Tehran University Medical Journal

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Frozen section is a useful method in the diagnosis of different malignancies including those of thyroid origin. However, there are still controversies about its application, sensitivity and specificity for thyroid neoplasm. In this study, diagnostic value of frozen section (FS) was compared with permanent histopathologic and Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA). In this study, which was conducted in process research method, permanent sample, FNA, and frozen section results in 214 patients was compared. All of these 214 patients had been seeking medical evaluation for thyroid nodules between years 1997 and 1999 in Shariati hospital. All pathologic evaluations were performed by pathology staff of this hospital. Permanent pathology was considered as the gold standard so the specificity, sensitivity and diagnostic precision of FNA and FS were evaluated on the basis of its results. We use Macnemar test for this purpose. The number of patients during this period were 214 (160 women and 54 men). Mean age of our patients was 42.3±5.4 and their age ranged between 12 to 84 years. Pathologic results revealed that 163 of the patients (76 percent) had benign lesions, and 51 of them (24 percent) had malignant lesions. Thyroid malignancies comparised papillary carcinoma (70 percent), follicular carcinoma (13.5 percent), papilofollicular carcinoma (6 percent), medulary carcinoma (6 percent), Hurtle cell carcinoma (4 percent) and anaplastic carcinoma (5 percent). FNA was done in all of the patients before surgery and was able to determine the status of nodules in 150 patients. Sensitivity, specificity and precision of FNA in these 150 patients were 72, 96 and 90 percents respectively. When FNA was unable to determine the status of a nodule (64 remaining patients), FS was applied to do the job. A sensitivity of 36 percent, specificity of 85 percent and precision of 73 percent was found in this group of patients. Macnemar test showed that there is no significant difference between FNA and FS methods. This study showed: when FNA is not conclusive, FS will not bring any further benefit. It seems that only in suspicious cases of papillary, undifferentiated and medulary carcinomas, FS can be useful in certifying the results of FNA and choosing the appropriate surgical plan. We should wait for permanent sample reports in the case of follicular or Hurtle cell carcinoma.

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Dispersed neuroendocrine system (D.N.S) consists of a wide variety of cells that are present in the central and peripheral nervous system and in many classic endocrine organs and different tissues such as respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, skin, prostate, breast and also their neoplasm show neuroendocrine differentiation by electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry or biochemical techniques:
Materials and Methods: The present study has been carried out by case-series method in order to evaluating the characteristics of all types of neuroendocrine carcinoma: different anatomical locations during 5 years period in immunohistochemistry department of cancer institute.
Results: The diagnosis of 109 cases of neuroendocrine carcinoma consisting of neuroendocrine carcinoma, small cell carcinoma, medullary carcinoma of thyroid, carcinoid tumor and merkel cell carcinoma are confirmed that among them the most common diagnosis was related to neuroendocrine carcinoma (50.5 percent). The most prevalent age group was 40-49 years and male to female distribution were 56 percent and 44 percent respectively. Anatomical distribution of tumor show that about 30 percent of cases were metastatic carcinoma, 30 percent in thyroid, respiratory tract and head and neck region and remainder in a variety of tissues. In over 50 percent of cases one of endocrinoid patterns as trabecular, organoid or mixed of them were seen.
Conclusion: Immunohistochemically N.S.E (Neuron Specific Enolase) show high sensitivity with 96 percent positive reaction and more specific endocrine markers as chromogranin A in 80 percent and synaptophysin only in 24 percent because of lesser application of the latter. Also epithelial markers such as cytokeratin and E.M.A.
(Epithelial Membrane Antigen) were positive in 69 percent and 74 percent respectively. Mean survival rate of all neuroendocrine carcinoma reached to 4.8 years with lowest survival of 4.3 years among small cell carcinoma and highest in merkel cell carcinoma with 5.5 years.

 

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Background: Nowadays, aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, and xylene are extensively used in the different environments and industries, causing adverse effects on individuals who are being exposed occupationally and environmentally to these hazardous compounds. In this study, occupational exposure to xylene in workers, employing at pathology wards of hospitals belonging to the Qazvin University of Medical Sciences have been investigated.

Materials and Methods: Methyl Hiporic Acid (MHA) as a main metabolite of xylene in urine was used to evaluate the workers exposure to this chemical. The urine samples were taken from all 30 workers from 4 hospitals, i.e. Kosar, Shahid Rajaei, Booali and Qods. Through this study, 30 administrative employees were also selected as control group. The direct DBA colorimetric method was used to measure MHA in the workers urine.      

Results: The results obtained from this study showed that, there were significant differences between MHA and working days, type of jobs, and length of exposure time. This study also showed that, there were no significant differences between urinary MHA concentration and sex, age, and smoking habit.

