Fixation Effects on Variant Calling in a Clinical Resequencing Panel.

Formalin fixation is the standard method for the preservation of tissue for diagnostic purposes, including pathologic review and molecular assays. However, this method is known to cause artifacts that can affect the accuracy of molecular genetic test results. We assessed the applicability of alternative fixatives to determine whether these perform significantly better on next-generation sequencing assays, and whether adequate morphology is retained for primary diagnosis, in a prospective study using a clinical-grade, laboratory-developed targeted resequencing assay.

Hurthle cell neoplasms of the thyroid: sonographic appearance and histologic characteristics.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the sonographic features of Hürthle cell neoplasms (HCNs) of the thyroid.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the sonographic appearance of 15 histologically proven HCNs in 15 patients aged 16 to 70 years (mean age, 44 years). Sonographic features that were reviewed included the size and echogenicity of the tumors, the presence of cystic areas or calcifications, and detectable blood flow on color Doppler imaging.

Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: expression profile of targets for therapy offers new insights for disease treatment.

Background: Anaplastic thyroid cancer is an endocrine malignancy. Its rare and rapidly lethal disease course has made it challenging to study. Little is known regarding the expression by anaplastic tumors of molecular targets for new human anticancer agents that have been studied in the preclinical or clinical setting.

Ex vivo sentinel lymph node mapping in colon cancer: improving the accuracy of pathologic staging?

Background: A subset of patients with colon cancer staged by conventional methods have occult micrometastases and do not receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Sentinel lymph node (SLN) mapping and staining by immunohistochemistry is a technique that may identify such occult micrometastases, thereby upstaging patients with positive findings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ex vivo SLN mapping in colon cancer could be applied successfully to patients at our institution.

Derangement of the E-cadherin/catenin complex is involved in transformation of differentiated to anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.

Background: Anaplastic thyroid cancer arises, or transforms, from pre-existing differentiated thyroid cancer. E-cadherin functions as a cell-cell adhesion molecule that complexes with catenin proteins for function. The objective of this study was to evaluate the change in E-cadherin/beta-catenin expression in the transformation of differentiated to anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.

Hemithyroidectomy: the optimal initial surgical approach for individuals undergoing surgery for a cytological diagnosis of follicular neoplasm.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to determine the true proportion and optimal surgical approach for individuals undergoing thyroid operation for a suspicion of cancer based on a fine-needle aspiration biopsy diagnosis of a follicular neoplasm (FN). A secondary objective of this study was to determine whether patient characteristics could assist the clinician in predicting malignancy in this FN patient cohort.

Methods: A retrospective chart, pathology, and cytology review of 370 consecutive primary thyroid operations was performed over a 4-year period at a tertiary care referral center.

An unusual cause of an incidental lung mass.

A 52-year-old woman was found to have a mass measuring 1 cm in diameter with radiographic features of a carcinoid tumour in the left lung during work-up for chest pain. Wedge excision of the lesion revealed a leiomyoma that had a similar histological appearance to uterine 'fibroids' removed eight years previously. This case is an example of benign metastasizing leiomyoma, an unusual lesion of uncertain etiopathogenesis.