ABSTRACT
Background@#The Korean Society for Cytopathology introduced a digital proficiency test (PT) in 2021. However, many doubtful opinions remain on whether digitally scanned images can satisfactorily present subtle differences in the nuclear features and chromatin patterns of cytological samples. @*Methods@#We prepared 30 whole-slide images (WSIs) from the conventional PT archive by a selection process for digital PT. Digital and conventional PT were performed in parallel for volunteer institutes, and the results were compared using feedback. To assess the quality of cytological assessment WSIs, 12 slides were collected and scanned using five different scanners, with four cytopathologists evaluating image quality through a questionnaire. @*Results@#Among the 215 institutes, 108 and 107 participated in glass and digital PT, respectively. No significant difference was noted in category C (major discordance), although the number of discordant cases was slightly higher in the digital PT group. Leica, 3DHistech Pannoramic 250 Flash, and Hamamatsu NanoZoomer 360 systems showed comparable results in terms of image quality, feature presentation, and error rates for most cytological samples. Overall satisfaction was observed with the general convenience and image quality of digital PT. @*Conclusions@#As three-dimensional clusters are common and nuclear/chromatin features are critical for cytological interpretation, careful selection of scanners and optimal conditions are mandatory for the successful establishment of digital quality assurance programs in cytology.
ABSTRACT
The cytological diagnosis of lymph node lesions is extremely challenging because of the diverse diseases that cause lymph node enlargement, including both benign and malignant or metastatic lymphoid lesions. Furthermore, the cytological findings of different lesions often resemble one another. A stepwise diagnostic approach is essential for a comprehensive diagnosis that combines: clinical findings, including age, sex, site, multiplicity, and ultrasonography findings; low-power reactive, metastatic, and lymphoma patterns; high-power population patterns, including two populations of continuous range, small monotonous pattern and large monotonous pattern; and disease-specific diagnostic clues including granulomas and lymphoglandular granules. It is also important to remember the histological features of each diagnostic category that are common in lymph node cytology and to compare them with cytological findings. It is also essential to identify a few categories of diagnostic pitfalls that often resemble lymphomas and easily lead to misdiagnosis, particularly in malignant small round cell tumors, poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinomas, and nasopharyngeal undifferentiated carcinoma. Herein, we review a stepwise approach for fine needle aspiration cytology of lymphoid diseases and suggest a diagnostic algorithm that uses this approach and the Sydney classification system.
ABSTRACT
Background/Aims@#Colorectal cancer (CRC) rate increases with aging. Aging-related proteins, such as sirtuins (SIRTs) may be a potential therapeutic target in the elderly patients with CRC. The clinical implications of SIRT1 and SIRT2 have not been reported for elderly patients with cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of expression of SIRT1 and SIRT2 on clinical outcome in two extreme age groups of patients with CRC. @*Methods@#The expression of SIRT1 and SIRT2 were evaluated in CRC tissues of 101 patients aged ≥ 80 years and 29 patients aged ≤ 40 years by immunohistochemistry. We defined the patients aged ≥ 80 years as the very elderly and patients aged ≤ 40 years as the young patients. Correlations between the expression of these proteins and clinicopathological features were analyzed. @*Results@#The prognosis for the very elderly patients with high expressions of SIRT1 was significantly worse than that for patients showing low expression (median survival, 24.9 months vs. 38.6 months, p = 0.027) whereas high expression of SIRT2 better prognosis (median survival, 37.9 months vs. 17.3 months, p = 0.006). However, the young patients did not show any difference in prognosis according to expression of SIRT1 and SIRT2. In multivariate analysis, high SIRT1 expression retained statistical significance as a poor prognostic factor in the very elderly patients with CRC. @*Conclusions@#The results suggest that high SIRT1 expression could be predictive of a poor outcome for very elderly patients with CRC.