Conclusion: Through this study, it was also clearly obtained that, xylene exposure can not affect on the total and direct serum bilirobin in the workers blood. Finally, it is worth mentioning that, although this study showed no acute exposure to xylene in hospitals pathology wards, the effect of chronic exposure to such compound cannot be ignored, therefore protecting workers against like these organic solvents are strongly recommended as their TLVs are considerably being reduced during these years

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Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second most common cause of death from cancer in women. HER2 is an epidermal growth factor receptor which plays a substantial role in pathogenesis of breast cancer and also a target for new antineoplastic drug Herceptin. This study was conducted for determining the correlation between HER2 overexpression and histopathologic characteristics of breast cancer and also degree of intraobserver and interobserver agreement in scoring of Immnohistochemistry (IHC) slides between pathologists in samples referred to pathology ward.
Methods: This study was conducted as a descriptive cross sectional study. Among the breast cancer samples referred to pathology ward in Shariati Hospital in Tehran, Iran. 140 samples have been selected sequentially using simple non-random sampling method. All the information has been extracted using medical records and pathology reports.
Results: This study showed significant difference between diagnosis and HER2 status (p<0.05). Significant difference observed between lymph node invasion and HER2 status (p<0.05). Positive significant association between the size and tumor grade with HER2 status (r=0.188, p=0.026), Significant difference between histopathologic types with scoring of HER2 (p=0.001). Significant difference between histopathologic types with lymph node invasion (p=0.001). Agreement level of HER-2 scoring was shown to be nearly perfect between two observers (kappa statistic= 0.715) and the same observer (Kappa statistic= 0.78).
Conclusion: We do not recommend IHC and FISH test in invasive lobular carcinoma of breast and uncommon subgroups of breast cancer except in invasive ductal carcinoma and its subgroups.

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Background: Nowadays skin damages caused by ultraviolet (U.V.) radiation from the sun were increased accordingly necessity for safe and inexpensive protective products for reducing the harmful effects of this ray is unassailable. The antiradical, anti irritation and anti-cancer properties of silymarin make it a suitable option for use in cream formulation to investigate its effect on skin disorders caused by U.V. radiation. In this research effect of local application of a cream containing silymarin in prevention of the harmful effects of U.V. radiation on the guinea pig skin were studied and evaluated by using histopathologic and clinical findings.

Methods: 75 albino guinea pigs were randomly divided into five groups of fifteens. 2cm2 of the back hair was shaven. In the first group no treatment was applied, in the second group vaseline, in group 3 base cream without silymarin extract, in group 4 silymarin extract and in group 5 cream containing silymarin extract were used.

Results: In clinical assessment, skin scaling, skin irregularity, erythema, skin hyperpigmentation, and edema were observed and in histopathological observation epidermal hyper keratosis, hyperpigmentation, exocytosis, acanthosis, chromatin discoloration in nucleus of epidermal squamous cells, perifolliculitis, dermal vascular hyperemia, edema and dermal thickness, infiltration of plasma cell lymphocytes and eosinophyls into dermis were detected. The statistical comparison of group 1 and group 5 shows statistically significant difference in most indices (p<0.01).

Conclusions: Clinical and histopathologic examinations showed that local application of a cream containing silymarin is effective in prevention of skin damage caused by U.V. radiation in guinea pig's skin also the results of the clinical and histopathologic observation in this study confirm the enzymatic results in other researches.

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Background: Bone remodeling has always been the goal of surgeons for a long time. Recently, it was shown that statins that are commonly prescribed for lowering cholesterol also have beneficial effects on bone healing. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the probable effects of atorvastatin on osteogenesis in the rat femur.

Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 30 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The animals were divided randomly into one control and two experiment groups. After induction of anesthesia, a hole of 2 mm in diameter was made in femur width. The control group received physiological serum but the experiment groups one and two, respectively, received 10 and 20 mg/kg/PO of atorvastatin on daily basis. After euthanizing the rats, histopathological and histomorphometrical evaluations of the bones were performed 45 days after the intervention.

Results: In the control group, the defects seemed to be filled with woven bone and bone marrow, depictive of a poor osteogenic activity. In the experiment groups, many osteoblast groupings and young bone trabeculae had been formed and bone trabeculae were more organized. Histomorphometric results, showed that atorvastatin had significantly promoted bone healing in the experiment groups compared with the controls (P<0.001). Moreover, the analysis showed that atorvastatin had more significant effects in group three receiving high doses of the medication in comparison with group two (P<0.001).

Conclusion: The findings of this study showed that atorvastatin is capable of stimulating osteogenesis in rats.

