Cytomorphologic patterns in papillary cystic variant of acinic cell carcinoma of the salivary gland.

OBJECTIVE: To study the cytomorphologic profile of the papillary and cystic variant of acinic cell carcinoma (ACC-PCV) of the salivary glands. STUDY DESIGN: We studied 6 aspirates from 5 cases of ACC-PCV. RESULTS: All the cases had varied cytomorphologic features depending upon the degree of vacuolation of cells. However, common to all was a papillary pattern and a cystic fluid background with or without mucin blobs; that led to misdiagnosing the tumor as mucoepidermoid carcinoma on 2 occasions. The smears showed papillary fragments, sheets or clusters of vacuolated/histiocyte like cells and granular cells. The histiocytelike cells resembled macrophages, with finely vacuolated cytoplasm and an eccentrically placed nucleus with frequent binucleation. Vascular cores were seen in a few aspirates. The granular cells were similar to those seen in the usual acinic cell carcinoma but were smaller. The tumor did not show any acinar pattern and lacked naked nuclei in the background. In 4 aspirates finely distributed, brown hemosiderin pigment was detected in the vacuolated cells. CONCLUSION: ACC-PCV is papillary and cystic and hence is often not recognized as acinic cell carcinoma. However, papillary fragments of vacuolated cells or histiocytelike cells and granular cells are clues to the diagnosis.

A Survivor of Neonatal Intestinal Mucormycosis.

Gastrointestinal mucormycosis (GIM) is a rare opportunistic fungal infection. One third of all patients are children and of these, 50% are infants. The most common clinical mimic is necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). It has to be differentiated from this entity as the treatment is entirely different. High index of suspicion by the clinicians and the pathologists aids in early diagnosis and immediate treatment. If untreated, it has a frequent fatal outcome. Very few survivors of GIM are found in literature. We report a rare case of a surviving neonate of GIM.

An Unusual Presacral Cyst in An Infant.

The neurenteric cyst is a rare developmental lesion arising as a result of persistence of the neurenteric canal. It usually presents in the second and third decade. Lesions occurring in children are rare. Majority of the cases presented with signs of spinal cord involvement. This is a rare case of neurenteric cyst in an infant who presented with a presacral mass. A nine-month-old female had an antenatally diagnosed sacrococcygeal lesion. Radiology suggested a diagnosis of sacrococcygeal teratoma. Histology was typical of a neurenteric cyst. We report this case to create awareness about this rare cystic lesion and inclusion of this entity in the differential diagnosis of cystic masses in children at this location.

Fetus in fetu: an institutional experience.

The objective of this article is to present an analysis of cases of fetus in fetu (FIF) diagnosed at our institute and to compare our data to that of the published literature. This is a retrospective analysis of cases of FIF diagnosed at our institute from January 2000 to December 2012. Details of clinical and investigational data pertaining to cases of FIF were retrieved from hospital records, and were analyzed and summarized. Literature was reviewed and our data were compared to that of published cases. We evaluated seven cases (4 males and 3 females) of FIF during the study period. The age of patients ranged from two days to 15 years. The most common site of occurrence in our study was the retroperitoneum, with the most common presenting feature being an abdominal mass. Radiology showed a solid-cystic mass. Pathologic findings were diagnostic of FIF. Most findings of our study matched with those reported in literature. The condition of FIF must be included in the differential diagnosis of abdominal masses, especially in children. This entity must be differentiated from the more commonly occurring teratoma, which can be done based on its unique clinical, radiologic, and pathologic characteristics. To our knowledge, this is the longest series of cases of FIF reported from a single institute.

Sirenomelia with oesophageal atresia: a rare association.

We are reporting a rare case of sirenomelia with oesophageal atresia. Sirenomelia is a lethal sporadic defect of which lower gastrointestinal tract anomalies are characteristic findings. Respiratory and upper gastrointestinal tract malformations like oesophageal atresia occur in about 20-35% of cases. Though its occurrence has been described, it has been reported only rarely. This report aims at describing this uncommon association along with its histological features.

Primary thyroid schwannoma masquerading as a thyroid nodule.

The thyroid gland is a very rare site for head and neck schwannomas. Till date there have been only 19 reported cases in English literature. Only 25% of schwannomas occur in the head and neck region, most of them arising in relation to the peripheral nerves and cervical sympathetic chain. We report a similar case, with clinical and sonological features of a benign thyroid nodule. The diagnosis of schwannoma was established on the final histopathology report and a review of the slides and the imaging was done to confirm the site of origin. A thorough review of earlier reported cases was done. We summarize the existing knowledge on this entity, emphasizing the challenge of diagnosing it pre-operatively.

Multifocal nephrogenic adenoma ­ a mimicker of malignancy.

The authors report a multifocal nephrogenic adenoma of urinary bladder in an 11-y-old girl. Nephrogenic adenomas occur almost exclusively in the urinary bladder in children and are rarely multifocal. Less than 30 cases of nephrogenic adenomas have been reported in children and very few of these are multifocal. This report aims at drawing attention to this rare entity in children.