Complete remission of chemo-refractory multiple-metastatic upper tract urothelial carcinoma by autologous formalin-fixed tumor vaccine.

A patient with chemo-refractory multiple-metastatic upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) treated by monotherapy with autologous formalin-fixed tumor vaccine (AFTV) resulted in complete remission of the lung and para-aortic lymph node metastases (ongoing >3 years after AFTV). The tumor was immunohistologically negative for PD-L1. AFTV will be an attractive treatment option.

A transient increase and subsequent sharp decrease of chemo-refractory liver-metastasized uterine cervical small cell carcinoma to autologous formalin-fixed tumor vaccine plus anti-PD-1 antibody.

Uterine cervical small cell carcinoma is rare and aggressive with no standardized therapy. A patient bearing the advanced chemo-refractory carcinoma, treated with a tumor vaccine combined with 1 mg/kg of pembrolizumab, showed a transient increase and subsequent sharp decrease of the liver-metastasized lesion to less than half its maximum diameter.

Does pneumothorax occurrence correlate with a change in the weather?

Purpose: There has been speculation that weather changes correlate with the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax, although this has not been verified. Moreover, there are no significant data available on the meteoropathic pneumothorax in Asia. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible correlation and to compare our results to those of the United States and Europe.

Correlation between morphology and EGFR mutations in lung adenocarcinomas Significance of the micropapillary pattern and the hobnail cell type.

The presence of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase (TK) mutations significantly correlates with tumor sensitivity to TK inhibitors, particularly in lung adenocarcinomas, the predominant histological subtype in Japan and the United States. To clarify links between EGFR mutations and pathological findings in Japanese lung cancer, detailed pathological features of adenocarcinomas were examined using the WHO criteria as well as our cell type classification (hobnail, columnar and polygonal). Medical records were reviewed for a total of 107 surgically resected tumors.

Postradiation sarcoma of the chest wall: report of two cases.

Postradiation sarcoma is a rare late complication of external radiotherapy. We herein present two cases with this disease. A 54-year-old man had undergone a lobectomy and chest wall resection for Pancoast type lung cancer 7 years previously.

[Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the trachea; report of a case].

A 45-year-old female with a complaint of dyspnea was admitted to our hospital. Computed tomography (CT) and bronchoscopy revealed a 10 mm intraluminal polypoid tumor with a smooth surface and hemorrhagic tendency located in the tracheal wall 2.0 cm distal from the vocal cords.

[Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung with high serum granulocyte colony stimulating factor, suggested of pulmonary abscess by preoperative radiology; report of a case].

A 52-year-old man with a history of heavy smoking was hospitalized for evaluation of fever. Pulmonary abscess was initially suspected by computed tomography (CT) showing an ovoid, well-demarcated nodule of 61 mm in diameter with coarse calcification in S2a of the right lung. The patient was treated with antibiotics, but no improvement was seen in inflammatory reactions or lesion size.

Human pulmonary dirofilariasis: a case report and review of the recent Japanese literature.

Human pulmonary dirofilariasis is a rare zoonotic infection caused by the dog heartworm Dirofilaria immitis, which is transmitted via a vector/intermediate host, generally the mosquito. The authors present a case of histologically diagnosed human pulmonary dirofilariasis, in which the lesion was resected using video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). The authors also review 24 cases of such zoonosis reported in Japan from 1998 to 2004.

Possible mechanism of metastasis in lung adenocarcinomas with a micropapillary pattern.

Micropapillary differentiation in adenocarcinomas has recently been associated with poor prognosis because these tumors are more likely to metastasize. However, no clear explanation exists as to why the presence of a micropapillary pattern is associated with metastasis. A case of primary lung adenocarcinoma with a prominent micropapillary pattern is presented here, with special reference to the immunohistochemical expression of the E-cadherin-mediated system and IQGAP1.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the posterior mediastinum: an older adult case with anaplastic lymphoma kinase abnormalities determined using immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare neoplasm that usually occurs in children and young adults. Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) abnormalities in IMT, determined using immunohistochemistry and/or molecular genetic studies, including fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), have almost been limited to children and young adults. In elderly cases of IMT, these ALK abnormalities are very rare.

Two prognostically significant subtypes of high-grade lung neuroendocrine tumours independent of small-cell and large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas identified by gene expression profiles.

Background: Classification of high-grade neuroendocrine tumours (HGNT) of the lung currently recognises large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) and small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) as distinct groups. However, a similarity in histology for these two carcinomas and uncertain clinical course have led to suggestions that a single HGNT classification would be more appropriate. Gene expression profiling, which can reproduce histopathological classification, and often defines new subclasses with prognostic significance, can be used to resolve HGNT classification.

Pulmonary metastases from a low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma confirmed by chromosome aberration and fluorescence in-situ hybridization approaches: a case of recurrence 13 years after hysterectomy.

Pulmonary metastasis from low-grade endometrial stromal sarcomas (ESSs) occasionally are found after long, disease-free periods, mostly as incidental histological or radiological discoveries. We describe a case of low-grade ESS presenting as nodular pulmonary metastases finally diagnosed by estrogen-receptor staining, cytogenetic and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses, and perusal of the histology of hysterectomy material. An abnormal nodule in the lung field was discovered by means of chest X-ray of a 47-year-old woman.

Early-stage lung adenocarcinomas with a micropapillary pattern, a distinct pathologic marker for a significantly poor prognosis.

Adenocarcinomas with a micropapillary pattern (MPP), featuring small papillary tufts lacking a central fibrovascular core, are thought to have a poor prognosis. To examine whether the MPP is a predictor of prognosis, clinicopathologic characteristics of adenocarcinomas were analyzed with particular reference to survival of early-stage patients. The subjects were 344 consecutive patients (female/male ratio 163:181) for whom complete surgical resection was undertaken at the Cancer Institute Hospital, Japan, during 1986-1995.

Loss of heterozygosity and the smoking index increase with decrease in differentiation of lung adenocarcinomas: etiologic implications.

To better understand causative relations of smoking to lung adenocarcinomas, the frequency of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of all autosomal chromosomes was compared among the three grades of histological differentiation with 119 pulmonary adenocarcinomas (AC) and 41 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), using Southern blotting. The fractional allelic loss (FAL) values, defined as (number of chromosome arms with LOH)/(number of informative arms), and smoking index (a product of number of cigarettes per day and duration in years) for all ACs were 0.19 and 520 whereas those for SCCs were 0.

Integrated classification of lung tumors and cell lines by expression profiling.

The utility of cancer cell lines depends largely on their accurate classification, commonly based on histopathological diagnosis of the cancers from which they were derived. However, because cancer is often heterogeneous, the cell line, which also has the opportunity to alter in vitro, may not be representative. Yet without the overall architecture used in histopathological diagnosis of fresh samples, reclassification of cell lines has been difficult.