ABSTRACT
Digital pathology (DP) is no longer an unfamiliar term for pathologists, but it is still difficult for many pathologists to understand the engineering and mathematics concepts involved in DP. Computer-aided pathology (CAP) aids pathologists in diagnosis. However, some consider CAP a threat to the existence of pathologists and are skeptical of its clinical utility. Implementation of DP is very burdensome for pathologists because technical factors, impact on workflow, and information technology infrastructure must be considered. In this paper, various terms related to DP and computer-aided pathologic diagnosis are defined, current applications of DP are discussed, and various issues related to implementation of DP are outlined. The development of computer-aided pathologic diagnostic tools and their limitations are also discussed.
ABSTRACT
The Korean Society for Cytopathology has conducted the Continuous Quality Improvement program for cytopathology laboratories in Korea since 1995. In 2018 as part of the program, an annual survey of cytologic data was administered to determine the current status of cytopathology practices in Korea. Methods: A questionnaire was administered to 211 cytopathology laboratories. Individual laboratories submitted their annual statistics regarding cytopathology practices, diagnoses of gynecologic samples, inadequacy rates, and gynecologic cytology-histology correlation review (CHCR) data for 2018. In addition, proficiency tests and sample adequacy assessments were conducted using five consequent gynecologic slides. Results: Over 10 million cytologic exams were performed in 2018, and this number has almost tripled since this survey was first conducted in 2004 (compounded annual growth rate of 7.2%). The number of non-gynecologic samples has increased gradually over time and comprised 24% of all exams. The overall unsatisfactory rate was 0.14%. The ratio of the cases with atypical squamous cells to squamous intraepithelial lesions accounted for up to 4.24. The major discrepancy rate of the CHCR in gynecologic samples was 0.52%. In the proficiency test, the major discrepancy rate was approximately 1%. In the sample adequacy assessment, a discrepancy was observed in 0.1% of cases. Conclusions: This study represents the current status of cytopathology practices in Korea, illustrating the importance of the Continuous Quality Improvement program for increasing the accuracy and credibility of cytopathologic exams as well as developing national cancer exam guidelines and government projects on the prevention and treatment of cancer.
ABSTRACT
Background@#Immunohistochemistry (IHC) has played an essential role in the diagnosis of hematolymphoid neoplasms. However, IHC interpretations can be challenging in daily practice, and exponentially expanding volumes of IHC data are making the task increasingly difficult. We therefore developed a machine-learning expert-supporting system for diagnosing lymphoid neoplasms. @*Methods@#A probabilistic decision-tree algorithm based on the Bayesian theorem was used to develop mobile application software for iOS and Android platforms. We tested the software with real data from 602 training and 392 validation cases of lymphoid neoplasms and compared the precision hit rates between the training and validation datasets. @*Results@#IHC expression data for 150 lymphoid neoplasms and 584 antibodies was gathered. The precision hit rates of 94.7% in the training data and 95.7% in the validation data for lymphomas were not statistically significant. Results in most B-cell lymphomas were excellent, and generally equivalent performance was seen in T-cell lymphomas. The primary reasons for lack of precision were atypical IHC profiles for certain cases (e.g., CD15-negative Hodgkin lymphoma), a lack of disease-specific markers, and overlapping IHC profiles of similar diseases. @*Conclusions@#Application of the machine-learning algorithm to diagnosis precision produced acceptable hit rates in training and validation datasets. Because of the lack of origin- or disease- specific markers in differential diagnosis, contextual information such as clinical and histological features should be taken into account to make proper use of this system in the pathologic decision-making process.
