Inflammatory Pseudotumor of Carotid Artery: A case report

Inflammatory pseudotumor is an uncommon nonneoplastic lesion of unknown etiology that occurs most commonly in the lung. However, it also occurs in diverse extrapulmonary locations: abdomen, retroperitoneum, pelvis, heart, head and neck, upper respiratory tract, trunk, bladder, and extremities. The extrapulmonary inflammatory pseudotumor is often larger, less-well circumscribed and multinodular. Proximity of the tumor to vital structures or involvement of vital organs compromises the opportunity for complete resection; thus higher recurrence rates are often reported even after surgical treatment. The authors report a case of inflammatory pseudotumor originating from common carotid artery in a 42-year-old female patient with a rapidly growing neck mass, treated by en bloc resection of inflammatory pseudotumor and a long segment of common carotid artery followed by polytetrafluoroethylene(PTFE) graft interposition.

Clinicopathologic Comparison between Autoimmune Cholangitis and Primary Biliary Cirrhosis

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is characterized by histological findings of an immunoinflammatory destruction of small- and medium-sized bile ducts with progressive portal fibrosis, and the presence of anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA) with a laboratory evidence of chronic cholestasis. The term "autoimmune cholangitis" (AIC) is used for a disease with the clinical and pathologic features of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) but with negative AMA and positive anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) tests. Eight cases of AIC and ten cases of PBC were reviewed in order to determine whether there was any difference between two diseases in clinico-pathologic aspects. All of the patients were female and the mean ages of AIC and PBC patients were 48 and 47 years, respectively. ANA test was positive in six of ten PBC paients and their mean titer was lower than that of AIC patients. IgM level was significantly higher in PBC group than in AIC group. No significant difference was found between two groups with respect to biochemical and histopathological features. Since the only consistently distinguishing features between these two conditions are the autoantibody profile (AMA vs ANA) and immunoglobulin level (IgM), these two conditions might be part of a spectrum. PBC can be considered to be the same as AMA-positive AIC or alternatively AIC to be the same as AMA-negative PBC.

A Case of Cytomegalovirus Duodenitis Following an Allogenic Bone Marrow Transplantation / 대한소화기내시경학회지

Cytomegalovirus(CMV) disease is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients, such as recipients of a solid organ or bone marrow allo-graft and patients with acquired immnune deficiency syndrome, CMV infection of the gastrointestinal tract may vary in location, extent, and clinical manifestation. As there is no pathognamonic endoscopic feature for CMV disease, a diagnosis of CMV infection has been made by confirming cytomegalic cells in mucosal specimens obtained from the gastrointestinal tract by an endoscopy. We repcet a case of a 38-year-old male patient with CMV duodenitis following an allogenic bone marrow transplantation(BMT), who had prolonged nausea and vomiting for 5 weeks after the BMT. He was diagnosed as having CMV duodenitis by identifying cytomegalic cells in duodenal mucosa biopsied by endoscopy and recovered after the treatment of ganciclovir.

Secondary Hemochromatosis in a Patient with Aplastic Anemia: An autopsy case report

We report an autopsy case of secondary hemochromatosis associated with multiple frequent blood transfusion for the treatment of aplastic anemia. A 23-year-old man had been diagnosed as having aplastic anemia at the age of 13. He received a whole blood transfusion, about 1280 ml, every month during the past 10 years. Recently he developed diabetes mellitus and a congestive heart failure. The autopsy revealed that multiple organs were affected by secondary hemochromatosis, including the liver, heart, pancreas, spleen, bone marrow, stomach, thyroid gland, adrenal glands, and testes. The lungs and liver showed gross and microscopic findings consistent with a congestive heart failure in addition to hemochromatosis. The details are presented. This is a case of rare secondary hemochromatosis occurring in a young man and presenting the classic histopathologic changes indistinguishable from those of primary hemochromatosis.

Histopathologic Analysis of Helicobacter pylori-associated Chronic Gastritis between cagA-positive and cagA-negative Strains

Infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) leads to gastritis, but the majority of infected persons are asymptomatic, and it has been recently described that the ability of H. pylori to cause more severe disease is related to the presence of the cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA). We investigated the prevalence of cagA-bearing strains in a group of H. pylori-positive gastritis, and compared the morphologic differences between cagA-positive and cagA-negative cases on H&E stained slides. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays for detection of H. pylori and cagA of 62 gastric biopsy specimens were performed. All the slides were analyzed by the updated Sydney system. Forty eight (77.4%) were PCR positive for H. pylori and thirty four (54.8%) were positive for cagA. There were no significant differences in numbers of H. pylori, degree of infiltration of mononuclear cells and degree of atrophy between cagA-positive and cagA-negative groups. The rates of neutrophilic infiltration and intestinal metaplasia were significantly higher in cagA-positive group than in cagA-negative group. In conclusion, the detection of H. pylori by PCR method is more sensitive than that of microscopic examination and H. pylori strains possessing cagA are associated with an enhanced induction of severe gastritis.

