Search

The understanding of the nature of catecholamine-secreting tumors has changed significantly in recent years, affecting terminology and classification. Phaeochromocytoma/paraganglioma (PCC/PG) is a rare neuroendocrine tumor from chromaffin tissue that produces and secretes catecholamines. The incidence of PCC/PG is relatively low, with 2–8 cases per 1 million population per year; among patients with arterial hypertension, their prevalence is 0.2–0.6%. However, delayed diagnosis of PCC/PG is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular complications and a high mortality rate. The consensus presents the clinical manifestations of the disease with an emphasis on the course of arterial hypertension as the most common symptom in PCC/PG; modern ideas about the features of diagnosis, aspects of preoperative preparation, treatment, and follow-up of patients with PCC/PG are considered.

Purpose of the study. Elaboration of a surgical technique to manage patients with metastatic lesions of the craniovertebral region.Patients and methods. The study included 7 patients with metastatic lesions of the craniovertebral region, who’ve been operated on for severe instability, pain syndrome, neurological deficit in the period from 01/01/2014 to 09/30/2022. To assess the neurological status and patients’ condition the Frankel and Karnofsky scales were used on the day of admission and discharge of the patients from the hospital. Pain intensity was assessed using a visual analog pain scale (VAS). To assess instability in the affected spinal motion segment the SINS scale was used. All patients underwent palliative surgical treatment in the amount of occipitospondylodesis with a biopsy of the neoplasm from the posterior approach.Results. The average age of patients was 60 [44; 66] years. All patients had a marked pain syndrome prior to the surgery. The average pain intensity according to the visual analog pain scale was 8 points. In the preoperative period, 6 (85 %) patients on the Frankel scale were assigned to group E, 1 (14 %) – to group C. In 6 (85 %) patients there was no dynamics in the neurological status following the surgery, however according to the Karnofsky scale there was an improvement up to 10 points due to the regression of the pain syndrome down to 1 point on the visual analog scale. Hemiparesis developed in 1 (14 %) patient due to malposition of the laminar hook in the postoperative period. The average duration of surgical interventions made up 337.5 [315; 345] min, the average intraoperative blood loss made up 300 [300; 800] ml. In 6 out of 7 patients (85 %) there was no neurological status dynamics after the surgery, and according to the Karnofsky scale an improvement up to 10 points was noted due to regression of the pain syndrome to an average value of 1 [1; 2] VAS score. Conclusion. The obtained results indicate the clinical application possibilities of minimally traumatic surgical technologies for the treatment of craniovertebral zone metastatic tumors.

Introduction: Lungs are one of the most common sites for metastatic tumors in the body. In addition, primary lung tumors are the most common cause of death due to neoplasms in both genders. Treatment strategies are completely different for primary and metastatic lung tumors making accurate diagnosis of lung tumors an effective factor in planning the correct treatment. The development of personalized medicine and targeted therapy, especially in the treatment of primary lung tumors, has highlighted the importance of correct diagnosis of these tumors. Case report: The Pathology Center of Imam Khomeini Hospital Cancer Institute in Tehran, Iran, as a referral center for cancer across the country, is faced with a large number of lung biopsies, and therefore, there will be numerous diagnostic challenges. In this article, we presented two cases of primary female genital tract (cervical) tumors that during follow up lung masses were detected. Diagnosis on lung biopsy assigned as primary lung adenocarcinoma. Both cases referred to our lab for second opinion accompanied with related resected sample and implementation of further supplementary markers documented metastatic origin of tumors. Discussion & conclusion: In both cases, similarity in immunohistochemical characteristics of metastatic tumors with primary lung adenocarcinoma, especially positive nuclear TTF1 staining led to misdiagnosis of lung tumor origin. This finding emphasizes on the use of other specific markers related to primary site of tumor to decrease possibility of incorrect diagnosis of the origin of the tumor in metastatic setting. Due to remarkable influence of primary versus metastatic origin of lung tumor on selection of treatment, pathologists should be considered correct diagnosis and notice to similarity of immunohistochemical markers of primary lung tumors to other organs and implementation of more specific markers are necessary.