ABSTRACT
Digital pathology (DP) using whole slide imaging (WSI) is becoming a fundamental issue in pathology with recent advances and the rapid development of associated technologies. However, the available evidence on its diagnostic uses and practical advice for pathologists on implementing DP remains insufficient, particularly in light of the exponential growth of this industry. To inform DP implementation in Korea, we developed relevant and timely recommendations. We first performed a literature review of DP guidelines, recommendations, and position papers from major countries, as well as a review of relevant studies validating WSI. Based on that information, we prepared a draft. After several revisions, we released this draft to the public and the members of the Korean Society of Pathologists through our homepage and held an open forum for interested parties. Through that process, this final manuscript has been prepared. This recommendation contains an overview describing the background, objectives, scope of application, and basic terminology; guidelines and considerations for the hardware and software used in DP systems and the validation required for DP implementation; conclusions; and references and appendices, including literature on DP from major countries and WSI validation studies.
ABSTRACT
Background@#Immunohistochemistry (IHC) has played an essential role in the diagnosis of hematolymphoid neoplasms. However, IHC interpretations can be challenging in daily practice, and exponentially expanding volumes of IHC data are making the task increasingly difficult. We therefore developed a machine-learning expert-supporting system for diagnosing lymphoid neoplasms. @*Methods@#A probabilistic decision-tree algorithm based on the Bayesian theorem was used to develop mobile application software for iOS and Android platforms. We tested the software with real data from 602 training and 392 validation cases of lymphoid neoplasms and compared the precision hit rates between the training and validation datasets. @*Results@#IHC expression data for 150 lymphoid neoplasms and 584 antibodies was gathered. The precision hit rates of 94.7% in the training data and 95.7% in the validation data for lymphomas were not statistically significant. Results in most B-cell lymphomas were excellent, and generally equivalent performance was seen in T-cell lymphomas. The primary reasons for lack of precision were atypical IHC profiles for certain cases (e.g., CD15-negative Hodgkin lymphoma), a lack of disease-specific markers, and overlapping IHC profiles of similar diseases. @*Conclusions@#Application of the machine-learning algorithm to diagnosis precision produced acceptable hit rates in training and validation datasets. Because of the lack of origin- or disease- specific markers in differential diagnosis, contextual information such as clinical and histological features should be taken into account to make proper use of this system in the pathologic decision-making process.
ABSTRACT
Digital pathology (DP) using whole slide imaging (WSI) is becoming a fundamental issue in pathology with recent advances and the rapid development of associated technologies. However, the available evidence on its diagnostic uses and practical advice for pathologists on implementing DP remains insufficient, particularly in light of the exponential growth of this industry. To inform DP implementation in Korea, we developed relevant and timely recommendations. We first performed a literature review of DP guidelines, recommendations, and position papers from major countries, as well as a review of relevant studies validating WSI. Based on that information, we prepared a draft. After several revisions, we released this draft to the public and the members of the Korean Society of Pathologists through our homepage and held an open forum for interested parties. Through that process, this final manuscript has been prepared. This recommendation contains an overview describing the background, objectives, scope of application, and basic terminology; guidelines and considerations for the hardware and software used in DP systems and the validation required for DP implementation; conclusions; and references and appendices, including literature on DP from major countries and WSI validation studies.
ABSTRACT
Granulocytic sarcoma is a form of extramedullary involvement of primitive myeloid cells. A 69-year-old male patient, with history of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in remission state for 4 years, presented numbness, radiating pain and progressive motor weakness in left leg. MRI showed perineural thickening of the left sciatic nerve with increased signal intensity on fat-saturated T2-weighted image. The patient underwent surgical excision and the pathology was confirmed as granulocytic sarcoma. Its involvement of the peripheral nerve is extremely rare and also unusual to be the only evidence of AML relapse. In this case, we figured out the MRI feature of granulocytic sarcoma involving sciatic nerve, emerged as a sole manifestation of AML relapse.
ABSTRACT
A 41-year-old female presented with complaint of left hip and buttock pain. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed multi-focal bone marrow signal intensity changes in left iliac bone, sacrum and femur with an area of necrosis. The primary radiological differential diagnosis was multi-focal tuberculous osteomyelitis. Subsequent pelvic bone biopsy and bone marrow biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia with extensive necrosis, which is infrequent in leukemia. When musculoskeletal symptoms precede peripheral blood abnormalities and MRI scanning reveals multi-focal necrotic lesions rather than diffuse signal change, it can be difficult to identify and/or advance leukemia as differential diagnosis.