Quality Improvement Methods in Cervico-vaginal Cytology: Cytologic/Histologic Correlation vs. 10% Random Rescreening / 대한세포병리학회지

Although the success of the Papanicolaou test as a screening tool of cervical cancer is evident, there still exists 2-5% of discrepancy rate by both human and machine. To improve the qualilty of cervico-vaginal cytology, the authors compared cervicovaginal smear with cervical biopsy diagnoses, and analysed the causes of discrepancies. Among 30,922 cervicovaginal smears from June 1996 to April 1997 at our hospital, there were 271 cases of cervicovaginal smear with subsequent cervical punch or LEEP cone biopsies within several months. The biopsies and smears from a total of 98 discordant cases were reviewed. The discrepancy was attributed to sampling errors in 43 cases(43.9%), and to cytologic diagnosis in 49 cases(50.0%). Among these, 43 cases were interpretative errors(categories A;19, B;16 and C;8), whereas six cases were screening errors(categories B;2 and C;4). Among cervical biopsy cases, errors were present in four. As for 10% random rescreening, cytote chnologists reviewed 3,196 of 30,922 smears during the same period. There were 43 cases of screening error(categories A;27, B;16). Cytologic/histologic correlation was superior to 10% random rescreening of negative cases. The most effective method for quality improvement in cervicovaginal cytology was to implement both quality control(rescreening) and quality assurance(cytologic/histologic correlation) programs.

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Intraoral Lesions / 대한세포병리학회지

Fine needle aspiration cytology(FNAC) has become a popular method for the diagnosis of a wide variety of both superficial and deep-seated lesions. However, there are few reports about the potential of FNAC for the diagnosis of intraoral lesions. We experienced 44 FNACs from intraoral lesions at Asan Medical Center: 22 from the palate, 6 from the tongue, 5 from the parapharyngeal space, 5 from the lip, 2 from the floor of mouth, 1 from the buccal mucosa, and 3 from other intraoral sites. Histological confirmation was obtained in 32 cases and we analyzed 27 cases excluding 5 cases of inadequate aspirates. Diagnosis was specifically made in 19 of 27 cases(70%) including 1 mucoepidermoid carcinoma, 1 undifferentiated carcinoma, 1 chordoma, 9 pleomorphic adenomas, 1 neurofibroma, and 6 benign lesions. There were three false negative cases(sensitivity, 62.5%) and no false positive cases(specificity, 100%): Two cases diagnosed as "cystic lesion" were confirmed to be mucoepidermoid carcinomas and a case diagnosed as pleomorphic adenoma was proved to be adenoid cystic carcinoma. The results of our study suggest that FNAC is a useful technique in the diagnosis of intraoral lesion.

Cytologic Analysis of Malignant Tumor Cells in Cerebrospinal Fluid / 대한세포병리학회지

Cytologic evaluation of cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) is an effective tool in diagnosing many disorders involving the central nervous system(CNS). CSF examination has been found to be of particular value in the diagnosis of metastatic carcinoma, lymphomatous or leukemic involvement of CNS and certain primary CNS tumors. As a survey of metastatic tumors to CSF and an evaluation of the preparation techniques increasing cellular yield in our laboratory, 713 CSF specimens examined between July 1995 and April 1997(1 year 10 months), were reviewed. There were 75 positive and 5 suspicious cases, the latter have had no evidence of tumors clinically. Primary tumors of 75 positive cases were classified as follows; 4(5.3%) as primary brain tumors, 40(53.3%) as secondary carcinomas, 13(17.3%) as leukemias, and 18 (24.0%) as lymphomas. The most common primary site of metastatic carcinomas was the lung in 17 cases(42.5%) followed by the stomach in 13(32.5%), breast in 8 (20.0%), and unknown primary in 2(5.0%). Four primary brain tumors were 3 cerebellar medulloblastomas and a supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET). All 40 metastatic carcinomas were adenocarcinoma presented as single cells or cell clusters. Although signet ring cells were frequent in the cases of gastric primary cancers, no significant cytologic differences according to the primary site were observed. The cytologic features of leukemia and lymphoma were characterized by hypercellular smears presenting as individual atypical cells with increased N/C ratio, presence of nucleoli, and nuclear protrusions. In medulloblastomas and PNET, the principal cytologic findings were small undifferentiated cells arranged singly or in loose clusters with occasional rosettoid features. This study suggests that the CSF cytology is useful in the diagnosis of malignancy, especially metastatic extracranial tumors and the diagnostic accuracy can be improved by increasing cellular yield using cytocentrifuge.

