred after about 1 year. This report adds to the literature another case of multiple, bilateral CA with synchronous occurrence.

Extraskeletal chondroma of the masseter muscle: a case report with review of the literature.

The authors report a case of soft tissue chondroma of the masseter muscle in a 49-year-old man. The tumour was entirely composed of lobules of hyaline cartilage. The literature on head and neck soft tissue chondroma is also reviewed. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of muscular soft tissue chondroma in the head and neck region.

C-kit protein expression in Wilms' tumour: an immunohistochemical study.

AIM: The use of a non-toxic tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitor, Imatinib Mesylate (IM), has become an ever-more common therapeutic alternative in some Kit (CD117) over-expressing neoplasms. As the treatment eligibility for these drugs hinges on CD117 expression, Kit immunostaining has recently been widely examined in various tumours. There are only limited data in the literature on the expression of c-kit expression in Wilms' Tumour. We examined CD117 expression in Wilms' tumour in order to correlate this marker with clinico-pathological data and to clarify its prognostic impact. METHODS: This study included 40 cases of Wilms' tumour. Sections from paraffin-embedded tumour samples were immunostained by standard ABC technique using c-kit polyclonal antibody with antigen retrieval. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: In the case of C-kit positive examples, the staining was focal, with patch distribution. On univariate analysis, significantly higher c-kit expression was observed in neoplasms in a more advanced stage of development than those in a less advanced stage (p=0.0055). In addition, over-expression of this marker was significantly correlated with the death of patients (p=0.0294) and recurrences of disease (p=0.0118). Moreover, all our Wilms' tumour anaplastic subtypes showed over-expression of c-kit and this was significantly higher than in favourable histology examples (p=0.0182). The results of multivariate analysis, instead, did not reveal any correlation of c-kit expression and prognosis. In our opinion these results could be due to the number of cases considered which is not particularly high. However, it seems likely that c-kit expression could be a secondary event related to tumour progression and could be influenced by chemotherapy and unfavourable histology.