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In this chapter we give some hint regarding the interpretation of aspirates taken from epithelial proiferative lesions, trying to underline the differences between the main categories in order to guide patients to the best management

Brown bowel syndrome (BBS) is an extremely unusual condition characterized by an orange-brown discoloration of the bowel and intestinal motility disorders secondary to fat-soluble vitamin deficiency and malabsorption from many different causes. We present the case of a middle-aged woman suffering for years of chronic constipation with recurrent intestinal subocclusion, who was diagnosed BBS on surgical biopsy material. Nutritional supplementary treatment was tried, but her symptoms did not improve, and a decision was finally made in favor of a surgical approach. After subtotal colectomy and continual vitamin nutritional supplementation, she has now regular transit without the use of laxatives. BBS is a rare complication of long-term malabsorption manifesting as intestinal motility disorders, which can lead to severe complications. This condition is only partially responsive to vitamin supplementation, and most cases require surgery.

Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma of the liver is a malignancy with poor prognosis observed more frequently in children between 6 and 10 years old and very rarely found in adults. We present a case of embryonal sarcoma of the liver in a 60-year-old woman without significant medical history who presented to our attention with constitutional symptoms. Preoperative assessments did not show alterations in blood chemistry or tumor markers. Imaging studies showed a huge mass lying in the right abdominal quadrants, strictly adherent to the liver. The tumor was partially cystic with a thickened wall, sporadic contrast enhancement, and solid component. The patient underwent excision of the mass with associated liver bisegmentectomy S5-S6. Postoperative course was uneventful. The definitive histological diagnosis revealed the presence of embryonal sarcoma of the liver. We describe the clinical, histopathological, and therapeutic options adopted in the multimodal treatment of this disease.

Gli indicatori relativi ai tempi di attesa sono difficili da rispettare, come recentemente evidenziato al XIII Convegno ONS 2015 . Per questo motivo è fondamentale identificare in quale momento della gestione dei carcinomi screening-detected si concentrino i ritardi e stabilirne le cause (se attribuibili alla paziente o all’organizzazione del programma o intrinseci al tipo di lesione) così da proporre mirate modifiche migliorative. Metodi: L’analisi riguarda 146 carcinomi screening-detected consecutivi (biennio 2013-2014). Sono stati misurati i tempi tra le varie fasi diagnostiche (Mammografia di I° livello, Richiamo II° livello, I° approfondimento cito/microistologico, Comunicazione diagnosi) e i tempi chirurgici (Visita chirurgica, Intervento chirurgico, Referto istologico con marcatori biologici, Visita oncologica). Per ogni fase sono stati calcolati i tempi medi/mediani rappresentati tramite box plot e giustificati gli outliers.Risultati: La latenza nella presa in carico chirurgica è legato alla complessità degli esami preoperatori (3) (tempo mediano tra richiamo al II° livello ed intervento: 53 giorni (se unico esame pre-operatorio) vs 73 (se più di un esame pre-operatorio, p

Introduzione Nella suddivisione dei carcinomi mammari in sottotipi Luminal A e B, la quantificazione della proliferazione tumorale tramite colorazione immunoistochimica con anticorpo Ki-67 (MIB-1), sembra avere un ruolo determinante . Tuttavia la quantificazione precisa è gravata da numerose variabili , tra le quali un’importante grado di soggettività. Vi sono inoltre incertezze nel determinare un preciso cut-off di positività di Ki-67 utile per inserire il singolo caso nel sottotipo corretto. Lo studio valuta il rischio di un’erronea classificazione quando deve essere valutata la fascia di positività con maggior ricaduta clinica (8%-25%). A tale scopo è stata comparata la lettura tradizionale con quella ottenuta da un’analisi digitale semi-automatizzata. Materiale e Metodi: Sono stati selezionati 66 casi di carcinoma mammario duttale infiltrante (anno 2012) che presentavano una percentuale di Ki-67, valutata dal patologo, tra l’8 e il 25%. I preparati immunoistochimici sono stati acquisiti tramite scanner (D-Sight Instrument) ottenendo vetrini digitali, sui quali è stata eseguita un’analisi quantitativa semi-automatica (software AVISIA imaging S.r.l). L’analisi digitale è stata eseguita ed analizzata ad ingrandimento 20X per ogni caso, selezionando un’ area di 20 mm2 a maggior positività. Sono state comparate le letture (ottica e digitale) rispetto ai due cut-off di riferimento (S1=14% ed S2=20%) suggeriti dagli studi più recenti [4,5] ed è stato poi valutato il grado di concordanza con la metodica statistica kappa (k), attribuendo alla lettura digitale il gold standard. Risultati: Nel nostro studio la concordanza tra le due letture (ottica e digitale) per il cut-off 14% (S1) è risultata statisticamente moderata (17 casi discordanti); modificando il cut-off al 20% (S2), questa non è variata (k=0.45 p-value

