Enumerating pelvic recurrence following radical cystectomy for bladder cancer: A Canadian multi-institutional study.

Introduction: We aimed to enumerate the rate of pelvic recurrence following radical cystectomy at university-affiliated hospitals in Canada.

Methods: Canadian, university-affiliated hospitals were invited to participate. They were asked to identify the first 10 consecutive patients undergoing radical cystectomy starting January 1, 2005, who had urothelial carcinoma stages pT3/T4 N0-2 M0.

Remediation of residents in difficulty: a retrospective 10-year review of the experience of a postgraduate board of examiners.

Purpose: To determine, through a 10-year review, (1) the prevalence of residents in difficulty, (2) characteristics of these residents, (3) areas of residents' weakness, and (4) outcomes of residents who undergo remediation.

Method: A retrospective review of resident records for the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine's (UT-FOM) Board of Examiners for Postgraduate Programs (BOE-PG) was done from July 1, 1999 to June 30, 2009 using predetermined data elements entered into a standardized form and analyzed for trends and significance. Outcomes for residents in difficulty were tracked through university registration systems and licensure databases.

Loss of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p27Kip1 is a novel prognostic factor in localized human prostate adenocarcinoma.

p27Kip1 is a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor that negatively regulates cell proliferation by mediating cell cycle arrest in G1. This study was undertaken to assess the prognostic value of p27Kip1 in localized human prostate cancer. Archival material from 113 radical prostatectomy specimens obtained between 1985 and 1993 was stained immunohistochemically for p27Kip1 protein using a commercially available antibody.

Proliferative activity and p53 expression in adenoid cystic carcinoma of the breast.

Adenoid cystic carcinoma is a rare type of invasive breast carcinoma that has a good prognosis. We studied a series of four cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma in which we correlated the clinical and pathological features. The pathological features examined included light microscopy; electron microscopy; immunohistochemistry using antibodies to keratin, vimentin, S100 protein, actin, estrogen and progesterone receptors, and proliferation marker MiB-1, and p53 suppressor protein; image cytometric analysis for measurement of DNA ploidy; and molecular analysis using polymerase chain reaction single strand conformation polymorphism to assess point mutation of the p53 gene.

DNA ploidy of hydatidiform moles and nonmolar conceptuses: a study using flow and tissue section image cytometry.

This study was performed to investigate the role of DNA cytometry in the evaluation of molar and nonmolar pregnancies. DNA ploidy analysis was performed on paraffin-embedded tissue from 53 molar (35 complete, 18 partial) and 24 nonmolar (13 hydropic, 11 nonhydropic) conceptuses. Nuclear suspensions were analyzed by both flow and image cytometry and there was excellent correlation (96%) in the classification of DNA diploid, triploid, and tetraploid cases using these two methods.

DNA image cytometry of prostatic carcinoma: a comparison of needle core biopsy and subsequent prostatectomy specimens.

DNA ploidy has recently been identified as an objective prognostic factor in prostatic carcinoma. Although the diagnosis of prostatic carcinoma is increasingly being made with the use of needle core biopsies, the optimal method for the cytometric analysis of these specimens has yet to be determined. In addition, the degree to which the biopsy is representative of the subsequent prostatectomy specimen with respect to DNA heterogeneity has not been adequately addressed.

A comparative study of DNA quantitation in breast carcinoma with image cytometric analysis and in vitro fine-needle aspiration with flow cytometric analysis.

The DNA ploidy status of 53 fresh primary breast carcinomas was analyzed in a comparative study of flow cytometric (FCM) and image cytometric (ICM) analyses. Samples for FCM analysis were obtained with an in vitro fine-needle aspiration technique. Touch imprints from the same tumors were analyzed by three independent observers by ICM analysis.

Detection of false DNA aneuploidy and false DNA multiploidy in flow cytometric DNA analysis.

Although false DNA aneuploid peaks have previously been described in normal tissue, criteria for distinguishing them from 'true' near-diploid peaks have not been established. Normal thyroid (n = 4) and kidney (n = 1) tissue were allowed to autolyze over a fixed period of time and DNA content was analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). Autolysis was associated with the development of distinct separate G0/G1 peaks which had low DNA indices (1.

Determination of DNA ploidy in archival tissue from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma using flow and image cytometry.

Paraffin-embedded tissue from a series of 40 cases of diffuse, large cell lymphoma was analyzed by both flow and image cytometry to compare the ability of these techniques to detect DNA aneuploid populations. Image cytometry (ICM) was performed both on nuclear suspensions and tissue sections. Twenty cases (50%) were non-diploid by at least one method of analysis.

The study of endocrine tumors by flow and image cytometry.

Both DNA flow and image cytometry are methods that can be used for the quantitative determination of cellular DNA content. Objective, quantitative analysis of cellular morphology can also be obtained using image cytometry. Data thus generated have been shown to be of diagnostic and prognostic use in the study of many solid tumors and would be of particular value in the evaluation of endocrine tumors that show a poor correlation between their histology and biological behavior.

The use of sequential fine-needle aspiration biopsy with flow cytometry to monitor radiation induced changes in breast carcinoma.

Thirteen patients with locally advanced or recurrent breast carcinoma were monitored during radiation therapy by multiple, sequential, fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) with flow cytometry. The material was analyzed for qualitative cytomorphological evidence of radiation effect and for DNA content and cell cycle alterations. DNA ploidy was not affected by the radiation therapy, although the aneuploid tumors showed an increased frequency of cell cycle alterations.

The role of DNA flow and image cytometry in the evaluation of body cavity fluids.

In addition to conventional cytomorphologic study, 50 body cavity fluid specimens (benign and malignant) were analyzed by both flow cytometry (FCM) and image cytometry (ICM) in order to evaluate the potential application of these techniques in the diagnosis of malignancy. While 88% of the fluids were similarly classified by FCM and ICM as being either diploid (66%) or nondiploid (22%), with similar DNA index values, nondiploid peaks were identified by ICM alone in 12% of the fluids. Aneuploid populations were present in 92% of the cytologically positive fluids and in 15% of the cytologically negative fluids.

Incidental glomus coccygeum. When a normal structure looks like a tumor.

The glomus coccygeum is located at the tip of the coccyx; it measures several millimeters in diameter. We describe two glomera coccygea incidentally discovered in pilonidal sinus excision specimens. Review of several reports of coccygeal glomus tumors indicates that most of them probably represent normal glomera coccygea misdiagnosed as tumors.

Fine needle aspiration of schwannomas. Value of electron microscopy and immunocytochemistry in the preoperative diagnosis.

In the absence of Verocay bodies, the cytologic appearance of schwannomas can be quite nonspecific, with the differential diagnosis including a number of spindle cell lesions. The diagnostic accuracy can be enhanced by the use of electron microscopy (EM) and immunocytochemistry; both techniques are easily applicable to aspirated material. Six cases of schwannoma, diagnosed as such preoperatively by the application of these techniques, are reported.

Epithelial proliferation in thymic hyperplasia. An immunohistochemical study and correlation with the developing fetal thymus.

Thymic hyperplasia is a B-cell lymphoid proliferation in which an epithelial component has not, to our knowledge, been previously described. We present a case of thymic hyperplasia in which numerous lymphoid follicles with germinal centers were partially surrounded by small sheets of spindle and epithelioid cells. Electron microscopy confirmed the epithelial nature of these cells.