Histological examination has a major impact on macroscopic necropsy diagnoses.

BACKGROUND: Necropsy is the gold standard for clinicopathological discrepancy studies and epidemiological surveys. Inadequate sampling or lack of tissue may hamper the final interpretation and quality of the necropsy. AIM: To compare the histological and gross necropsy diagnoses of different organs. METHODS: A retrospective comparison of the provisional reports (gross findings only) and the final reports (after histological examination) of the necropsies performed at the department of pathology of the Hospital das Clínicas, Sao Paulo University, Brazil, a large tertiary care complex, in 2001. The total number of diagnoses listed for the lungs, heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and spleen were calculated. Findings were categorised into concordant/refined diagnosis, discordant/additional diagnosis, histology needed, and inconclusive. RESULTS: Three hundred and seventy one postmortem reports were analysed. There were 214 men and 157 women, with a mean age of 50.3 years, ranging from 1 to 92. The lung received the highest number (954) and the pancreas the lowest number (390) of diagnoses. The highest frequencies of discrepancies between the gross and microscopic findings were found in the lung and the liver: 38.7% and 35.1%, respectively. The brain had the lowest frequency of discrepancies. In a small number of cases, the final diagnosis could only be achieved through microscopic analysis, with the highest frequency being found in the kidneys (8.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Histological analysis has a major impact on previously performed gross diagnosis at necropsy, especially in the lungs, liver, and kidneys. Adequate sampling and histological analysis are important for necropsy quality.

Uncommon histopathological findings in fatal measles infection: pancreatitis, sialoadenitis and thyroiditis.

AIMS: We report uncommon histopathological findings in fatal measles infection. METHODS AND RESULTS: We describe the autopsies of four patients who died during a measles outbreak in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1997. Two of the patients were children receiving chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, one was an adult with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and the fourth was an apparently healthy woman. All patients had their deaths attributed to measles pneumonia. The autopsies revealed extensive giant cell pneumonia and diffuse alveolar damage, severe acute pancreatitis, necrotizing sialoadenitis and thyroiditis due to measles. Measles antigen was detected in lung tissue using a monoclonal anti-measles antibody. CONCLUSIONS: : Pancreatitis, thyroiditis and sialoadenitis are not previously reported histopathological findings in measles infection. Pancreatitis is a potentially severe complication and should be considered when treating patients with atypical measles.

Useful prognostic panel markers to express the biological tumor status in resected lung adenocarcinomas.

BACKGROUND: Tumor stage and its histological subtype remain the most important predictors of clinical behavior in current pulmonary practice of lung cancer. However, many investigators agree that these parameters are not sufficient to predict which tumor will recur, even after radical curative surgery. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the significance of other morphological, biological and molecular parameters beyond TNM classification. METHODS: Pathological specimens were collected from 45 patients after resection for stage IA (five), stage IB (10), stage IIB (10), stage IIIA (14) and stage IV (six) lung adenocarcinomas. A panel of two morphological (proportion of stroma within the tumor and degree of tumor differentiation), two biological [DNA ploidy and argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR)] and three molecular (immunohistochemical expression of Ki-67, p53 and bcl-2) markers was chosen for analysis of the primary tumor. Life Tables for Survival were used to analyze the individual impact of each variable on survival. Cox proportional hazards model analysis was used to construct an independent tumor status model for cancer recurrence and death. Chi-squared analyses were used to determine the statistically significant relationship among all the variables present in the study. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis demonstrated statistically significant risk for the following markers: AgNOR, p53 and bcl-2, controlled for stages and surgical resection. CONCLUSIONS: The immunohistochemical expression of p53 and bcl-2 oncogenes and the expression of AgNOR cell proliferation index are critical values in the progression of lung adenocarcinomas. They can express the biological tumor status and indicate a more accurate prognosis.

A prognostic model of survival in surgically resected squamous cell carcinoma of the lung using clinical, pathologic, and biologic markers.

The biologic behavior of tumoral cells plays a significant role in the progression of the neoplasia, because 30 to 35% of patients with Stage I squamous cell carcinoma relapse. The present study was designed to determine whether age, pathologic parameters, DNA ploidy, and a cell proliferation index (the area of nucleolar organizer regions, AgNOR), could be used to predict survival in patients who undergo resection for limited squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. For histopathologic analysis, the parameters of histologic grading, pleural involvement, vascular invasion, and residual disease were considered. The cell proliferation index was evaluated by mitotic index, AgNOR quantification, and DNA ploidy by means of digital image analysis. Fifty-two patients (median age, 60 yr +/- 8.6 yr) were staged according to the TNM staging system. Cox univariate analysis showed that stage, residual disease, vascular invasion, histologic grading, DNA ploidy, and AgNOR were significant predictors of survival. Many of the univariate predictors of cancer death, however were eliminated when Cox multivariate models were computed. The variable that exhibited the most robust predictive value for overall survival was AgNOR. We conclude that measurement of cell proliferation might serve as a prognostic marker in squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.