Heparanase expression: a potential ancillary diagnostic tool for distinguishing between malignant cells and reactive mesothelium in body cavity effusions.

Objective: Heparanase, an endoglycosidase that cleaves heparan sulphate, is frequently expressed in carcinomas and was suggested to play a role in cell invasion and metastasis. We investigated whether heparanase expression may serve as a reliable marker to discriminate benign mesothelial cells from malignant cells shed into body cavities.

Methods And Results: Cytological smears of effusions from 51 hospitalized patients were immunostained for heparanase.

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor of the kidney. Report of a case initially diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology.

Background: Primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) is a malignant small round cell tumor that exhibits neuroepithelial differentiation, most often presenting as a bone or soft tissue mass in the trunk or axial skeleton in adolescents and young adults. Isolated cases of PNET have been observed at visceral sites, such as the ovary, testis, uterus, bladder and pancreas. We present a case of PNET in the kidney initially diagnosed by fine needle aspiration (FNA).

Fine needle aspiration biopsy of intraparotid schwannoma. A case report.

Background: Intraparotid schwannoma of the salivary gland is a rare entity. Review of the literature revealed one previous report describing its cytologic features.

Case: A 22-year-old man had a slowly growing, painless mass in the left parotid gland.

FGFR2 mutation in clinically nonclassifiable autosomal dominant craniosynostosis with pronounced phenotypic variation.

We describe a mutation in the FGFR2 gene in affected members of a large family with inherited autosomal dominant craniosynostosis. The mutation is a G1044A transition at codon 344 of exon B of the gene and results in abnormal splicing of the FGFR2 transcript. The phenotypic effect of the mutation varies greatly.