Primary extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of the endometrium: report of four cases and review of literature.

Primary extranodal marginal zone lymphoma of the endometrium (PEMZL-EM) is exceedingly rare and has not been well characterized. Herein, we study the clinicopathological, cytogenetic and molecular features of four cases, the largest case series reported to date. The median age of the four patients was 59 years. Clinical presentations included abnormal vaginal bleeding (three cases) and incidental finding (one case). There were no constitutional symptoms in any of the cases. None of the patients had evidence of lymphoma in any other anatomic sites including bone marrow. Histologically, the lymphoma was characterized by a nodular proliferation of small lymphocytes admixed with occasional immunoblasts and variable number of plasma cells, which was restricted to the endometrium in most cases. Lymphoepithelial lesions were not identified in any of the cases. All cases displayed the immunophenotype of marginal zone B-cell lymphoma. Cytogenetics and FISH studies revealed absence of characteristic chromosomal translocations. Molecular analysis demonstrated immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement in all cases, two of which were found to use IgVH3-30 gene by DNA sequencing. Three of the four patients were still alive after a median follow-up of three years. PEMZL-EM predominantly affects postmenopausal women and is characterized by distinct histological patterns, lack of specific genomic alterations, and indolent clinical course.

Brain metastases from papillary thyroid carcinomas.

Brain metastasis from papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is extremely rare and carries a poor prognosis. We report nine cases (five females and four males) of brain metastasis of PTC. The age of patients ranged from 46 to 87 years old. The patients presented with nonspecific symptoms such as headaches. Brain metastasis was the first clinical presentation in three of nine patients; two of which had the aggressive tall cell variant of PTC. Six patients had prior history of PTC (four classic, one oncocytic variant, and one columnar cell variant) for 2 to 17 years with a median of 12 years. Gross total resection of brain metastasis was achieved for eight of our patients. Eight patients were treated with radioactive iodine. The median follow-up time was 12 months, ranging from 1 month to 4 years. Three patients died of their disease in 6 months, 21 months and 4 years, respectively after their first presentation of brain metastasis. It seems that these rare aggressive variants of PTC, such as tall cell variant, not only have higher propensity to develop brain metastasis, but also more frequently present with brain metastasis as their first clinical presentation than classic PTC. Furthermore, patients with PTC can develop brain metastasis even after many years.