Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer: Long-term Incidence Trends and Prognostic Differences.

Background: Secular trends in incidence and prognosis of molecular breast cancer subtypes are poorly described. We studied long-term trends in a population of Norwegian women born 1886-1977.

Methods: A total of 52,949 women were followed for breast cancer incidence, and 1,423 tumors were reclassified into molecular subtypes using IHC and in situ hybridization.

Invasive lobular breast cancer: the prognostic impact of histopathological grade, E-cadherin and molecular subtypes.

Aims: The aim of this study was to compare breast cancer specific survival (BCSS) for invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC) and invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and, further, to evaluate critically the prognostic value of histopathological grading of ILC and examine E-cadherin as a prognostic marker in ILC.

Methods And Results: The study comprised 116 lobular and 611 ductal breast carcinomas occurring between 1961 and 2008. All cases had been classified previously according to histopathological type and grade, stained for oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), antigen Ki67 (Ki67), epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR), cytokeratin 5 (CK5) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) and classified into molecular subtypes.

Alterations in collagen fibre patterns in breast cancer. A premise for tumour invasiveness?

Stromal tissue in the breast plays a key role in cancer invasiveness due to molecular and cellular changes. Collagen is the main component of the stroma. The purposes of this study were to investigate differences in collagen fibre patterns between tumour-induced stromal tissue and normal stroma, and between high-grade and low-grade breast cancer stroma, using second harmonic generation microscopy.

Reproductive history and the risk of molecular breast cancer subtypes in a prospective study of Norwegian women.

Purpose: Breast cancer can be classified into molecular subtypes that differ in clinical characteristics and prognosis. There is some but conflicting evidence that reproductive risk factors may differ between distinct breast cancer subtypes.

Methods: We investigated associations of reproductive factors with the risk for six molecular breast cancer subtypes in a cohort of 21,532 Norwegian women who were born between 1886 and 1928 and followed up for breast cancer incidence between 1961 and 2008.

Anthropometric factors and risk of molecular breast cancer subtypes among postmenopausal Norwegian women.

Adult height and body weight are positively associated with breast cancer risk after menopause, but few studies have investigated these factors according to molecular breast cancer subtype. A total of 18,562 postmenopausal Norwegian women who were born between 1886 and 1928 were followed up for breast cancer incidence from the time (between 1963 and 1975) height and weight were measured until 2008. Immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization techniques were used to subtype 734 incident breast cancer cases into Luminal A, Luminal B [human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2-)], Luminal B (HER2+), HER2 subtype, basal-like phenotype (BP) and five-negative phenotype (5NP).

Late onset metastases to the thyroid gland from renal carcinoma.

Background: Metastases from renal cell carcinoma to the thyroid gland are uncommon and the clinical course often prolonged. We wished to determine the incidence of such metastases in surgical biopsy records from two Norwegian hospitals.

Material And Method: The archives of the Department of Pathology at Nordland Hospital Bodø (for the period 2002-11) and the Department of Pathology and Medical Genetics at St.

Hyperspectral imaging of atherosclerotic plaques in vitro.

Vulnerable plaques constitute a risk for serious heart problems, and are difficult to identify using existing methods. Hyperspectral imaging combines spectral- and spatial information, providing new possibilities for precise optical characterization of atherosclerotic lesions. Hyperspectral data were collected from excised aorta samples (n = 11) using both white-light and ultraviolet illumination.

[Methanol poisonings in 2007-08].

Background: At the turn of 2007/2008, four Norwegian men died after ingestion of commercially available supposedly denatured ethanol.

Material And Methods: The four deaths are presented and discussed.

Results: Methanol concentrations, consistent with lethal methanol poisoning, were detected in blood and urine for all four.

Characterization of vulnerable plaques by multiphoton microscopy.

Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death in the United States; the majority of these deaths are caused by the rupture of vulnerable plaques. An important feature of vulnerable plaques is the thickness of the fibrous cap that covers the necrotic core. A thickness of less than 65 microm has been proposed as a value that renders the plaque prone to rupture.

Skin changes following minor trauma.

Background And Objective: Bruises are currently evaluated by visual inspection, and little is known about the first phase after injury. The temporal development of fresh injuries must be accurately described to be able to age bruises in a reliable manner. Color changes in a bruise caused by hemoglobin breakdown products will depend on the severity of the trauma, and thus on the local immune response in the skin.

[Coronary artery anomalies as a cause of sudden death in young people].

Background: Sudden cardiac death in a young person is rare. In contrast to older persons, where atherosclerotic heart disease is the most common cause; cardiomyopathies, myocarditis, commotio cordis and coronary artery anomalies are more common in the young.

Material And Methods: This report comprises the autopsy findings in two young persons who died suddenly and a short review of relevant literature.

Reflection spectroscopy of atherosclerotic plaque.

Heart disease is the primary cause of death in the western world. Many of these deaths are caused by the rupture of vulnerable plaque. Vulnerable plaques are characterized by a large lipid core covered by a thin fibrous cap.

A novel approach to age determination of traumatic injuries by reflectance spectroscopy.

Background And Objectives: Aging of injuries on a victim's body is an important aspect of forensic medicine. Currently, visual assessment and colorimetry based on empirical criteria are the most common techniques for this task, although the results are uncertain. A trauma causing localized vessel damage will rapidly result in a pool of blood in subcutaneous tissues.

Histopathological outcome in 167 patients operated on with radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Objective: To evaluate the histopathological outcome in patients with prostate cancer operated on with radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Material And Methods: A total of 167 patients with clinically organ-localized prostate cancer treated with open radical retropubic prostatectomy between 1996 and 2001 were divided into three equally sized consecutive cohorts (cohorts I-III). The prostatectomy specimens were re-examined by two pathologists with respect to pathological tumour stage, tumour grade and surgical tumour margins.

Frequency of lymphoceles after open and laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection in patients with prostate cancer.

Objective: To compare the frequencies of pelvic lymphocele formation after laparoscopic and open pelvic lymph node dissection in patients with prostate cancer.

Material And Methods: A total of 132 patients operated on with pelvic lymph node dissection (PLND) underwent CT scanning of the abdomen and pelvis at a median of 29 days postoperatively. Open pelvic lymph node dissection (OPLND) was performed in 94 patients (71%) and 38 patients (29%) were operated on using a laparoscopic technique (LPLND).

[Smoking in Norwegian hospitals--status by the end of the year 2000].

Background: Establishing smoke-free hospitals by the end of 1995 was a goal for Norwegian health authorities. The present study reports the smoking status in Norwegian hospitals by the end of the year 2000.

Material And Methods: Information was collected by questionnaires sent to all 81 Norwegian hospital directors; 78 (96%) responded.