Optimizing the risk stratification of astrocytic tumors by applying the cIMPACT-NOW Update 3 signature: real-word single center experience.

Our work reports implementation of a useful genetic diagnosis for the clinical managment of patients with astrocytic tumors. We investigated 313 prospectively recruited diffuse astrocytic tumours by applying the cIMPACT-NOW Update 3 signature. The cIMPACT-NOW Update 3 (cIMPACT-NOW 3) markers, i.

Primary lung adenocarcinoma in three adolescent patients affected by bone sarcomas.

Pediatric primary lung carcinomas are extremely rare. Apart from known associations with congenital adenomatoid malformations, cases of primary lung adenocarcinomas after prolonged treatments of pediatric malignancy have been reported. We describe the morphological and molecular features of three cases of lung adenocarcinoma developed in adolescents aged 8 to 17 years during progression of their bone osteosarcoma or Ewing sarcomas.

New somatic TERT promoter variants enhance the Telomerase activity in Glioblastoma.

The catalytic activity of human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase (TERT) compensates for the loss of telomere length, eroded during each cell cycle, to ensure a correct division of stem and germinal cells. In human tumors, ectopic TERT reactivation, most frequently due to hotspot mutations in the promoter region (TERTp), i.e.

Synaptic vesicle protein 2A tumoral expression predicts levetiracetam adverse events.

Objective: The efficacy of levetiracetam (LEV) in controlling seizures in patients with brain tumor-related epilepsy (BTRE) depends on tumoral expression of synaptic vesicle protein 2A (SV2A). Although LEV is generally well tolerated, neuropsychiatric adverse events (NPAEs) might occur, limiting compliance and seizure control. We aimed to assess the influence of tumoral SV2A expression on the occurrence of LEV-related NPAEs in patients with glioma.

Early Gastric Cancer: Clinical Behavior and Treatment Options. Results of an Italian Multicenter Study on Behalf of the Italian Gastric Cancer Research Group (GIRCG).

Background: Early gastric cancer (EGC) generally has a good prognosis. However, the current definition of EGC includes various subgroups of patients with different pathological characteristics and different prognoses, some of whom have aggressive disease with a biological behavior similar to that of advanced carcinoma.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 1,074 patients with EGC who had undergone surgery between 1982 and 2009.

Isolated fallopian tube torsion with hydrosalpinx: Review of a debated management in a pediatric population.

Purpose: To quantify our experience with and assess the literature on diagnosis and management of isolated fallopian tube torsion (IFTT) with hydrosalpinx (HSX) in children.

Methods: A PubMed search was performed on pediatric cases of IFTT with HSX to provide a comprehensive review analyzing details and management of this association, focusing on the problem of fertility preservation.

Results: In addition to our 3 cases, 17 patients of pediatric IFTT associated with HSX were identified, for a total of 21 cases (median age 12.

The surgical pathology laboratory in Mwanza, Tanzania: a survey on the reproducibility of diagnoses after the first years of autonomous activity.

Background: In 2000, an Italian non-governmental organisation (NGO) began a 9-year project to establish a surgical pathology laboratory at the Bugando Medical Centre (BMC) in Mwanza, Tanzania, a country with a low Human Development Index (HDI), and as of 2009, the laboratory was operating autonomously. The present survey aims to evaluate the reproducibility of histological and cytological diagnoses assigned in the laboratory's early years of autonomous activity. We selected a random sample of 196 histological and cytological diagnoses issued in 2010-2011 at the BMC surgical pathology laboratory.

True Precocious Puberty Following Treatment of a Leydig Cell Tumor: Two Case Reports and Literature Review.

Leydig cell testicular tumors are a rare cause of precocious pseudopuberty in boys. Surgery is the main therapy and shows good overall prognosis. The physical signs of precocious puberty are expected to disappear shortly after surgical removal of the mass.

Dirofilariasis Mimicking an Acute Scrotum.

Human infections caused by Dirofilaria repens have been reported in many areas of the world. We describe a case of a 3-year-old child with an intrascrotal mass caused by D repens mimicking an acute scrotum. This represents the first case of scrotal dirofilariasis described in pediatric age with such an unusual presentation.

Metachronous cardiac and cerebral sarcomas: case report with focus on molecular findings and review of the literature.

Although multiple primary malignancies are relatively rare, they have increased in frequency over the last decades, partly because of advances in diagnosis and therapy. This report describes for the first time the case of a patient with past occupational exposure to asbestos and no family history of cancer who developed 2 rare primary malignancies: a cardiac sarcoma and a gliosarcoma 11 months later. Molecular-cytogenetic studies did not identify common lesions to these 2 rare metachronous sarcomas.

Paraganglioma of the cauda equina region.

Background Context: Cauda equina paragangliomas (CEPs) are rare neuroendocrine tumors. The difficulty in differential diagnosis with other tumors of this region may be misleading for surgical planning and prognostic expectations.

Purpose: To report on a rare case of CEP and review the most current information regarding the diagnosis, treatment options, and outcomes.

