Modification of Rapid Papanicolaou Stain with Phloxine: A Study Assessing the Utility in Gynecological Smears.

Background: Rapidity and reliability are the major advantages of cytopathology in tumor diagnosis. The need for minimal turnaround time for assessing cytological smears has encouraged innovations in staining techniques that require lesser staining time with unequivocal cell morphology. Rapid Pap staining was introduced as a hybrid to conventional Pap stain.

A Clinicopathological Analysis of Molecular Subtypes of Breast Cancer using Immunohistochemical Surrogates: A 6-Year Institutional Experience from a Tertiary Cancer Center in North India.

Puneet Kaur Somal  Classification of breast cancer into different molecular subtypes has important prognostic and therapeutic implications. The immunohistochemistry surrogate classification has been advocated for this purpose. The primary objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence of the different molecular subtypes of invasive breast carcinoma and study the clinicopathological parameters in a tertiary care cancer center in rural North India.

Ultrasound-guided continuous erector spinae plane block for perioperative opioid sparing analgesia in breast cancer surgery: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Erector spinae plane (ESP) block provides postoperative analgesia in breast surgeries but has limited duration of action that restricts its efficacy to early postoperative period. This study aims to evaluate the analgesic efficacy and opioid sparing effect of ultrasound (US)-guided continuous erector spinae plane (CESP) block in perioperative period in breast cancer surgery.

Methods: Fifty ASA I/II patients aged more than 18 years, scheduled for elective breast cancer surgery were randomized to either Group B (Block group) or Group C (Control group).

An Innovative Technique of Microsurgical Training on Fresh "Chicken Quarter" Model: Our Experience.

 Regular practice, quality clinical exposure, and academic discussion are essential in any surgical specialty training. This study discusses and validates the option of using a fresh "chicken quarter" model with a measurable scoring system, as a standard training regimen in microvascular surgery. This can be a very effective, economical, and easily accessible model for residents.

Early-Onset Gastric Cancer from a Geographic Area of High Gastric Cancer Incidence in North-East India: a Retrospective Study.

We aim to report about the clinico-pathological characteristics of early-age gastric cancer in North-East India. It is a retrospective and observational study conducted in a tertiary care cancer centre in North-East India. We reviewed physical case records and the hospital electronic medical record system.

Challenges Encountered and Pattern-Based Analysis of Bone Marrow Biopsy in Lymphomas: An Institutional Experience.

 The evaluation of bone marrow (BM) status is an integral part of the initial workup of patients diagnosed with lymphoma as it plays an important role in staging and predicting prognosis in these patients. This article determines the incidence and pattern of BM involvement in lymphoma cases and distinguishes benign from malignant lymphoid aggregates in BM biopsies.  The study group included 121 cases of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphomas for which BM biopsies were performed, fixed in acetic acid-zinc formalin solution, decalcified using 10% formic acid, and subjected to hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemistry.

Clinical Profile, Practice Pattern, and Outcomes With First-Line Therapy in ALK-Positive Lung Cancer: Real-World Data From Resource-Constrained Settings.

Introduction: ALK inhibitors are one of the success stories in precision medicine for treating patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC. Nevertheless, developing countries have substantial constraints in using ALK inhibitors, with limited data from India.

Methods: An audit of a prospectively collected database of patients with advanced ALK-positive NSCLC treated from January 2013 to March 2018 was conducted.

Immunohistochemistry on cell blocks for diagnosis of malignancy in abdomino-pelvic lesions and ascitic fluid cytology at a rural cancer center: A paradigm shift in cancer management.

Background: Cell block preparation is routine practice in cytopathology these days because of its pivotal role in increasing diagnostic yield and ancillary studies. In the present era of personalized medicine in oncology, ancillary techniques such as immunohistochemistry (IHC) and molecular analysis are gaining more importance.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, over 6 months, which included 144 cases of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) of abdominopelvic masses and 105 cases of ascitic fluids.

Reporting Trends, Practices, and Resource Utilization in Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Prostate Gland: A Survey among Thirty-Nine Genitourinary Pathologists.

Neuroendocrine differentiation in the prostate gland ranges from clinically insignificant neuroendocrine differentiation detected with markers in an otherwise conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma to a lethal high-grade small/large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma. The concept of neuroendocrine differentiation in prostatic adenocarcinoma has gained considerable importance due to its prognostic and therapeutic ramifications and pathologists play a pivotal role in its recognition. However, its awareness, reporting, and resource utilization practice patterns among pathologists are largely unknown.

Updates in staging of penile cancer: the evolution, nuances, and issues.

Staging based on the tumor (T), node (N), and metastasis (M) schema of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) is usually the most important prognostic factor for any tumor type. Although a rare tumor, in penile cancers, this staging has evolved rapidly in the last two editions of the AJCC Cancer Staging manuals. These changes and updates are largely based on the advancement in our knowledge of the complex anatomy of the penis, the role of histopathological variables in disease biology, and the results of multicentric studies comprising large data sets.