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) have emerged as a very promising anti-cancer therapeutic strategy in the past decades. However, despite their pre-clinical promise, many OV clinical evaluations for cancer therapy have highlighted the continued need for their improved delivery and targeting. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have emerged as excellent candidate vehicles for the delivery of OVs due to their tumor-homing properties and low immunogenicity. MSCs can enhance OV delivery by protecting viruses from rapid clearance following administration and also by more efficiently targeting tumor sites, consequently augmenting the therapeutic potential of OVs. MSCs can function as “biological factories,” enabling OV amplification within these cells to promote tumor lysis following MSC-OV arrival at the tumor site. MSC-OVs can promote enhanced safety profiles and therapeutic effects relative to OVs alone. In this review we explore the general characteristics of MSCs as delivery tools for cancer therapeutic agents. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of OVs as immune therapeutics and highlight some of the promising applications stemming from combining MSCs to achieve enhanced delivery and anti-tumor effectiveness of OVs at different pre-clinical and clinical stages. We further provide potential pitfalls of the MSC-OV platform and the strategies under development for enhancing the efficacy of these emerging therapeutics.

Aim. To study the possibilities of bronchoscopy in the detection and evaluation of metastatic lung tumors. Materials and methods. From 2017 to September 2020, 3719 bronchoscopies, including 1081 biopsies during bronchoscopy were performed at the Blokhin National Medical Research Center of Oncology. According to the results of the morphological verification, 40 patients had been diagnosed with lung metastasis. Results. Endobronchial metastatic tumors from extrapulmonary malignancies are quite rare. After had studying 40 cases of metastatic bronchial tumors, we found that the most commonly primary malignancies associated with endobronchial metastases were breast cancer (12 patients), colorectal cancer (6 patients) and thyroid cancer (4 patients). All patients who had been diagnosed with the pathology during the bronchoscopy had been required to make a biopsy for the purpose of morphological verification. Conclusion. The value of bronchoscopy lies in the possibility not only of the detailed visual studying and detecting the tumor pathology of the bronchial tree, but also of obtaining material for morphological analysis. In this regard, the role of biopsy during bronchoscopy is extremely important. In the visual signs of tumor lesion, it is necessary to take multiple biopsies from different parts of the tumor.

Background. Primary tumors of the heart are rarely detected at autopsy, especially angiosarcomas which are primary malignant one. Objective. We presented autopsy case of cardic angiosarcoma with morphologic findings. Methods. We described adult man died in emergency service of the hospital. Results. Reported case was 33 year-old-man who was died in emergency service of hospital where he was taken when he was ill after leaving home. According the prosecution documents, and the expressions of family, it was reported that he had a heart disease; his symptoms repeated 3 day ago before he died, he thought to attend the Cardiology Clinic due to his symptoms. At autopsy on macroscopic internal examination, mass with rough surface in the right atrium, hematoma at the posterior of the right atrium, blood in the pericardia, nodular lesions in hemorrhagic appearance in the sections of lung, liver and spleen were detected. In histopathologic examination; in the heart angiosarcioma as primary malign heart tumor and metastatic masses in the liver, spleen and lung were detected. Conclusions. We aimed to discuss cardiac angiosarcoma case with autopsy and histopathologic findings in the aspect of medico legal literature.

The current approach to systemic therapy for metastatic cancer is aimed predominantly at inducing apoptosis of cancer cells by blocking tumor-promoting signaling pathways or by eradicating cell compartments within the tumor. In contrast, a systems view of therapy primarily considers the communication protocols that exist at multiple levels within the tumor complex, and the role of key regulators of such systems. Such regulators may have far-reaching influence on tumor response to therapy and therefore patient survival. This implies that neoplasia may be considered as a cell non-autonomous disease. The multi-scale activity ranges from intra-tumor cell compartments, to the tumor, to the tumor-harboring organ to the organism. In contrast to molecularly targeted therapies, a systems approach that identifies the complex communications networks driving tumor growth offers the prospect of disrupting or “normalizing” such aberrant communicative behaviors and therefore attenuating tumor growth. Communicative reprogramming, a treatment strategy referred to as anakoinosis, requires novel therapeutic instruments, so-called master modifiers to deliver concerted tumor growth-attenuating action. The diversity of biological outcomes following pro-anakoinotic tumor therapy, such as differentiation, trans-differentiation, control of tumor-associated inflammation, etc. demonstrates that long-term tumor control may occur in multiple forms, inducing even continuous complete remission. Accordingly, pro-anakoinotic therapies dramatically extend the repertoire for achieving tumor control and may activate apoptosis pathways for controlling resistant metastatic tumor disease and hematologic neoplasia.