ABSTRACT
No abstract available.
ABSTRACT
No abstract available.
Subject(s)
Dendritic Cell Sarcoma, Interdigitating , Dendritic Cells , LymphomaABSTRACT
No abstract available.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Inter-observer and intra-observer variation in histologic tumor grading are well documented. To determine whether histologic disorderliness in the arrangement of tumor cells may serve as an objective criterion for grading, we tested the hypothesis the degree of disorderliness is related to the degree of tumor differentiation on which tumor grading is primarily based. METHODS: Borrowing from the statistical thermodynamic definition of entropy, we defined a novel mathematical formula to compute the relative degree of histologic disorderliness of tumor cells. We then analyzed a total of 51 photomicrographs of normal colorectal mucosa and colorectal adenocarcinoma with varying degrees of differentiation using our formula. RESULTS: A one-way analysis of variance followed by post hoc pairwise comparisons using Bonferroni correction indicated that the mean disorderliness score was the lowest for the normal colorectal mucosa and increased with decreasing tumor differentiation. CONCLUSIONS: Disorderliness, a pathologic feature of malignant tumors that originate from highly organized structures is useful as an objective tumor grading proxy in the field of digital pathology.
Subject(s)
Humans , Adenocarcinoma , Colonic Neoplasms , Entropy , Mucous Membrane , Neoplasm Grading , Observer Variation , Pathology , Proxy , ThermodynamicsABSTRACT
Here we present the first report of a gangliocytic paraganglioma arising in a tailgut cyst; it occurred in a 56-year-old man. Tailgut cysts are uncommon congenital hamartomatous lesions that arise in the retrorectal presacral space in infants or adults. Benign or malignant tumors associated with tailgut cysts are rarely described; the most common tumors are adenocarcinomas and carcinoid tumors. A gangliocytic paraganglioma is a rare benign tumor that occurs nearly exclusively in the second portion of the duodenum. Rare cases have been reported at other locations, but a tailgut cyst has never been described. In our case, a resected 3.9 x 3.3 x 3 cm mass was composed predominantly of a solid yellow white neuroendocrine tumor within the area of a tailgut cyst. The neuroendocrine component of this tumor was different from previously described carcinoid tumors with respect to the histologic findings of neural differentiation as well as the intermixed typical gangliocytic features highlighted by immunohistochemical stains for S-100 protein and neurofilament. Although an intermixed area of the tailgut cyst and gangliocytic paraganglioma were found in some areas, the pathogenesis of this tumor remains to be elucidated.
Subject(s)
Adult , Humans , Infant , Middle Aged , Adenocarcinoma , Carcinoid Tumor , Coloring Agents , Duodenum , Hamartoma , Neuroendocrine Tumors , Paraganglioma , S100 ProteinsABSTRACT
Mullerian duct anomalies are reported in literature, but maldevelopment of fallopian tube in isolation is rare. Accessory fallopian tubes can present as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, in association with urinary tract anomalies. We observed a case of tubal pregnancy where fallopian tube has two fimbriae with normal looking uterine and fallopian tube on the opposite side. we report a case of tubal pregnancy with accessory fallopian tube with literature review.
Subject(s)
Female , Pregnancy , Fallopian Tubes , Infertility , Pregnancy, Ectopic , Pregnancy, Tubal , Urinary TractABSTRACT
Mullerian duct anomalies are reported in literature, but maldevelopment of fallopian tube in isolation is rare. Accessory fallopian tubes can present as infertility, ectopic pregnancy, in association with urinary tract anomalies. We observed a case of tubal pregnancy where fallopian tube has two fimbriae with normal looking uterine and fallopian tube on the opposite side. we report a case of tubal pregnancy with accessory fallopian tube with literature review.