Frequency of endoscopic gastric neoplasms in five years at JPMC

Gastric cancer is among the most common malignancies in Pakistan. The aim of our study are i] to document different histological types of gastric malignancies as per age and sex ii] discuss its possible association in patients who underwent endoscopy and iii] compare our data with local and abroad studies. Retrospective study. This study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, Basic Medical Science Institute, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, Pakistan, from 1[st] January 2003 to 31 December 2007. A total of 740 cases of gastric endoscopic biopsies were received for histopathological evaluation at the Department of Pathology, Basic Medical Science Institute, JPMC, Karachi. Out of these cases, a total of 70 gastric neoplasms were separated, analyzed and classified according to the WHO classification system and their relative frequencies were recorded. Gastric adenocarcinoma was the commonest neoplasm with male predominance in 5th to 7[th] decade of life, account for 88.57% [62/70] of all gastric neoplasms. Gastric lymphoma was the second common with 8.57%[06/70] and gastric carcinoid was least common with 1.43%[1/70] of all gastric neoplasms. This study highlights that adenocarcinoma is the most common gastric malignancy seen in most high risk group includes elderly males followed by lymphoma with no gender difference. So we advise regular endoscopic biopsies surveillance at least in high risk age group for the early detection of cancer

Histopathological patterns of spinal lesions

To determine the morphologic patterns and frequency of spinal lesions received in the pathology department of BMSI, JPMC over a 5 year period. All spinal lesions received over a period of 5 years, i.e. from 1[st] January 2004 to 31[st] December 2008 were reviewed. All specimens were formalin fixed, routinely processed for paraffin embedding, sectioned and finally stained with hematoxylin and eosin using standard procedures. When required, special stains were performed. During the study period 123 cases were received out of which 101[82.11%] were non neoplastic and 22[17.88%] were neoplastic lesions. The 22 neoplastic lesions included 6 Schwannomas, 4 Meningiomas and 5 Hemangiomatous lesions. The remaining 13 cases included 2 cases of mature teratoma and 1 case each of Plasmacytoma, Neurofibroma, Paraganglioma, Ganglioneuroma and Oligodendroglioma. Out of the 101 non neoplastic lesions 42 were granulomatous inflammations while 59 were non granulommatous lesions. The bulk of the lesions were formed by degenerative diseases and tuberculosis. Schwannomas and meningiomas were the most frequently occurring neoplastic lesions