Respiratory epithelial adenomatoid hamartoma in a dog.

A 6-month-old, intact, male Weimaraner dog presented to the veterinary teaching hospital for bilateral mucopurulent ocular and nasal discharge that began at approximately 10 weeks of age. A computed tomography scan showed an expansile soft-tissue mass involving both frontal sinuses, the ethmoid regions, and nasal cavities with lysis of the maxillary turbinates and hyperostosis of the walls of the frontal sinus. The dog was euthanized after complications during a trephination and biopsy procedure. At necropsy, a large, tan, papillary, gelatinous mass filled the entire nasal cavity and frontal sinus. The mass was composed of large fronds of loose fibrovascular stroma covered by a single layer of pseudostratified, columnar, ciliated epithelium and intermixed goblet cells. The cells occasionally formed glandular structures that were continuous with the surface epithelium. The mass was diagnosed as a respiratory epithelial adenomatoid hamartoma based on the morphologic appearance.

[In vivo imaging of the conjunctival epithelium using confocal laser scanning microscopy]. / In-vivo-Darstellung des Bindehautepithels. Eine vergleichende morphologische Untersuchung mittels konfokaler Laser-Scanning-Mikroskopie und Impressionszytologie.

BACKGROUND: In various ocular diseases, cytomorphological findings of the ocular surface are an essential component of clinical diagnostics. When evaluating the conjunctival epithelium, minimally invasive acquisition of biomaterial is necessary for lab and technical processing and in vitro histological examination. To examine corneal structures in vivo, confocal laser scanning microscopy is a successful standard method. Our aim was to employ in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy also for examining the conjunctival epithelium. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Results were analyzed and compared with cytomorphological findings of impression cytology. Accordingly, the basic features of conjunctival in vivo examination using RLSM were described and defined. In vivo images were analyzed and compared with impression cytological slide preparations (n=110) of 23 healthy test persons. Examination was standardized. Finally, the confocal laser scan images were compared to the impression cytological patterns. RESULTS: Due to the distribution of reflectors (pixel brightness), diagnostic analysis of important morphological structures (cell nucleus, cytoplasm, nucleus/plasma relation) of the conjunctiva is possible. Secretory cells of the epithelium (goblet cells) can be easily recognized by their size. Highly reflective pixels depict cell walls or wide intercellular spaces with high contrast. CONCLUSIONS: The in vivo investigation of important anatomical and morphological structures of the conjunctival epithelium is possible using RLSM. The distribution pattern of goblet cell pixel brightness may correlate with various secretion contents or suggest distinct, recognizable, functional conditions (hypo- or hypersecretion).

Density of middle turbinate subepithelial mucous glands in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.

OBJECTIVE: Histologic changes have not been systematically assessed in chronic rhinosinusitis. Quantitative histochemical studies evaluated the extent of sinus disease and gland density in the middle turbinates. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Sinus computed tomography scans of 34 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis were retrospectively graded 0 to IV according to the May classification. Middle turbinates from patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (n = 46) and normal patients (n = 7) were harvested during endoscopic sinus surgery. The areas of Alcian blue-stained glands were assessed in paraffin sections using a computer-assisted microscopy video system. RESULTS: Alcian blue-stained glands occupied 7.94% of normal mucosa. The staining in all grade III rhinosinusitis subjects was increased to 12.94% (P < 0.01). In contrast, grade IV pansinusitis was associated with nasal polyposis (6 of 6) with decreased gland area (3.04%, P < 0.01). When polyp patients were excluded from grade III rhinosinusitis, the Alcian blue-staining area was 17.68% (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Distinct polypoid and glandular histopathologic patterns are present in chronic rhinosinusitis.