Bilharziasis and bladder cancer: a time trend analysis of 9843 patients

To explore any changes in bladder carcinoma during 37 years period, in regard to: its frequency, bilharzia association, histological profile and demographic data. This is a retrospective study on 9843 patients treated at the National Cancer Institute [NCI], Cairo University, during the years 1970-2007. Three groups were selected: series [A] included 3212 patients during 1970-1974, series [B] 3988 patients during 1985-1989 and series [C] 2643 patients during 2003-2007. For statistical analysis, data of series [A], [B] and [C] were compared to determine the significance of difference [p value 0.005]. A significant decline of the relative frequency of bladder cancer was observed from 27.63% in the old series to 11.7% in the recent series. Bilharzia association dropped from 82.4% to 55.3%. There was a significant rise of transitional cell carcinomas from 16.0% to 65.8%, becoming at present the most common tumor type, with a significant decrease in squamous cell carcinomas from 75.9% to 28.4%. There was an increase in the median age of patients from 47.4 years to 60.5 years and a decrease of male: female [M/F] ratio from 5.4 to 3.3. The decline in the relative frequency of bladder cancer is associated with a decline in bilharzia egg positivity in the specimen and is probably related to better control of bilharziasis in the rural population in Egypt. This was accompanied by a change in the histological profile of tumors, with significant predominance of transitional cell carcinoma and an increase in the age of patients, a pattern rather similar to that in western reports

Primary lymphomas of the small intestine in Egyptian patients: an immunologic study

The cytoplasmic immunoglobulin profile was determined for 25 cases of primary lymphomas of small intestine using an ABC immune peroxidase system on paraffin sections. Fifteen cases were positive for alpha heavy chain [9 of them were also negative for Kappa and Lambda light chains and 6 were positive for kappa and lambda]. The histologic and immunologic features varied according to the site of the tumor in the small intestine. Thus, in the 13 cases arising in the jejunum, 12 were positive for alpha-heavy chain. The histologic picture of these jejunal tumors were 10 diffuse large cleaved and non-cleaved and 3 cases were immunoblastic. Conversely, in the other 12 cases arising from the ileum, only 3 were positive for alpha-heavy chain reaction [all were also +ve for light chain reaction]. Histologically, the ileal tumors included 9 small non-cleaved, one immunoblast lymphoma, one mixed, and one large non-cleaved lymphoma. All 9 cases of small non-cleaved lymphomas were negative for alpha-heavy chain as well as light chain reactions. Thus, the diagnostic criteria of Mediterranean lymphoma [IPSID] must include clinical history of malabsorption, tumor site at proximal part of small intestine and large cell type histology. However, the alpha-heavy chain parameter appears to be variable and nonspecific

Cancer larynx: a Clinicopathological study of 120 cases

A prospective study of 120 patients with carcinoma of the larynx was presented.Thesymptomatology,clinicalpresentation and the modalities of treatment were discussed

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of soft tissue

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is a common soft tissue sarcoma characterised by mixed fibro-histiocytic cells and storiform pattern. Its frequency in Egypt to other soft tissue sarcomas has not been previously reported. A retrospective study was done on 70 cases of soft tissue sarcomas registered at the Department of Pathology, National Cancer Institute of Cairo University. The records as well as the pathologic material of this series were revised. Out of these 70 sarcomas, twelve showed the morphological, features of malignant fibrous histiocytoma; a relative frequency of 17.1. Ten cases were previously mistyped as fibrosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and other sarcomas. The tumors were located at the lower limb [8], retroperitoneum [3] and head and neck regions [1] .Their sizes varied from 1 cm. to 15 cm. The average patient's age was 50.6 years, and the male sex predominated [11: 1]. The management and prognosis of this recently recognised tumor is outlined