[Primary mixed adeno-neuroendocrine carcinoma (MANEC) of the urinary bladder: a rare entity].

A 67-year-old male patient underwent transurethral resection for a bladder tumour at the lower posterior wall found incidentally on imaging for an unrelated disease. The initial histomorphological examination suggested an adenocarcinoma with partial neuroendocrine differentiation. Imaging of the thorax and the abdomen, showed no evidence of another primary tumour.

Metastasis to skeletal muscle from esophageal adenocarcinoma.

We report on a case of a 54-year-old man who was admitted to hospital with diffuse muscular pain and recurrent vomiting. Diagnosis of an adenocarcinoma of the esophagus was established by endosonography-guided biopsy. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed multiple nodular lesions within the skeletal musculature; CT-guided biopsy proved the metastatic origin of the primary tumor site.

HER2/neu expression and amplification in non-small cell lung cancer prior to and after neoadjuvant therapy.

Background: Expression and amplification of the HER2/neu protooncogene was analyzed in locally advanced NSCLC in a multimodality therapy approach in order to obtain information on the predictive value of HER2/neu for success or failure of neoadjuvant therapy.

Methods: In the scope of a prospective randomized phase III-trial, tumor tissue of pre-therapeutically obtained mediastinal lymph node biopsies (n=105) and corresponding post-surgical resection specimens (n=44) was analyzed by means of immunohistochemistry (DAKO-Hercep-Test) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). In 58 of 105 patients with metastatic mediastinal lymph node disease the extent of therapy-induced tumor regression could be established.

[Forensic DNA-analysis in pathology].

The principles of modern forensic DNA-analysis using the amplification of so called STR-polymorphisms are explained. Four cases from practise that required the collaboration of forensic molecular biology and pathology and which were analysed by them are presented and discussed. Similarities and variations in the work of both "disciplines" are presented and suggestions for the storage of samples formulated.

[Obligation to report occupational diseases. Importance of external post-mortem examinations before cremation].

The practical use of the legally required documentation of occupational diseases is demonstrated by a case of asbestos-related pleural mesothelioma. During the mandatory inquest before cremation, information of manifest pleural mesothelioma had been relayed to the widow of the patient, and an investigation for a possible occupational disease was performed. Reconstruction of the case showed that in the course of 3 months at least 13 physicians had been involved in in-hospital as well as ambulatory therapeutic measures.