Pathologists overseas: coordinating volunteer pathology services for 19 years.

Pathologists Overseas is a nonprofit organization that has been coordinating the efforts of volunteer pathologists and technologists for 19 years to improve and provide affordable pathology services to underserved patients worldwide. This is accomplished by aiding and establishing pathology laboratories, providing diagnostic pathology services, and training local physicians as pathologists. Projects have been completed or are currently active in Kenya, Eritrea, Madagascar, Ghana, Nepal, Bhutan, Peru, El Salvador, and St Lucia. The main challenge is finding enough volunteers to provide uninterrupted service to maintain a project. Our goal is to build on these experiences and continue to both support existing and establish more pathology laboratories worldwide.

Breast carcinoma in Uganda: microscopic study and receptor profile of 45 cases.

CONTEXT: Histologic and receptor data on breast carcinoma in Uganda are scarce. Estrogen receptor status is not routinely available. Breast cancer blocks from Uganda were studied in Montreal, Canada, and clinical correlations subsequently discussed in Kampala, Uganda. OBJECTIVE: To correlate histologic features (tumor type, histologic grade), receptor profile (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2/neu), and age in Ugandan women. DESIGN: Pathology reports for 2000-2004 from Nsambya Hospital, reporting invasive breast carcinoma, provided 45 microscopically confirmed cases. RESULTS: Seventy-three percent of patients were 50 years or younger. Histologic types were invasive ductal carcinoma (78%) and "good" prognosis types (11%). Overall 40% were grade 3, but 48% of invasive ductal carcinomas were grade 3. Estrogen receptor was positive in 60% overall and in 51% of invasive ductal carcinomas. HER2/neu was overexpressed in 11%; 36% were "triple" negative (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER2/neu negative). CONCLUSIONS: Breast carcinoma in Ugandan women presents at a younger age and is histologically and by receptor profile more aggressive than carcinoma in Caucasian women.

Phyllodes tumor with malignant stromal morphology of the vulva: a case report and review of the literature.

We present a hitherto unreported case of vulvar phyllodes tumor which displayed morphologically malignant stroma including rhabdomyosarcomatous cellular elements. Clinically, the 61-year-old patient is free of recurrence 1 year after wide local excision.

Intra- and interobserver agreement and statistical clustering of placental histopathologic features relevant to preterm birth.

OBJECTIVE: Many previous studies of agreement in identifying placental histopathologic lesions have been based on small sample sizes, and none has examined whether individual histologic features cluster robustly together within and between observers. STUDY DESIGN: We studied 767 placental specimens from case-control studies of preterm birth and preeclampsia nested within a prospective cohort of pregnant women recruited from 4 large Montreal maternity hospitals. The specimens were fixed, embedded, stained, and examined using a standardized protocol; a 10% random sample (n = 81) was then blindly reexamined at least 6 months later by the same pathologist and a second pathologist. RESULTS: Intra- and interobserver agreement were high (kappa > or = 0.50) for membrane inflammation, funisitis, and umbilical cord vasculitis, and these 3 features were robustly clustered statistically, consistent with an underlying mechanism of ascending infection. Agreement and clustering were also high or moderate for features of placental underperfusion: infarction, decidual vasculopathy, and syncytial knotting. CONCLUSION: Our results should help researchers to interpret future findings relating placental histopathology to preterm birth, preeclampsia, and other adverse pregnancy outcomes, and to their etiologic determinants and causal pathways.

Metastatic umbilical mass from transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.

We present the case of an 83-year-old female presenting with an umbilical mass measuring 2 cm x 3 cm. This patient had an extensive prior history of transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder. A fine needle aspiration of this umbilical mass confirmed this to be metastatic transitional cell carcinoma and the diagnostic workup demonstrated the presence of invasive bladder cancer with metastatic liver lesions.

Emergence of uterine pathology during accelerated biological aging in FSH receptor-haploinsufficient mice.

A fully functional FSH receptor (Fshr) is required for ovarian follicular development and fertility. Fshr null females are sterile because of failure of follicular maturation, ovulation, and estrogen deficiency. Because Fshr-haploinsufficient females also begin to show age-dependent reproductive deficits that mimic biological aging, we have investigated the changes that occur in the uterus of these mice. The uterine weight in 12-month-old Fshr +/- mice increased 2-fold, and most retired breeders (those that stopped breeding earlier than our wild-type females) developed unilateral uterine masses that appeared similar to several abnormalities that also occur in women and associated with infertility. Curiously, there was a tendency for most of the abnormality to occur in the right horn. Up to 25% of the virgin Fshr-haploinsufficient mice also developed pathology. These transformations were not present in either wild-type mice or the estrogen-deficient Fshr null females at any age. In haploinsufficient females, estrogen and progesterone were reduced and testosterone was elevated in circulation by 1 yr. Fshr-haploinsufficient mice developed an imbalance of progesterone receptor isoforms A and B in the uterus. This alteration of progesterone receptors along with an increase in LH receptors in the uterus may contribute to the induction of high frequency of uterine pathology. Angiogenesis, vascular abnormality, and adenomyosis appeared to be increased in the uterine horn bearing pathological mass. The Fshr-haploinsufficient mice might help in understanding the molecular basis of induction of uterine pathology and tissue patterning.