An Early Experience of Microvascular Surgery in a Tertiary Cancer Centre in North East India.

Background: Microvascular surgery is a highly technique sensitive and evolving speciality in reconstructive oncosurgery. There is a definite learning curve associated with it. In this case series, we describe our initial experience in microvascular surgery at a tertiary cancer centre in North East India.

Pelvic Exenteration for Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer: an Initial Experience from North-east India.

Unlabelled: Pelvic exenteration is a surgery done to achieve margin negative resection in locally advanced rectal cancer infiltrating pelvic organs anterior to it. A retrospective observational study of patients undergoing pelvic exenteration for locally advanced rectal cancer was done at a single surgical unit of a tertiary care cancer centre. The period of study was from 1st January 2019 to 30th June 2021.

Adequacy of Histopathology Reports Representing Oncologic Resection Specimens: An Experience of Reporting Practice in Rural India.

Context.—: The histopathology reporting practice in rural areas is largely variable. To ensure the adequacy of histopathology reports (HPRs), the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has developed cancer reporting checklists.

Prognostic Implications of Uterine Cervical Cancer Regression During Chemoradiation Evaluated by the T-Score in the Multicenter EMBRACE I Study.

Purpose: A simple scoring system (T-score, TS) for integrating findings from clinical examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the primary tumor at diagnosis has shown strong prognostic capability for predicting local control and survival in locally advanced cervical cancer treated with chemoradiation and MRI-guided brachytherapy (BT). The aim was to validate the performance of TS using the multicenter EMBRACE I study and to evaluate the prognostic implications of TS regression obtained during initial chemoradiation.

Methods And Materials: EMBRACE I recruited 1416 patients, of whom 1318 were available for TS.

Results of sequential swallowing assessments in patients undergoing upfront surgery for oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma.

Background: The swallowing outcomes in patients undergoing glossectomy have been inconsistently reported in the literature owing to variable follow up times, different tools for assessment and lack of single institution large scale studies. The aim of our study was to assess the patterns of swallowing outcomes over time and identify factors affecting nasogastric tube dependency at 1-year post-surgery.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective study of treatment naïve patients with oral tongue carcinoma who underwent surgery and attended the speech and swallow clinic between January 2016 and December 2019 at our institute were included in the study.

A comparative study of AJCC and the modified staging system in pT2/pT3 penile squamous cell carcinoma - a validation on an external data set.

Aims: The recent changes in the American Joint Commission on Cancer, 8th edition (AJCC-8E) pT2 and pT3 tumour definitions for penile cancer need robust validation studies. A recent study redefined and modified the pT2 and pT3 stages incorporating the histopathological variables (tumour grade, lymphovascular invasion, perineural invasion) similar to that used in the current AJCC-8E pT1 stage tumour subclassification. In this study, we validate and compare this proposed staging with the AJCC staging systems on an external data set.

An Experience of Scalp Island Flap Based on the Posterior Branch of the Superficial Temporal Artery for Patients with Mucormycosis and Cancer.

To find out the utility of the scalp flap based on the posterior branch of the superficial temporal artery in patients with head and neck mucormycosis and malignancy. This was a multi-institutional observational study conducted at a tertiary cancer centre in North East India and a super-speciality hospital in Maharashtra from January 2021 to June 2021. Patients with malignancy and mucormycosis were only considered.

Incidence, Treatment and Outcomes of Cervical Cancer in Low- and Middle-income Countries.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in developing nations. It has had a tremendous impact on the lifetime of millions of women over the last century and continues to do so. In this collaborative clinicians' review, we highlight the incidence, treatment and clinical outcomes of cervical cancer in low-income (LICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) across Asia, South America, South Africa and Eastern Europe.

Ectopic Prostate Tissue Presenting as Urinary Bladder Tumor: The Imitation Game!

Ectopic prostate tissue is a rare phenomenon. Histologically and immunohistochemically it is indistinguishable from normal prostatic tissue but it is difficult to recognize and may be confused with malignancy when presenting as ectopic lesion in the urinary system. Therefore, awareness of this entity is essential for both urologists and pathologists to prevent misdiagnosis.

Strategies to ensure efficient laboratory functioning while navigating through the COVID-19 crisis in developing countries: An early experience from a tertiary care centre in India.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is a zoonotic viral infection that originated in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization shortly thereafter. This pandemic is going to have a lasting impact on the functioning of pathology laboratories due to the frequent handling of potentially infectious samples by the laboratory personnel.

Application and comparison of Fuhrman nuclear grading system with the novel tumor grading system for chromophobe renal cell carcinoma and its correlation with disease-specific events.

Introduction: The grading system of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (ChRCC) is not well established. In this study, we aimed to compare the application of Fuhrman nuclear grade (FNG) with the novel chromophobe tumor grade (CTG). We also evaluated the correlation of these two grading systems with the clinical outcome.