Correlation of the growth fraction, nucleolar organizer region counts and epidermal growth factor receptor with histomorphological prognostic criteria in breast cancer.

A total of 60 cases of breast cancer were studied to find the correlation between newer parameters of prognosis viz growth fraction (GF), nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) counts and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) positivity with the various histomorphological factors such as tumour size, nuclear grade, histological grade and mitoses. Growth fraction measured by Ki67 monoclonal antibody varied from 3.6 to 73.7 percent. AgNOR counts ranged from 1.2 to 16.9 dots per tumour cell nucleus with a mean of 6.26 dots. EGFR positivity was seen in 66.7% of cases. Ki67 score correlated with all prognostic variables studied except the presence of axillary metastases. AgNOR counts correlated with size of tumour, axillary lymph-node metastases and Ki67 score but no correlation was seen with histologic or nuclear grade. EGFR positivity correlated strongly with size of the tumour and weakly with Ki67 score, AgNOR counts and mitoses.

Morphologic and arteriographic changes in the pulmonary vasculature in children with congenital heart disease.

This study was undertaken to determine the morphologic changes occurring in the pulmonary vasculature in congenital heart disease. Autopsy was performed in twenty cases of congenital heart disease ranging in age from newborn (full term) to 14 years. Postmortem arteriography was performed in most of them followed by histomorphometry. It was found that medial hypertrophy of the muscular pulmonary arteries was the most consistent change and the smallest muscular arteries were the most severely affected. The lesions were focal and randomly distributed. Hence, morphologic observations on open lung biopsies may not be accurate.

Primary IgA nephropathy: a preliminary report.

A total of 106 renal biopsies were examined. Each biopsy was processed for routine paraffin sectioning and frozen sectioning. Direct immunofluorescence was done by the conventional method. The immunofluorescence patterns were correlated with histopathological changes and clinical presentation. Fourteen biopsies revealed weak to strong IgA staining and out of these, 11 seemed to fulfil the criteria of primary IgA nephropathy. These cases were diagnosed in a brief period of eleven months and there had not been any earlier published series from India.

Non-surgery related aspergillus native valvular endocarditis: report of two cases.

Two unusual cases of aspergillus valvular endocarditis without any history of cardiovascular surgery found at autopsy are reported. As there is a chance of dissemination, early diagnosis is important. Clinical awareness can lead to early recognition and effective treatment of this potentially lethal condition.

Pattern of hypertrophy of left ventricle--a histometric analysis of eighteen cases.

The pattern of myocardial hypertrophy in different sites of the left ventricular wall was morphometrically analysed in aortic stenosis (6 cases), hypertensive hypertrophy (5 cases), mitral incompetence (4 cases), and dilated cardiomyopathy (3 cases). The diameter of individual circumferentially oriented mid wall (or middle) fibre was significantly greater than those of subepicardial and subendocardial zones. Thus, hypertrophy does not affect the entire left ventricular myocardium uniformly. It seems to vary according to the spatial configuration of the fibrosis in relation to the cavity.

Class specific antinuclear antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

The incidence and significance of class specific antinuclear antibodies (ANA), specially with relevance to clinical manifestations of arthritis, renal disease and serositis was studied in 40 patients of systemic lupus erythematosus by the indirect immunofluorescent method. Clinical activity was scored by Morimoto's scoring system. A significant correlation was obtained between IgD ANA and clinical activity of the disease and IgG ANA exhibiting lupus pattern of immunofluorescence and serositis.

Intracardiac autonomic ganglion cells in leprosy and dilated cardiomyopathy.

Disturbances in cardiac autonomic functions are known to occur in patients of lepromatous leprosy and dilated cardiomyopathy. We have analyzed the number of cardiac autonomic ganglion cells in patients of lepromatous leprosy (2 cases), dilated cardiomyopathy (2 cases) and compared with those of control subjects (2 cases). The average number of ganglion cells in cases of dilated cardiomyopathy (1164) and leprosy (1138) did not show any significant deviation from the average neuronal number of control subjects (1352).

Transmural bowel infarction: a rare complication of aortic dissection.

A 50 year old hypertensive man presented with acute epigastric pain associated with massive gastrointestinal bleed and died within 48 hours of admission. Autopsy revealed transmural infarction of the gut due to a long aortic dissection.

Extrathoracic Castleman's disease.

Castleman's disease is an uncommon clinical entity. We report two cases of this disease with a brief review of literature. Both of them had extrathoracic disease which is relatively infrequent. One of them presented with localized hyaline vascular type of the disease and the other with the multicentric plasmacytic variety. The patient with the latter form of Castleman's disease had sclerodactyly, which has not been reported earlier in association with this disease.

Solitary ulcer syndrome of the rectum--a histopathologic characterisation of 33 biopsies.

Histological analysis of 33 rectal biopsies from 26 patients of solitary ulcer syndrome (SUS) of rectum was undertaken. Fibrous obliteration and smooth muscle extension into the lamina propria were the characteristic and most constant findings. The limitation of the biopsy procedure in procuring deeper tissue made the detection of colitis cystica profunda rare in our study. A combination of fibrosis of the lamina propria, superficial mucosal ulceration, muscularis mucosae hypertrophy and submucosal fibrosis, along with the clinical suspicion should clinch the diagnosis of SUS.

Catecholamine-induced experimental cardiomyopathy--a histopathological, histochemical and ultrastructural study.

An experimental model of myocardiopathy was induced in rhesus monkeys following noradrenaline (NA) infusion (20 ug/kg body wt/minute), for a period of 2 hours daily for three consecutive days. The animals were sacrificed after two hours (acute phase), forty-eight hours (sub-acute phase) and twenty-one days (chronic phase). Focal depletion of succinic dehydrogenase, increase in adenosine triphosphatase, acid phosphatase and appearance of large fat droplets in myocardial muscle was noted in the acute phase. Histopathological examination revealed focal edema, opacity and fuchsinorrhagia of the muscle fibres distributed in both the ventricles. Myofibrillar degeneration, myocytolysis and vacuolization with aggregation of lymphomononuclear cells were the significant features in the acute phase. During sub-acute and chronic phases, these features became less prominent and reparative changes with proliferation of fibroblasts became more marked. By the twenty-first day, irregular, focal scars replaced the necrosed myocardium. Ultrastructurally, heart muscle showed myofibrillar disorganisation, distortion of Z and A bands, dilatation of sarcoplasmic reticulum and swelling and rupture of mitochondria. Altered membrane permeability was evidenced by the presence of reaction products of horseradish peroxidase within the cardiac cells. In the reparative phase, however, myocytolytic changes regressed and collagen deposition was the prominent feature. This experimental study has several histological features simulating human cases of myocardial infarction without coronary occlusion.