Immunohistochemical evaluation of tumor budding in colorectal cancer: an important parameter with prognostic value.

We analyzed 82 patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) [75 patients with mucinous adenocarcinoma (ADK) and seven patients with "signet ring cell" ADK] using multi-cytokeratin (CK) AE1∕AE3 immunohistochemical assay. In order to determine the mucinous nature of some of the lymph node metastases of the mucinous colorectal ADKs studied, Periodic Acid Schiff-Alcian Blue (PAS-AB) histochemical staining was used. The counting results were systematized in the following ranges: 0 budding areas; between 1-4 budding areas; between 5-9 budding areas; and =10 tumor budding (TB) areas. The statistical analysis was performed using the Student's t-test. More than half of the cases of mucinous ADK revealed an increased intensity of TB, whereas in the case of "signet ring cell" ADK, an average intensity of this phenomenon. Mucinous ADKs, which were pT3 staged, showed an increased intensity of TB, and those in pT2 stage demonstrated, in the vast majority of cases, the absence of TB. There was a predominance of TB intensity in the absence of vascular-lymphatic invasion. Our study shows the existence of a concordance between tumor progression, the histological type of CRC, vascular-lymphatic invasion and the phenomenon of TB.

An unusual cause of acute surgical abdomen: benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma associated with adenomatous tumor.

Benign multicystic peritoneal mesothelioma (BMPM) is a rare disease that primarily affects fertile women with previous abdominal surgery. BMPM associated with adenomatous tumor is a single case report, according to our opinion. The patient had a history of abdominal surgery nine years ago for ovarian cysts. Upon admission, the diagnosis was acute surgical abdomen with acute peritonitis signs. The treatment applied consisted in the removal of peritoneal cysts and partial omentectomy. Only immunohistochemical examination established the diagnosis. The aim is to discuss diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties, underlining that there is no consensus on the use of chemotherapeutics. In conclusion, establishing a preoperative diagnosis is difficult if not impossible. One of the causes of acute surgical abdomen may be BMPM. The malignant transformation of this disease is rare, but the disease recurrence rate is over 50%, and it is often recommended to be monitored through abdominal computed tomography.

Rheumatoid nodules and quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis females - complex assessment.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) represents the most commonly diagnosed arthropathy that affect many tissue types and organs, characterized by a clinical, functional and therapeutic pathogenic complexity and it affects especially diarthroidal joints. Rheumatoid nodules (RNs) are one of the most frequent extra-articular manifestations of RA, and usually reflect an advanced stage of the disease and a poor prognosis. The complexity of histological, clinical and functional aspects in RA has a real impact on the quality of life in all patients diagnosed with this disorder. Our prospective study presents the RNs involvement in the rehabilitation program performed in order to enhance the quality of life in the 25 RA female patients. We made a complex assessment and realized a correlation between pain, disability and histological aspect of RN, before and after the rehabilitation program. Also, we evaluated the clinical and functional effectiveness of a complex rehabilitation program and changes in impairment and activity limitation in women with RA and RNs. The immunohistological complexity of RNs reflects the intensity of the inflammatory-immune process and completes the assessment of RA patients with RNs. It allows for medical assistance quantification, even for patients that have a poor evolution prognosis.

Hirschprung's disease in different settings - a series of three cases from a tertiary referral center.

Failure of neural crest cells to migrate from neural crests during intrauterine development result in partial or total aganglionosis of the colon in newborn. Hirschprung's disease (HD) represents the clinical manifestation of this pathogenic process, currently accounting for the majority of lower intestinal obstruction in the first period of life. Our aim was to present a series of three cases presenting to our tertiary care center with a range of symptoms, all benefiting from surgery and consequent pathology examination of biopsy or resection pieces. The first case was of a male newborn that presented several years ago with common symptoms for HD (abdominal distension, vomiting and the total lack of intestinal passage for feces). Coming from young healthy parents after normal labor, the newborn displayed signs of Down's disease after physical examination. After abdominal radiography, the patient underwent surgery and consecutive pathology revealed notable signs of Crohn's disease (CD): massive stasis in the serosa and submucosa, chronic inflammatory infiltrate and lack of nervous cells in both plexuses and mucosa. Immunohistochemistry revealed low intensity CD34 membrane staining for fibroblast-like ganglion cells while CD117 staining showed few nervous cells within the mucosa. The second case presented before one year of age with an infectious background, already being operated upon with colostoma. We performed corrective surgery of the colostoma and consecutive pathology showed low CD117 cytoplasmic staining and intensely positive NSE (neuron specific enolase) staining within myenteric plexuses. Finally, the third and most recent case was that of a 4-year-old boy with an early diagnosis of megacolon and no previous surgery, who we evaluated by laparoscopy with five biopsies and consecutive S100 staining revealed a small number of nervous cells within nervous plexuses. In conclusion, an early diagnosis of HD is essential for successful therapeutic measures. Histology and, more recently, immunohistochemistry, represent the gold-standard procedures needed to objectify the diagnosis.

