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Objectives Calprotectin is a noninvasive biomarker that can distinguish inflammatory bowel disease from irritable bowel syndrome. We investigated four automated fecal calprotectin methods on five different platforms for their preanalytical process, analytical performance, and clinicopathologic correlation. Methods Four calprotectin methods (Bühlmann, EliA CN, EliA CN2, and DiaSorin) were performed on five platforms (Cobas 8000 E502, Phadia Immunocap 100 and 250, and Liaison and Liaison XL) in two hospital laboratories. Results Overall variation for the different extraction devices was less than 19% when feces were of normal consistency. Freeze-thawing of samples resulted in comparable results compared with fresh samples. The different methods had a good analytic correlation (R = 0.83-0.95). Their clinicopathologic correlation was comparable, but the Bühlmann method showed significantly higher calprotectin values in every patient category. Conclusions The automated calprotectin methods showed a good performance and comparable clinicopathologic correlation. Due to lack of standardization, the numerical values differ for the various methods.

We present 250 cases of thymomas with emphasis on their clinical staging and follow-up. The patients were 120 males and 130 females between the ages of 13 and 92 years. Surgical resection was performed and histopathologic material evaluated in every case. Grossly, the tumors resected varied in size from 3 to 20 cm in greatest diameter. According to our proposed staging system, 31 cases were stage 0, 128 were stage I, 70 stage II, and 21 stage III at the time of resection. Histologically, approximately 53% of thymomas were of mixed histologic types. Follow-up information ranging from 1 to 16 years was obtained, showing significant statistical P values of .044 and .016 for overall and recurrence-free survival, respectively. We consider that our proposed staging system offers better stratification of cases and improved histologic definitions for proper staging of cases of thymoma. During the last decade, the subject of thymic epithelial neoplasms, mainly thymomas, has become a topic of interest in terms of histopathologic diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. One important topic that has generated great controversy has been the histopathologic assessment of these tumors, with some proponents believing that histologic typing has a central role in a patient’s prognosis and others believing that proper staging is of utmost importance. Some of these issues have

Primary vasculitis is the inflammation and necrosis of vessel walls not associated with infections, drugs, and autoimmune and lymphoproliferative disorders. It is important to make the correct diagnosis of different types of vasculitis, as their prognosis may be significantly different. Classification of vasculitis based on the size of the vessel is helpful, but there is often an overlap. Whereas the criteria proposed by the American College of Rheumatology are primarily clinical, the definitions set forth by the Chapel Hill Consensus Conference are based only on histologic observations. Correct diagnosis requires appropriate incorporation of the clinical history, laboratory parameters, and the histologic data. Incorporation of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in defining the pathogenesis of vasculitis has been particularly useful in diagnosing those small vessel vasculitides that are life threatening and need immediate intervention.

Through careful clinicopathologic correlation, we identified 37 metastatic melanomas in the skin, all of which had intraepidermal components. These were compared with 43 microscopically similar primary

A simple technic that is useful in clinicopathologic correlation studies is described. It permits postmortem estimation of the amount of myocardium involved in an infarct. Results can be expressed in terms of percentage of the whole heart or percentage of the left ventricle infarcted, or in Gm. of muscle infarcted.