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Background: Fibromatosis includes a variety of fibroblastic proliferation whose biological trend and histopathological patterns are at intermediate level between benign fibroblastic lesions and fibrosarcoma. Accordingly, because of overlapping of histopathologic features of fibrosarcoma, particularly low-grade type, with fibromatosis, the present study was conducted to find more precise criteria for histopathological and immunohistochemical (IHC) differentiation of these lesions. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive analytical study, a total of 40 specimens from pathology department archives in hospitals of Isfahan and Tehran universities from 2003 to 2013, including 20 fibrosarcoma and 20 fibromatosis biopsies, were selected. First, histopathologic characteristics were identified using H&E slides and an optical microscope H&E slides and then they were stained through immunohistochemical staining technique using the EnVision for markers Ki-67 and β-catenin. Afterward the samples were examined by optical microscope and positively stained cells were counted. Results: There was no significant difference between fibromatosis and fibrosarcoma in terms of a mean age (P=0.063), distribution of gender frequency (P=0.197), necrotic rate (P=0.602), clarity of nucleolus (P=0.799) and SID mean of β-catenin marker (0.369). However, it was seen a meaningful difference between fibromatosis and fibrosarcoma in terms of frequency distribution (P=0.017), rate of mitotic figures (P<0.001), rate of herring-bone pattern (P=0.043), rate of cellularity (P<0.001), rate of nucleus overlapping (P<0.001), mean of Ki-67 (P=0.046), mean of Ki-67-limit (P=0.001) and atypia rate (P<0.001). Conclusion: There was a meaningful difference between fibrosarcoma and fibromatosis in terms of mitotic figures, expression of Ki-67 mitotic marker, herring bone pattern, cellularity and atypia. Therefore these features can be used to differentiate the relevant pathological lesions. However, no meaningful difference between two tumors in terms of expression and intensity of β-catenin, clarity of nucleoli and necrosis. This indicates that they are not reliable criteria of differentiation between fibrosarcoma and fibromatosis.

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Background: This study investigated compatibility between post chemoradiation magnetic resonance images and histologic findings after operation and chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

Methods: In this prospective study, 63 patients referred to Cancer Institute of Emam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from October 2011 to October 2013 with locally advanced rectal cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemoradiation (50.4 Gy external beam radiation with concomitant capecitabine 825 mg/m2 PO twice a day with or without 60 mg/m2 oxaliplatin weekly). Patients had an MRI before chemoradiation and MRI assessment were used to identify Tumor (T) and lymph node (N) staging by an experienced radiologist. Patients were recommended to repeat MRI after surgery but it was not obligatory. Findings of post chemoradiation MRI and histopathologic reports were compared. Downstaging was defined as at least one stage decrease in T or N in histopathologic report comparing to their first MRI, on condition of no sign of disease progression.

Results: 32 patients (50.79%) had T downstaging and 36 of them (57.14%) showed N downstaging: none had disease progression. In this study MRI had an accuracy of 55.5% for rectal tumor (T) restaging after chemoradiation comparing to pathology. MRI sensitivity for T restaging was 33.3% to 83.3%.  There was a higher possibility to have errors in restaging of T1-2 stages. Specificity of MRI for T restaging was higher than its sensitivity, 66.6%. In this study lymph node involvement (N) was determined according to morphology and size. MRI has an accuracy of 42.8% for detecting lymph node involvement. Its sensitivity and specificity for N restaging were 50% and 66.6% respectively. All patients had MRI before chemoradiation, although 21 of them repeated MRI after chemoradiation since it was not mandatory. 19 of these 21 patients underwent surgery.

Conclusion: Although MRI is a suitable imaging for staging locally advanced rectal cancer its use for restaging after chemoradiation is under question. According to this study, MRI accuracy rates for both T and N restaging were below the rates of previous studies.

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Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common autosomal recessive genetic disease, which is caused by defection in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) gene. CFTR gene codes chloride channels to modulate the homeostasis of epithelial environments. Defective CFTR affects various organs such as the lungs, pancreas, intestine, liver and skin; however, lung impairment is the main reason for mortality in these patients. About 2000 mutations in this gene have been discovered, but nearly 150 mutations lead to serious symptoms. CFTR mutations are classified into six major classes based on phenotypic manifestations such as structural instability of channels, defective processing, malfunctioning chloride-ion transfers and decreased number of chloride channels in the cell membranes. These cause various symptoms such as respiratory infection, intestinal obstruction, pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and malabsorption. Significant improvements in diagnostic tools and methods such as newborn screening, chloride sweat test and gene sequencing have increased the incidence and the prevalence of CF. Enormous studies have also been done on CF recognition and treatment procedures, which have resulted in 30 years of growth in the life expectancy of the patients. Despite the recent achievements, due to the high complexity of this disease and the involvement of various organs, the available treatments are nonpermanent. In the past few years, new combinatorial drugs have been introduced which potentiate and correct CFTR and ameliorate the CF symptoms. Recently, novel genetic engineering methods like CRISPR/Cas9 and TALEN have been utilized to correct the mutated CFTR gene with high accuracy and eradicate the symptoms. Studying this disease at its distinct levels from subcellular to organs could help to find new treatments. Systematic research in finding common attributes between different states of the disease is very beneficial. Interdisciplinary research groups with various expertise in mathematics, biology and engineering could have a great impact on describing the full picture of the disease and development of new treatment strategies. The main part of this article provides a comprehensive overview of cystic fibrosis with emphasis on the key studies on genetics and their effects on cellular and physiological levels. In this work, conventional and new treatment methods have also been discussed.

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Results: The age range of patients who were diagnosed with mature cystic teratoma of the ovary in the final pathology was 14-71 years. Most cysts were 5-10 cm in size. 86% of patients had unilateral right-sided ovarian involvement. The most common components of this cyst in the macroscopic report were hair (81%) and fat (80%). The diagnostic value of ultrasound for the diagnosis of mature teratoma of the ovary was 74.5%. The frozen section was used to diagnose and rule out the malignancy in 32.5% of patients.

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