Benign macrocystic serous cystadenoma of the pancreas.

Serous cystadenoma is a rare benign cystic lesion of pancreas. They are mostly known as benign cystic tumors of pancreas but malign transformation as serous cystadenocarcinoma is also reported. It is more commonly observed in women with the mean age of onset is 62 years. The majority of patients present nonspecific symptoms such as abdominal pain, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, fever, and melena. One-third of the patients are asymptomatic. A 60-year-old woman presents with abdominal pain and nausea for 1 month was admitted. Physical and laboratory findings were normal. Abdomen computed tomography scan confirmed a large number of millimetric cysts of 45 × 47 × 50 mm in size at the head of the pancreas. Due to patient's symptoms and mass effect, Whipple procedure was performed. In the gross examination, a nodular area of 5 × 5 × 4 cm was observed in the head of the pancreas. The microscopic examination of the material revealed cystic structures with fibrous stroma dotted with single layered cuboidal epithelium in the pancreatic tissue. The pathology report confirmed benign macrocystic serous cystadenoma. Serous cystadenomas are rare benign cystic lesions of the pancreas. Although they are benign lesions, it is crucial to differentiate them from other cystic lesions of the pancreas and malignant serous cystadenocarcinomas.

Expressions of Putative Cancer Stem Cell Markers, CD44 and CD133, are Correlated with Pathological Tumour Stage in Gastric Adenocarcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse partial and total gastrectomy specimen in items of immunohistochemical staining of the stem cell CD44 and CD133; and to determine their relationship to pathological stage, other clinicopathological prognostic parameters, and their predictive value. STUDY DESIGN: Derscriptive study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Pathology, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Medical School, Turkey, from 2013 to 2018. METHODOLOGY: Eighty-three cases, diagnosed with adenocarcinoma from stomach partial and total gastrectomy slides and blocks, were included in the study. Adenocarcinoma cases, that had received neoadjuvant treatment before gastrectomy, cases diagnosed with lymphoma and other malignancies and cases of resection performed for reasons other than tumours, were excluded. Formalin-fixed and paraffin wax-embedded gastric adenocarcinoma blocks were sliced. CD44 and CD133 were stained onto the slides in a Leica Bond Max staining device in compliance with immunohistochemical staining datasheets. Membranous staining for CD44 and cytoplasmic, membranous or luminal staining for CD133 were evaluated. Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal- Wallis test were used for group comparisons. For pairwise comparisons, post-hoc Dunn's tests were used. The results were assessed on the significance level of p <0.05. The analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 22.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). RESULTS: Considering CD44 and CD133 expressions in terms of pathological stage, there was significantly more intense expression in the T3 and T4 cases (p=0.009, and p=0.002, respectively). CONCLUSION: Although CD44 is regarded to be associated with more prognostic parameters compared to CD133, both immunohistochemical stains were shown to be related to pathological stage. Thus, these may be guiding for determining the tumour depth. Key Words: Gastric adenocarcinoma, CD44, CD133, Stem cell marker, Prognosis.