Cytologic and Histologic Correlation for Quality Assurance in Aspiration Cytology

For quality assurance purposes, the authors correlated aspiration cytology and subsequent tissue findings and examined the reasons for discrepancies. In three months from Jan. to Mar. 1996, 1,383 aspirations were performed, of which 285 (20.6%) had subsequent tissue diagnoses within two months. The aspiration sites were thyroid (483), lymph node (LN) (290), breast (250), soft tissue (154), liver (89), lung (49), salivary gland (26), pancreas (22), gallbladder (3), bone (3), joint (2), adrenal gland (2), scrotum (2), mediastinum (2), omentum (2), oral cavity (1), chest wall (1), and intraabdominal (1) and pelvic cavities (1). A total of 68 discrepancies were identified, and biopsies and smears from these cases were reviewed monthly. In 27 cases (40%), the discrepancy was attributed to sampling error. In five cases (9%), aspiration gave superior results with better sampling and preservation than biopsy. Thirty six cases (53% of discrepant cases) were errors in cytologic diagnosis. We categorized these discrepancies into "A", "B", and "C" ("A": minor disagreement with no affect on patient care, "B": minimal affect on patient care, "C": major affect on patient care), which were 9 (13%), 14 (21%) and 13 (19%) cases, respectively. In thirteen cases of category "C", there were eleven false negative and two false positive diagnoses. Eleven false negative cases included thyroid (3), lymph node (2), breast (2), bone (1), salivary gland (1), lung (1), and liver (1). Three cases of thyroid were papillary carcinomas diagnosed as nodular hyperplasia (1), occasional pleomorphic cells (1), and cystic change (1). Two breast cases of invasive ductal carcinomas were diagnosed as ductal hyperplasia. A malignant lymphoma was diagnosed as reactive hyperplasia and a metastatic carcinoma of LN was diagnosed as tuberculosis. Other cases were malignant tumors of bone, salivary gland, lung, and liver those were misinterpreted as benign lesion or normal. Of two false positive cases, one was nodular hyperplasia of thyroid diagnosed as papillary carcinoma and the other was normal islet cell of pancreas diagnosed as islet cell tumor. A continuous monitoring of laboratory performance is an essential component of the quality control and assurance, and the review of discrepant cases provides useful information for improvement of diagnosis.

Quality Assurance of Intraoperative Consultation Review Analysis of 2,392 frozen sections

A retrospective quality assurance study of intraoperative consultation (frozen section) was carried out to assess the accuracy and to determine the reasons of discordance. Of 14,977 surgical pathology cases accessioned over a 6-month period in Asan Medical Center, frozen sections were done on 1,270 (8.5%) patients and 2,392 frozen sections (1.88 frozen sections/case) were performed. Discordance was noted in 106 cases (4.4%) and diagnosis was deferred in 26 cases (1.1%). All deferred cases were reviewed with the result of 53.8% justified and 46.2% unjustified. The discordant cases were divided into three categories as to their clinical significances: category A (no affect on patient care) 61.3%, B (minimal affect) 9.4%, and C (major affect) 29.2%. Of 31 category C cases, 7 cases were false positive and 24 cases were false negative. Misinterpretation (70.8%) was the leading cause of discordance, followed by sampling error (15.1%), failure to identify lesion (8.5%), and technical problem (5.7%). More than one-third (35.8%) of all discordances were of central nervous system cases. Total central nervous system cases were 403 (16.8%) with a significantly higher disordance rate (9.8%) and deferral rate (2.5%) in comparison to the other cases with 3.4% discordance rate and 0.8% deferral rate. There were 43 colorectal cancer cases of intraoperative consultation for adequacy of resectional margins. The surgical margins were between 0.4 cm and 28 cm (mean: 6.7 cm) away from the tumor and there was no tumor-positive case. The study indicates surgical pathology should 1) promote interpretative skills in cases involving minute fragments of neurosurgical cases, 2) defer the diagnosis and ask for more tissue on inadequate or inappropriate specimens and 3) give only gross opinions without unnecessary frozen section procedures in the event of simple, clear-cut cases.

Oxyphilic Papillary Carcinoma of the Thyroid in Fine Needle Aspiration / 대한세포병리학회지

Oxyphilic (H rthle) cells have abundant eosinophilic granular cytoplasms and occur in both benign and malignant neoplasms of the thyroid gland. Most published studies described mainly oxyphilic tumors of follicular type, and reports on oxyphilic papillary thyroid carcinomas are rare. The oxyphilic variant of papillary carcinoma differs from the classic papillary carcinoma in its more aggressive biological behavior. We report a case of oxyphilic papillary carcinoma exhibiting exclusively oxyphilic cells in a follicular pattern without papillary structures. The pattern of papillary carcinoma was confirmed by fine needle aspiration material and lymph nodal metastasis, both of which revealed typicaled papillary structures with characteristic nuclear features, psammoma bodies, and oxyphilic cytoplasm.

