Diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma in due time: a practical approach.

The quick diagnosis of Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and its clear-cut differentiation from diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is of great clinical importance because treatment strategies for these two disease entities differ markedly. As these two lymphomas are difficult to distinguish using the current World Health Organization classification, we studied 39 cases of highly proliferative peripheral blastic B-cell lymphoma (HPBCL) to establish a practical differential-diagnostic algorithm. Characteristics set for BL were a typical morphology, a mature B-cell phenotype of CD10+, Bcl-6+ and Bcl-2- tumour cells, a proliferation rate of >95%, and the presence of C-MYC rearrangements in the absence of t(14;18)(q32;q21).

Precursor B lymphoblastic leukemia 32 months after local therapy for a primary extramedullary myeloid cell tumor.

A primary extramedullary myeloid cell tumor (pEMT) of an inguinal lymph node was completely excised without subsequent anti-tumor therapy in a 6-year-old child. Clinical observation and monitoring of blood and bone marrow (BM) did not reveal any pathologic results before 32 months, when a precursor B lymphoblastic leukemia was diagnosed. Identical T-cell receptor gamma rearrangement in nodal pEMT and in precursor B lymphoblastic leukemia in BM indicates a clonal relationship of these two tumors.

IgV H mutations in blastoid mantle cell lymphoma characterize a subgroup with a tendency to more favourable clinical outcome.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is associated with a very unfavourable clinical course. This is particularly true for mantle cell lymphoma of the blastoid subtype (MCL-b). In order to define prognostic factors, we analysed the impact of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IgV H) gene somatic hypermutations on clinical outcome in a series of 21 cases of morphologically, phenotypically, and genotypically well-characterized MCL-b.

Impact of aspirate smears and trephine biopsies in routine bone marrow diagnostics: a comparative study of 141 cases.

The diagnostic impact of bone marrow cytology in combination with flow cytometry analysis of aspirate smears and bone marrow histology together with immunohistochemical examination of trephine biopsies was compared in 141 routine cases. Diagnoses achieved by the two methods were concordant in 80.5% of cases.

Increased detection rates of Barrett's oesophagus without rise in incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Questions Under Study/principles: The incidence of oesophageal adenocarcinoma has quadrupled in the last 20 years. Barrett's oesophagus carries a 30- to 125-fold increased risk of developing adenocarcinoma. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and surveillance of Barrett's oesophagus, dysplasia and adenocarcinoma in Eastern Switzerland.

Who is WHO and what was REAL?

The principles of the new WHO classification of haematopoietic and lymphoid tumours are based on those defined in the Revised European American classification of Lymphoid neoplasms (REAL), published by the International Lymphoma Study Group (ILSG) in 1994. Thus, the new WHO classification may be considered an updated version of the REAL classification rather than of the old WHO classification published in 1976. Disease entities are defined on the basis of morphological, phenotypic, genotypic, and clinical data.

Prognostic relevance of MAGE-A4 tumor antigen expression in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder: a tissue microarray study.

TAAs of the MAGE family are mostly studied as targets of specific immune responses. Their potential relevance as tumor markers has also been underlined. We used a MAb, 57B, recognizing MAGE-A4 protein in paraffin-embedded sections, to evaluate its expression in bladder cancers by employing TMA including 2,317 samples from 1,849 patients.