A pilot study on the role of fractal analysis in the microscopic evaluation of colorectal cancers.

INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents one of the most common cancers worldwide; its growing incidence and prevalence quickly transforming it into a major health burden. Globally, survival varies from one country to another and constantly remains significantly low, despite increasing diagnostic efforts and tools. Fractal geometry and, specifically, fractal dimension (FD) are interesting tools to quantify cellular elements. In this paper, we aimed to identify and quantify by fractal analysis the elements obtained from medical images from pathological and immunohistochemical investigations of colonic biopsy fragments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We prospectively selected the study group between September 2014 and January 2015, from patients who underwent surgery for previously diagnosed CRC at the Emergency County Hospital, Craiova, Romania. We performed the histological and immunohistochemical studies by following standardized protocols. Anti-Ki67, anti-p53 and anti-VEGF-C antibodies were used for immunostaining. We performed the fractal analysis with an in-house tool and we performed statistical tests on the results. RESULTS: We have included 41 (29 males) consecutive patients with different characteristics; after analyzing the FDs we found significant differences between adenocarcinomas and the other types of colonic cancers (p<0.001). However, we found no significant differences between most types of CRCs. We found significant statistical differences when compared well-differentiated tumors with all other stages (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Fractal analysis with the calculation of FDs is a novel, interesting tool, for determining the pathologic diagnosis of CRCs and may further improve diagnostic and prognostic rates, thus improving patient care.

Collision tumor of recto-sigmoidian junction - case presentation.

Collision tumors of the colon are rare. A 64-year-old man was referred on Emergency County Hospital, Craiova, Romania for the evaluation of intestinal obstruction. Colonoscopy demonstrates the presence of about 9/5 cm sized mass in the rectosigmoid junction. After surgical resection, the rectosigmoid lesion was histopathologically composed of two distinct lesions: mucoid adenocarcinoma in the superficial layer and poorly differentiated neuroendocrin carcinoma in the deeper layer. A rectosigmoid tumor showed two distinct tumors with no admixture or transposition of two neoplastic components. A lymph node metastatic deposit contained both tumors. Immunohistochemical stainings were consistent with mucinous adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma of the two neoplasms. We report this case of colonic collision tumor (mucoid adenocarcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma) and review of the literature.

The role of immunohistochemistry in diagnosing a synchronous colon tumor.

Simultaneous presence of an epithelial and lymphoid tumor of the digestive tract is quite rarely met in literature. In this paper, we describe a case which presented such an association. Diagnosis was established by histological study, followed by immunohistochemistry. It is a synchronous colon tumor, associating a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to a colon adenocarcinoma. The 57-year-old male patient has been clinically diagnosed with a tumor of the left abdominal quadrant and paraclinically (imaging and endoscopic) with colon neoplasm. Exploratory laparotomy revealed two tumors: one tumor of five centimeters in the sigmoid, with firm consistency, mobile on lower plans and the second tumor in the ceco-ascending colon, measuring about 7 cm, irregular, with firm consistency, mobile on lower plans, with lymph nodes extending to retroperitoneal space. The urinary bladder, kidneys, liver and stomach were of normal aspect. Subtotal colectomy was performed with latero-lateral ileo-sigmoid anastomosis. Microscopic examination revealed sigmoid tumor as G1 adenocarcinoma and cecal tumor as B-cell type lymphoma. Immunohistochemistry established the final diagnosis of cecal localization being a diffuse immunoblastic large B-cell non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma. The final diagnosis of this patient was actually a synchronous manifestation of a colon adenocarcinoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. This association puts into question synchronous tumors etiopathogeny matter.