Ablation therapies have emerged as an effective tool for destroying cancerous tissue, but for advanced and disseminated tumors their application remains mainly a palliative measure. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that this limitation can be redressed by the use of intratumoral immune stimulating agents for amplifying potential antitumor immune responses that are induced by ablation therapies. A novel immune stimulating drug IP-001, a specific variant of the N-dihydrogalactochitosan (GC) family of molecules, has shown to be effective against metastatic tumors, when combined with different forms tumor ablation. It acts as a multi-function immune stimulant both by directly inhibiting cell membrane repair and recycling of ablation-damaged tumor cells, and indirectly by sequestering ablation-released tumor antigens, as well as recruiting and stimulating antigen presenting cells to induce a potent Th1 type T cell response against the cancer. In this review, we briefly discuss the current applications of local ablation for cancer treatment and the effects of GC in combination with other ablation therapies, a therapeutic approach that is pioneering the field of Interventional Immuno-Oncology (IIO).

Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) is a tumor-associated protein measurable in patients’ biopsies and blood samples. Increased IGFBP2 expression correlates with tumor severity in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS). Thus, we examined the plasmatic IGFBP2 levels in 114 RMS patients and 15 healthy controls by ELISA assay in order to evaluate its value as a plasma biomarker for RMS. Additionally, we looked for the presence of a humoral response against IGBFP2 protein measurable by the production of anti-IGFBP2 autoantibodies. We demonstrated that both circulating IGFBP2 protein and autoantibodies were significantly higher in RMS patients with respect to controls and their combination showed a better discriminative capacity. IGFBP2 protein identified metastatic patients with worse event-free survival, whereas both IGFBP2 and anti-IGFBP2 antibodies negatively correlated with overall survival. Our study suggests that IGFBP2 and anti-IGFBP2 antibodies are useful for diagnostic and prognostic purposes, mainly as independent negative prognostic markers in metastatic patients. This is the first study that reports a specific humoral response in RMS plasma samples and proves the value of blood-based biomarkers in improving risk assessment and outcome of metastatic RMS patients.

The presence of two genital tumors at the same time is a relatively unknown fact. They are rare and account for 0,63% of all genital malignancies. If endometrial carcinoma has affected only endometrium, then this is called stage (IA), if endometrial carcinoma has affected only one half of the miometrium, this is (IB), while (IIIA) tumor spreads to serosa or adnexa. In carcinoma localized on the ovary, without rupture of the capsule, the stage is (IA), while ovary carcinoma that affected the oviduct or uterus is (IIA).A female, 55 years old, was hospitalized in the Gynecology and Obstetrics Clinic Kragujevac, Clinical Center Kragujevac because of the surgical operation, and the tumor that filled the whole of the small pelvis. Immunohistochemically, the expressions of ER, PR and HER 2 receptors were determined.Women with independent primary endometrial uterus and ovary tumors have the prognosis similar to those of women with a separate form of this disease.Risk factors and clinical indicators of results in women with synchronized tumors are different from those based on histological division. Women with synchronized tumors are mostly younger, obese, premenopausal and barren. Patients with serious endometrial carcinomas look like patients with ovary carcinomas. In the future, it will be necessary to provide better evaluation of etiology of these diseases. In addition, the molecular diagnoses of tumor in endometrium and ovary will provide us with real confirmation.

Abstract In a number of species, partial pneumonectomy initiates hormonally regulated compensatory growth of the remaining lung lobes that restores normal mass, structure and function. Compensation is qualitatively similar across species, but differs with gender, age and hormonal status. Although the biology of response is best characterized in rats, dogs have proven valuable in defining post-operative physiological adaptations. Most recently, mice were recognized to offer unique opportunities to explore the genetic basis of the response, as well as to evaluate associated detrimental effects of pathophysiological significance in animals exposed to carcinogens. The pneumonectomy model thus offers powerful insight concerning adaptive organ growth.

We have studied the patients who had a neck mass on presentation in five medical centers of Tehran Univ. of Medical Sciences (Infectious Disease Department, ENT Department, Dentistry Faculty, Cancer Institute) during a period of 14 months. Sixty patients, 20 women and 40 men, were eligible for our study. All patients underwent clinical and paraclinical work up and finally had histologic diagnosis. The data were analyzed and results were as following %67 men, %33 women. Age distribution showed %10 patients under 16 year old (children), 45% between 16 and 35 years old (young adults) and %45 above 35 years old. The youngest patient was a two years old child and the oldest one was 80 years old man, cervical regions including preauricular, submandibular submental lateral and medial aspects of neck involvement in different age and sex groups were studied. The common involved areas in children group were submandibular and lateral neck masses. In young groups, submandibular, lateral and medial neck masses were also determined. In older ages and among men, the lateral neck masses were common, Meanwhile, the majority of medial neck masses were in women. The prevalent histologic diagnoses were respectively lymphoma, Goiter, metastatic tumors and abscess. Age and histologic diagnostic analyses showed the further incidence of hemangioma in children group (