In Trieste, pathologists have been actively involved in breast diagnostics working alongside radiologists in the sampling time in order to set up together the most adequate approach in case-solving basing on the clinical/radiological and rapid stain cytological findings. Based on our own experience we prefer, whenever possible, to use the fine needle aspiration sampling method (FNA), almost always under ultrasound guidance, even for palpable lesions, reserving tru-cut biopsy only for a limited number of cases and vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB) only in not ultrasound detectable lesions (id: isolated microcalcifications). The collaboration between radiologist and pathologist is essential to correctly evaluate identified lesions: the more coincident the results of radiological and cytological exams are, the more accurate the final diagnosis will be. Nevertheless there are some cases in which radiology and cytology do not agree. We decided to reassess the entire database, focusing on the management of discrepant cases in the light of the final histological diagnosis for surgical-treated cases or referring to the follow-up exams in the cases that did not undergo surgery.

Breast cancer is thecmost frequency malignancy in women in the world and also in Italy.In Trieste most of breast lesions are investigated by fine needle aspiration cytology under ultrasound guidance (FNAC). Tru-cut is used when FNAC is inadequate, for discrepancy with radiology or to have a biomolecular profiling,expecially in neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Vacuum Aspiration Biopsy (VAB) is used in case of microcalcifications or mammographic abnormalitues without evidence of nodules.FNAC's goal is to define breast lesions avoiding more invasive procedures,, it provides several benefits for women, for pathologists and for the public health

With the advent of immunotherapies, the field of cancer therapy has been revived with new hope, especially for cancers with dismal prognoses, such as the glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Currently, immunotherapies should potentiate the host’s own antitumor immune response against cancer cells, but it has been documented that they are effective only in small subsets of patients. Therefore, accurate predictors of response are urgently needed to identify who will benefit from immune-modulatory therapies. Brain tumors are challenging in terms of treatments. The immune response in the brain is highly regulated, and the immune microenvironment in brain metastases is active with a high density of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs, CD3+ T cells) in certain patients and, therefore, may serve as a potential treatment target. In our study, we performed immunohistochemistry for CD3 and PD-L1 along the routine assessment of the O6-methylguanine-methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation status and the IDH1 and 2 status in a single center cohort of 69 patients with GBM (58 primary tumors and 11 recurrences) who underwent standard multimodal therapies (surgery/radiotherapy/adjuvant temozolamide). We analyzed the association of PD-L1 tumor expression and TILs with overall survival (OS). The PD-L1 expression was observed in 25 of 58 (43%) newly diagnosed primary glioblastoma specimens. The sparse-to-moderate density of TILs, identified with CD3+ expression, was found in 48 of 58 (83%) specimens. Neither PD-L1 expression nor TILs were associated with overall survival. In conclusion, TILs and/or PD-L1 expression are detectable in the majority of glioblastoma samples, and even if they slightly relate to the outcome, they do not show a statistically significant correlation.

Purpose: The aim of this observational study was to highlight high resolution CT scan characteristics of COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) with a focus on the detection of de-novo appeared or evolved bronchiectasis. Methods: From March 2020 to May 2021, we enrolled 350 consecutive mechanically ventilated ICU patients with COVID-19. Patients with CAPA and at least one chest CT scan performed within 15 days from the diagnosis were included. Two radiologists were asked to identify typical and atypical signs of COVID-19 pneumonia. Bronchiectasis locations were described and a modified Reiff score was calculated, as severity score. A total of 19 CAPA patients (median age 71.0, Interquartile range (IQR) 62.5–75.0; male 16, 84.2%) were included. Results: According to the 2020 ECMM/ISHAM criteria, 18 patients had probable CAPA and one had proven CAPA. The median time between hospital admission and CT scan was 21 days (IQR 14.5–25.0). The incidence of bronchiectasis in the study population was 57.9% (n = 11). Tubular bronchiectasis was detected in 10 patients and were scored as follows: three patients had a score of 1, three patients had a score of score 2, one patient had a score of 5 and four patients had a score of 6. Eight patients had a previous CT scan (performed at hospital admission), among them: 5 patients developed de-novo bronchiectasis, while 2 patients demonstrated a volumetric increase of bronchiectasis. At the 6-months follow-up, the mortality rate for patients with CAPA was >60%. Conclusion: the radiologic of de-novo appearance or volumetric increase of bronchiectasis in COVID-19 should lead clinicians to search for fungal superinfections