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytologic Findings of Inflammatory Pseudotumor of the Lymph Node / 대한세포병리학회지

Reports on the cytologic or histopathologic findings of inflammatory pseudotumors are relatively infrequent and most of them have dealt with those involving the lung, liver, genitourinary tract, alimentary tract, spleen, mediastinum, retroperitoneum, etc. Moreover there have not been any cytologic studies of those involving lymph nodes. We present fine needle aspiration cytologic features of inflammatory pseudotumor occurring in a lymph node in a 64 year-old man. The aspirate consisted of proliferating spindle cells and admixed histiocytes, fibroblasts, lymphocytes, and plasma cells. Histiocytes were present either singly or in loosely cohesive small clusters. A few multinucleated giant cells were present as well. However, tuberculosis could be excluded by the absence of typical granuloma, caseation necrosis, or characteristic mixed spindle and inflammatory cell components. Other benign and malignant lymphadenopathies could also be differentiated based on cytologic findings.

Effectiveness of Transbronchial Fine Needle Aspiration in Diagnosing Lung Cancers / 대한세포병리학회지

Transbronchial fine needle aspiration(TBNA) is one of the cytologic methods in diagnosing lung cancers. TBNA can be used in cases of hilar, mediastinal or lung masses adjacent to the bronchi. We analyzed and compaired the findings of 27 cases of TBNA and bronchial washing and brushing(BW/BB) in lung cancers confirmed by either biopsy or surgical resection between Jun, 1996 and May, 1997 in Asan Medical Center. They were 18 cases of non-small cell carcinomas(eight squamous cell carcinomas, nine adenocarcinomas, and one large cell undifferentiated carcinoma), eight cases of small cell carcinomas, and one case of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma. The sensitivity of TBNA was 37%(10/27) and false negative was 63%(17/27). Although the sensitivity of BW/BB was 56%(15/27), it was not different statistically from that of TBNA(Chi square, p=0.38). Overall sensitivity of TBNA and BW/BB in this series was 70%(19/27). Forty-seven percent of false negative TBNA(8/17) were positive in BW/BB. The findings suggest that the addition of TBNA to the standard BW/BB increases diagnostic yield in cytologic diagnosis of lung cancer.

Cytologic Features of Benign Phyllodes Tumors as Compared to Fibroadenomas of the Breast / 대한세포병리학회지

Phyllodes tumor(PT) is a rare distinctive fibroepithelial breast tumor that occasionally shows unpredictable clinical behavior. Wide excision should be the primary treatment of PT and enucleation, the standard procedure for fibroadenoma(FA), is proscribed due to high frequency of local recurrence. Therefore an accurate preoperative diagnosis of PT is essential in order to ensure proper surgical treatment. However, the differentiation between benign PT and FA is often difficult on the basis of cytologic findings. In an attempt to better understand the cytologic features of benign PT and possibly to differentiate PT from FA on the findings of fine needle aspiration(FNA)smears, we reviewed cytologic smears from 22 histologically diagnosed cases each of benign PT and FA, respectively. The cytologic features assessed were cellularity and atypia of both epithelial and stromal components, and shape of epithelial cell clusters. Atypia of stromal cells was more frequent in PT, while blunt branching pattern of epithelial cells was more frequent in FA. The specific cytologic diagnosis of PT is not possible in many cases, but the abundance of stromal cells with moderate nuclear atypia in the correct clinical setting such as older age and larger size(>4cm) allows the diagnosis.

Value of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Mucinous Carcinoma of the Breast / 대한세포병리학회지

Fine needle aspiration(FNA) is an effective tool in diagnosing mammary carcinoma, We experienced 7 cases of histologically confirmed mammary mucinous carcinoma among 3,052 aspirated cases of breast from 1992 to 1996 in Asan Medical Center" The average age of the patient was 48(33-64) years. The mean size of the lesions was 1.6(0.7-3) cm, and they were palpated as well-defined, firm to hard masses. The cytologic features that may be useful in making a FNA diagnosis of mucinous carcinoma of the breast were analysed. Mucinous background and tumor cell, clusters with occasional single cells were observed in all cases. Among them, two, cases showed abundant scattered single cells, whereas only few single cells were seen in the other two cases. Tumor cells exhibited mild pleomorphism in four cases, and moderate pleomorphism in three cases. Nucleoli tended to be not prominen and are observed in three cases, rarely noted in other three cases and not seen in one. There was microcalcification in four cases(57%). In conclusion, mucinous background and clustered tumor cells showing mild td moderate pleomorphism with characteristic clinical findings allow us to diagnose, mucinous carcinoma of the breast.