Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the floor of the mouth: case report.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) is a common neoplasm of soft tissue. The floor of the mouth is an unusual site of origin and has not been described in the literature previously. Its rarity, aspecific clinical symptoms and complex histopathology combine to make the diagnosis difficult. The treatment of choice is wide surgical excision with adjunctive irradiation.

Microscopic thymoma and myasthenia gravis.

A rare case of microscopically sized thymoma is described in a 56 year old man suffering from myasthenia gravis. Histological examination of the surgically removed thymus showed the presence of several epithelial thymoma-like islands. As controls, 100 thymuses obtained from consecutive necropsies were sampled: 4% of these cases showed epithelial islands. This case is further proof that "microscopic thymoma" is a true pathological entity and suggests that every thymus removed from myasthenic patients in which there is no macroscopic evidence of thymoma should be examined microscopically on serial sections.

[Chronic hyperplastic parathyroiditis: the anatomico-clinical and pathogenetic aspects]. / Paratiroidite cronica iperplastica: considerazioni anatomo-cliniche e patogenetiche.

The authors described a case of chronic hyperplastic parathyroiditis with hyperparathyroidism occurred in a patient undergone to surgery for laryngeal carcinoma. The morphological picture, the clinical date and the review of the previous studies suggest some hypothesis about the pathogenesis of the chronic hyperplastic parathyroiditis: parainfectious origin, anomalous embryonal development, environmental factors and autoimmune process are considered. The latter pathogenetic mechanism is likely to be involved in most of cases.

[Histological, ultrastructural and clinical study of a malignant adrenal neoplasm producing minor mineralocorticoids]. / Studio istologico, ultrastrutturale e clinico di neoplasia maligna surrenalica con produzione di mineralcorticoidi minori.

The authors describe a case of an adrenal tumor of unusual dimensions with a benign histological appearance. After a short period diffuse metastases developed. The metastases should the features a poorly differentiated carcinoma. The size of the tumor appears to be a useful element of judgement in differential diagnosis between adenoma and carcinoma of the adrenal glands.

Parietal centripetal and centrifugal thickening neovascularization in the descending anterior coronary artery. Possible relations with the problem of collateral circulation.

Left coronary arteries of 30 human hearts, obtained at autopsy, were injected with contrast medium. A control group was formed from anterior descending coronary arteries free of atherosclerosis and a study group from anterior descending coronary arteries with areas of atherosclerotic injury. The following differences in the two groups were noted. The control group did not show successfully injected vessels in intima and media, while cases with atherosclerotic injury have them; the number of injected vessels in presence of atherosclerotic injury was three times greater than in healthy coronary arteries; there was a decreasing gradient from outside to in, in the number of injected vessels in both groups; and finally in atherosclerotic vessels we noted a lack of balance between parietal thickening and the residual lumen (conspicuous thickening was accompanied by a small reduction in the lumen). We interpret centrifugal thickening as a possible compensatory mechanism in the major branches for an inadequate canalization of vessel, and suggest possible formation, of coronary collateral circulation from vasa vasorum by a process of neovascularization.