Interobserver variations in reporting of prostatic adenocarcinoma using core biopsy specimens: a retrospective study from a tertiary referral hospital in Saudi Arabia

In recent years, greater numbers of prostate biopsy cores are being submitted for histopathological assessment, with a concomitant increase in workload for the pathologist. This retrospective study aimed to assess the concordance and interobserver variation between histopathologists in reporting prostatic adenocarcinoma using material obtained from prostatic core biopsy specimens. A total of 810 prostatic needle core biopsy specimens obtained from 100 patients with suspected prostatic adenocarcinoma were retrieved from the archival material at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, and classified independently by 3 experienced histopathologists who were blinded to the original diagnosis. There was considerable interobserver agreement between the pathologists, with unweighted kappa scores ranging from 0.69-0.85. We would encourage other hospital pathologists to review periodically the uniformity of diagnoses in an attempt to improve their practices in prostate gland pathology

Status of mismatch repair genes hMSH2 and hMSH6 in colorectal cancer in Saudi patients: an immunohistochemical analysis

This study aimed to identify the status of 2 major microsatellite instability markers [repair genes hMSH2and hMSH6] in colorectal cancer cases operated at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between 2007 and 2009. Immunohistochemical study of microsatellite instability was done with antibodies to hMSH2and hMSH6. A total of 32 blocks were analysed from patients aged 16-83 years [median 56 years]; 14 blocks [43.8%] were from resections and 18 [56.2%] were from biopsies. An adenomatous component was present in 4 [12.5%] blocks. The colonic carcinoma, the adenomas and the normal tissue showed strong nuclear reactivity to hMSH2and hMSH6in 96.9% of the cases. The rate of loss of expression was 3.1%. The rate of mutation in our sampled population was low and matched the rate reported in the literature from industrialized countries. Further studies are needed to confirm the use of these markers in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer