[Collecting duct carcinoma]. / Das Ductus-Bellini-Karzinom.

Collecting duct carcinoma (Bellini duct carcinoma) is a very rare disease with poor prognosis. Primary tumor surgery is not advisable, even though it is the therapy of choice for suspected malignant space-occupying renal masses. Chemotherapy seems to be inferior to new therapeutic concepts based on single case reports. Immunotherapy with nivolumab and axitinib and additive radiotherapy significantly prolongs survival. At the same time, targeted therapy with cabozantinib seems promising. However, due to the short median survival and the side effects of these therapies, a purely supportive approach should be discussed. It should be decided with the patient whether a systemic therapy should be started or whether a palliative, supportive therapy concept offers more quality of life.

[Reality of care of colorectal cancer in the State of Brandenburg : With special consideration of the number of hospital cases and certification as a colorectal cancer center]. / Die Versorgungsrealität des kolorektalen Karzinoms im Bundesland Brandenburg : Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Krankenhausfallzahlen und Zertifizierung als Darmkrebszentrum.

Analysis of the quality of care for colorectal cancer is an essential foundation for further development and is based on the comparison of the goals set and the actual quality of care. This publication presents the reality of care in the State of Brandenburg covering the complete spectrum of treating clinics based on the data of the clinical cancer register. This study analyzed the number of resected and examined lymph nodes, the quality of total mesorectal excision (TME), the residual tumor (R0) resection rate and the proportion of adjuvant therapy of colon cancer in Union internationale contre le cancer (UICC) stage III depending on the operation quota of hospitals and the certification as bowel cancer center according to Onkozert. Apart from the R status, the analyses showed no differences in the qualitative operation data from the clinical cancer register depending on the hospital volume.

Eosinophil Counts in Mucosal Biopsies of the Ileum and Colon: Interobserver Variance Affects Diagnostic Accuracy.

Primary eosinophilic gastroenteritis and colitis (EGE) is a rare entity with unspecific clinical and endoscopic findings. Validated histopathologic criteria for confirming the diagnosis are lacking, because numeric values for normal or elevated concentrations of eosinophils in mucosal biopsies are varying between observers. To quantify this interobserver variance, we had the same set of 30 slides of eosinophilic-rich mucosal biopsies from the ileum and colon systematically reviewed by a panel of six independent pathologists, each with more than a ten-year experience in the field. Using a highly standardized biopsy and slide preparation protocol, we ruled out any influence by the preparation, the patient, the endoscopist, the endoscopes and calipers used, the sampling site, the fixation and staining method, and the microscopic field sizes. Still, all numeric results differed between pathologists up to a factor greater than 30. Calculated positive or negative diagnosis of EGE differed up to a factor greater than 8. A theoretical incidence for EGE calculated from these numbers differed by a factor greater than 1500. We conclude that eosinophil counts in mucosal biopsies from the lower gastrointestinal tract are subject to a very high interobserver variance. Until further research provides objective and validated methods for standardization, all epidemiologic numbers derived from histopathologic findings may have to be questioned. When diagnosing individual patients with EGE, overall morphologic picture together with clinical and endoscopic findings is more important than numeric eosinophil count.

Predictive chromosomal clusters of synchronous and metachronous brain metastases in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Synchronous (early) and metachronous (late) brain metastasis (BM) events of sporadic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) (n = 148) were retrospectively analyzed using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). Using oncogenetic tree models and cluster analyses, chromosomal imbalances related to recurrence-free survival until BM (RFS-BM) were analyzed. Losses at 9p and 9q appeared to be hallmarks of metachronous BM events, whereas an absence of detectable chromosomal changes at 3p was often associated with synchronous BM events. Correspondingly, k-means clustering showed that cluster 1 cases generally exhibited low copy number chromosomal changes that did not involve 3p. Cluster 2 cases had a high occurrence of -9p/-9q (94-98%) deletions, whereas cluster 3 cases had a higher frequency of copy number changes, including loss at chromosome 14 (80%). The higher number of synchronous cases in cluster 1 was also associated with a significantly shorter RFS-BM compared with clusters 2 and 3 (P = 0.02). Conversely, a significantly longer RFS-BM was observed for cluster 2 versus clusters 1 and 3 (P = 0.02). Taken together, these data suggest that metachronous BM events of ccRCC are characterized by loss of chromosome 9, whereas synchronous BM events may form independently of detectable genetic changes at chromosomes 9 and 3p.