Multiple EWSR1-WT1 and WT1-EWSR1 copies in two cases of desmoplastic round cell tumor.

To provide new insights into the genomic profile of desmoplastic round cell tumors (DSRCT), we applied fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and metaphase comparative genomic hybridization (M-CGH) to two newly diagnosed cases. FISH detected multiple subclones bearing one to three copies of der(11)t(11;22)(p13;q12) and/or der(22)t(11;22)(p13;q12) in both patients. This peculiar genomic imbalance might result from derivative chromosome duplication due to non-disjunction and/or mitotic recombination between normal and derivative chromosomes 11 and 22.

Endoscopic and histological pitfalls in the diagnosis of celiac disease: A multicentre study assessing the current practice.

Background And Aims: the diagnosis of celiac disease requires small bowel biopsies to identify the characteristic mucosal changes. The current biopsy practice among endoscopists for celiac disease is in most part unknown. The aim of this study was to compare the different diagnostic policies in various centers in their current practice.

[Single cardiac metastasis from colorectal cancer: an unusual localization].

Metastasis to the heart from malignancy is a frequent but underestimated event. Tumors that are located in the mediastinum, such as pleural mesothelioma, are more frequently associated with cardiac colonization. Few reports have described metastasis from colon adenocarcinoma, which usually colonizes liver and lungs.

Gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal presentation in patients with celiac disease.

Background: Celiac disease (CD) may have a variety of different presentations. This study has aimed to explore the prevalence of gastrointestinal (GI) and non-GI symptoms in patients with CD according to data collected in Italy and Romania (Europe) and Iran (Middle East).

Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted in Iran, Romania and Italy with data collection during the period from May 2009 - May 2011.

Intestinal superinfections in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases.

Background: Intestinal superinfections may occur in the setting of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), complicating the clinical picture and triggering flares of disease.

Aims: To report our experience with intestinal superinfections in IBD patients over a three-year period.

Methods: Charts of patients hospitalized for moderate-to-severe active disease during the observation period were reviewed, and data of patients with flares due to infections collected and analyzed.

Acute pneumonia in a fire-eater.

Fire-eater's lung, an acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia, is caused when street performers accidentally inhale pyrofluids. We report the case of a young fire-eater who, 12 hours after inhaling an iso-alkanebased pyrofluid, developed fever, dyspnoea, dry cough and intense right chest pain. Radiographic signs of pneumonia emerged two days later.

Tumorlets, multicentric carcinoids, lymph-nodal metastases, and long-term behavior in bronchial carcinoids.

Background: The clinical significance of lymph-node metastases, multicentric forms, and tumorlets in bronchial carcinoids is still a matter of debate. Aim of this study was to analyze their prevalence and clinical significance in a series of 123 bronchial carcinoids.

Patients And Methods: Nodal dissection and serial sections of resected lung parenchima for research of multicentric forms and tumorlets were performed in most patients.

The biological characterization of neuroendocrine tumors: the role of neuroendocrine markers.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NET) may originate in different organs, from cells embryologically different but expressing common phenotypic characteristics, such as: the immuno-reactivity for markers of neuroendocrine differentiation (defined as "pan-neuroendocrine"), the capacity to secrete specific or aspecific peptide and hormones and the expression of some receptors, that are at the basis of the current diagnostic and therapeutical approach, peculiar to these tumors. NET have been conventionally distinguished in functioning, when associated with a recognized clinical endocrine syndrome, and non-functioning. However, this terminology may be misleading, since the great majority of NET may secrete neuroendocrine peptides, which can be employed as clinical markers for both diagnosis and follow-up.

Oxaliplatin with raltitrexed and preoperative radiotherapy in T3-T4 extraperitoneal rectal cancer. A dose finding study.

Aims And Background: The availability of new drugs offers the opportunity to improve the outcome of locally advanced rectal cancer. Raltitrexed and oxaliplatin are effective in advanced colorectal cancer with acceptable toxicity and can act as radiation enhancers as shown in phase I-II studies. The aim of the study was thus to determine the recommended dose of oxaliplatin concomitantly administered with raltitrexed and concurrent preoperative radiotherapy in patients with stage II-III extraperitoneal rectal cancer.

Association of 99mTc-MIBI brain SPECT and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to assess glioma recurrence after radiotherapy.

Aim: The aim of this study was to compare 99mTc-MIBI brain SPECT and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) findings and to evaluate their association.

Methods: Both exams were performed on 30 glioma patients, previously operated and treated with radiotherapy, having MRI doubtful between recurrence and radiotherapy effects. SPECT images were acquired 15 minutes after radiopharmaceutical administration with a dual-head gamma camera.

Pituicytoma: ultrastructural evidence of a possible origin from folliculo-stellate cells of the adenohypophysis.

Pituicytoma is a rare neoplasm occurring in the sellar and suprasellar regions. The tumor is currently considered to arise from the pituicyte, a specialized glial cell of the posterior lobe and the stalk of the pituitary gland. The authors describe a case of pituicytoma, focusing on the ultrastructural features.