The aim of this study was to optimise the experimental protocol and data analysis for in-vivo breast cancer x-ray imaging. Results are presented of the experiment at the SYRMEP beamline of Elettra Synchrotron using the propagation-based phase-contrast mammographic tomography method, which incorporates not only absorption, but also x-ray phase information. In this study the images of breast tissue samples, of a size corresponding to a full human breast, with radiologically acceptable x-ray doses were obtained, and the degree of improvement of the image quality (from the diagnostic point of view) achievable using propagation-based phase-contrast image acquisition protocols with proper incorporation of x-ray phase retrieval into the reconstruction pipeline was investigated. Parameters such as the x-ray energy, sample-to-detector distance and data processing methods were tested, evaluated and optimized with respect to the estimated diagnostic value using a mastectomy sample with a malignant lesion. The results of quantitative evaluation of images were obtained by means of radiological assessment carried out by 13 experienced specialists. A comparative analysis was performed between the x-ray and the histological images of the specimen. The results of the analysis indicate that, within the investigated range of parameters, both the objective image quality characteristics and the subjective radiological scores of propagation-based phase-contrast images of breast tissues monotonically increase with the strength of phase contrast which in turn is directly proportional to the product of the radiation wavelength and the sample-to-detector distance. The outcomes of this study serve to define the practical imaging conditions and the CT reconstruction procedures appropriate for low-dose phase-contrast mammographic imaging of live patients at specially designed synchrotron beamlines.

Rationale and Objectives This study employs clinical/radiological evaluation in establishing the optimum imaging conditions for breast cancer imaging using the X-ray propagation-based phase-contrast tomography. Materials and Methods Two series of experiments were conducted and in total 161 synchrotron-based computed tomography (CT) reconstructions of one breast mastectomy specimen were produced at different imaging conditions. Imaging factors include sample-to-detector distance, X-ray energy, CT reconstruction method, phase retrieval algorithm applied to the CT projection images and maximum intensity projection. Observers including breast radiologists and medical imaging experts compared the quality of the reconstructed images with reference images approximating the conventional (absorption) CT. Various radiological image quality attributes in a visual grading analysis design were used for the radiological assessments. Results The results show that the application of the longest achievable sample-to-detector distance (9.31 m), the lowest employed X-ray energy (32 keV), the full phase retrieval, and the maximum intensity projection can significantly improve the radiological quality of the image. Several combinations of imaging variables resulted in images with very high-quality scores. Conclusion The results of the present study will support future experimental and clinical attempts to further optimize this innovative approach to breast cancer imaging.

Background: Germline mutations of the oncosuppressor gene breast cancer 1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) were recently related to an autosomal-dominant tumor predisposition syndrome (BAP1-TPDS), characterized by uveal melanoma, malignant mesothelioma (MM), cutaneous melanoma, and other malignancies. The demonstration that BAP1 mutations are strongly associated with MM has provided a real breakthrough in the study of genetic predisposition in MM, that may explain why only a fraction of asbestos-exposed individuals go on to develop MM. Materials and Methods: To evaluate the possible role of BAP1 mutations in the epidemiology of sporadic MM, and their relationship with asbestos exposure, we determined the prevalence of germline BAP1 mutations by the Sanger method in a group of 29 asbestos-exposed patients, 21 of which were diagnosed with MM. They were residents of Trieste, a ship-building town in Northeast Italy with a very high incidence of mesothelioma. Results: We identified non-obviously pathogenetic germline sequence variants of BAP1 in 3/29 patients and in 2/21 MM cases (10%). Conclusion: Non obviously pathogenic germline sequence variants of BAP1 were found. Nevertheless, limitations of predictive web tools allowed us to comment on some interesting peculiarities of our findings.

Background. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been recently advocated as an effective technique for the treatment of symptomatic benign thyroid nodules. It is not known to what extent it may affect any subsequent thyroid surgery and/or histological diagnosis.Materials and Methods. RFA was performed on 64 symptomatic Thy2 nodules (benign nodules) and 6 symptomatic Thy3 nodules (follicular lesions/follicular neoplasms). Two Thy3 nodules regrew after the procedure, and these patients accepted to undergo a total thyroidectomy. Here we present how RFA has affected the operation and the final pathological features of the surgically removed nodules.Results and Conclusions. RFA is effective for the treatment of Thy2 nodules, but it should not be recommended as first-line therapy for the treatment of Thy3 nodules (irrespective of their mutational status), as it delays surgery in case of malignancy. Moreover, it is unknown whether RFA might promote residual tumor progression or neoplastic progression of Thy3 lesions. Nevertheless, here we show for the first time that one session of RFA does not affect subsequent thyroid surgery and/or histological diagnosis.