Cutaneous metastatic adenocarcinoma arising from a malignant sacrococcygeal teratoma in an adult.

We present a patient with cutaneous metastasis caused by an adenocarcinoma arising from a malignant teratoma. A 37-year-old woman seen for the complaint of swelling in the genital region also complained of a draining mass in her gluteal region present since birth. Physical examination showed marked edema in the labia majora, multiple hyperkeratotic papules in the left labium majus, and erythema, induration, and swelling in the left femoral and inguinal regions. A soft tumor that exhibited sinus tracts was palpated in the left gluteus. Excision of the gluteal tumor revealed a teratoma. Vulvar skin biopsy confirmed a mucinous adenocarcinoma which had derived from this teratoma. A tumor that arises from pluripotent germ cells, teratoma rarely shows malignant transformation. The patient presented is a rare example of a cutaneous metastasis originating from a congenital sacrococcygeal teratoma in an adult.

Does the EGFR and VEGF expression predict the prognosis in colon cancer?

BACKGROUND/AIM: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are frequently encountered with aggressive tumor phenotype and poor prognosis, but the relationship between EGFR/VEGF expression and survival remains unclear. The aim of our study was to further investigate the prognostic value of EGFR and VEGF expression in colon cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pathological specimens of 60 colon carcinoma patients were retrospectively evaluated and grouped according to EGFR and VEGF staining intensity and percentage of stained neoplastic cells. A final score was assigned to each case by multiplying percentage and staining score. The patients were stratified into the following categories: negative (score 0), low expression (score 1 or 2), and high expression (score 4). The remaining patient data were filtered out from the institutional cancer database. RESULTS: The mean survival time was 28.93 +/- 14.1 (range 2-52) months in the EGFR-negative group, 23.92 +/- 14.0 (range 6-46) months in the group with a low EGFR expression, and 17.00 +/- 12.8 (range 10-40) months in the group with a high EGFR expression. The median survival time was 27.50 +/- 14.7 (range 4-52) months in the VEGF-negative group, 29.33 +/- 12.8 (range 6-48) months in the group with a low VGEF expression, and 14.50 +/- 14.2 (range 2-40) months in the group with a high VGEF expression. The expression of EGFR and VEGF was not an independent factor that affects survival. CONCLUSIONS: The EGFR and VEGF expression rates of colon tumors do not predict the survival. In addition, the EGFR expression in the primary tumor was not predictive of metastatic lymph nodes. The prognostic value of EGFR/VEGF staining may be further questioned.

Strangulated ventral hernia model in rats.

This study was performed to describe a new model of strangulation obstruction mimicking the situations relevant to abdominal hernias. The strangulation obstruction was induced either by intra-abdominal ligation of an ileal segment 2 cm in length (n = 20) or by a pursestring suture around a fascial defect with a strangulated intestinal loop placed subcutaneously (n = 20). Ten animals served as sham operated controls (n = 10). All animals were euthanized at 12 h postoperatively; strangulated ileum segments were collected for histopathological examination. Microscopic injury scores were similar in both strangulation groups, which were significantly different from the control group (p <.001). The model described here seems to be appropriate for use in further experimental studies concerning strangulation obstruction injury and its consequences, with the added advantage of visualization of the strangulated intestinal loop beneath the skin.