RESUMO
Objective: Thoracocentesis is a less invasive and expensive procedure than pleural biopsy, enabling sample collection for cytological evaluation. Cell blocks prepared from these samples provide histopathological diagnoses; further, immunohistochemistry (IHC) can be performed for subtyping malignancies, guiding the clinician in choosing the appropriate treatment modality for the patient. We aimed to determine the various histological subtypes of malignancies using cell block IHC and compare the cell block and conventional cytology methods for diagnosing malignant pleural effusion. Material and Methods: All pleural fluid samples from the clinically suspicious cases of malignancy collected at the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College Kottayam, India, during 18 months, except duplicate and inadequate samples, were included in this prospective observational study. IHC was performed on cell blocks that were positive for malignancy. Results: This study analyzed 630 samples, of which 121 cell blocks demonstrated the presence of malignancy. Overall, 80%, 13%, and 7% of cases were negative, suspicious, and positive for malignancy based on conventional cytology, and 81%, 0%, and 19% were negative, suspicious, and positive for malignancy based on cell blocks, respectively. Among all malignancies, adenocarcinomas from the lung (56%) were the most common, followed by adenocarcinomas from the breast (6%), squamous cell carcinomas (5%), and adenocarcinomas from the ovary (3%). Cell blocks helped detect more malignancies (19%) than conventional cytology (7%), despite a moderate agreement between both methods. Conclusion: Adenocarcinomas were the most common cause of malignant pleural effusions, and the most frequent site of origin was the lungs. Cell blocks helped diagnose more malignancies than conventional cytology.
RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: 1. To study and compare the clinical and histological features of Type 1 and Type 2 lepra reactions. 2. To document the histological patterns of Type 1 and Type 2 lepra reactions observed in the study population. DESIGN: Two year cross sectional study. Patients attending the outpatient department of our tertiary care hospital, during the 2 year study period with clinical evidence of Type 1 (T1R) or Type 2 (T2R) lepra reactions were included in this study after obtaining written informed consent. During this period 34 T1R patients and 14 T2R patients attended our hospital. Biopsies were taken from reacting skin lesions of all patients and histological features were studied. RESULTS: Dermal or intragranuloma oedema was evident in 50% of T1R patients and all of them had clinically severe reactions. The T1R patients showed three different histological patterns--pgrading reactions, downgrading reactions and reactions without upgrading or downgrading. Among T2R patients 8/14 showed neutrophil infiltration histologically, 5/14 showed no histological evidence of neutrophil infiltration and only one patient had features of neutrphilic vasculitis. Dermal oedema was seen in 11/14 cases. CONCLUSIONS: Histology revealing dermal or intragranuloma oedema on a background of leprosy granuloma favours the diagnosis of lepra reaction. A careful analysis of subtle variations in the cells constituting the granuloma may aid in differentiating between upgrading T1R, downgrading T1R or T1R without upgrading or downgrading. Histology can also be useful in distinguishing T2R from T1R, in the absence of typical erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL) lesions. Neutrophils are the major inflammatory cells in the former where as lymphocytes or macrophages predominate in the latter. We recommend that histopathological analysis should form an integral part of the evaluation of all lepra reactions.
