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Vaginal cancer is a rare malignancy accounting for 1-2% of all pelvic neoplasms. Dissemination usually occurs through local invasion and rarely metastasises to distal locations. Metastasis of vaginal cancer to the breast is extremely infrequent and unique. A 66-year-old Asian woman presented with vaginal bleeding and was found to have a vaginal mass and a left breast mass. Pathological assessment of the biopsies revealed identical squamous cell characteristics of both masses. We describe a very rare and novel case of a distally located vaginal carcinoma with metastasis to the breast Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IV (FIGO IVB). Robot-assisted extrafascial total hysterectomy with local vaginal mass excision and partial mastectomy of the left breast were performed. After surgery, the patient underwent adjuvant chemotherapy followed by breast and pelvic radiotherapy, with maintained complete remission after 3 years of follow-up. This combination of findings and treatment is very distinct with a unique and favourable response., (2016 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.)

Background: p16 (INK4a) (p16) is a well-recognized surrogate molecular marker for human papilloma virus (HPV) related squamous dysplasia. Our hypothesis is that the invasive interventions and related morbidities could be avoided by objective stratification of positive cytologic interpretations by p16 immunostaining of cell block sections of cytology specimens., Materials and Methods: Nuclear immunoreactivity for p16 was evaluated in cell block sections in 133 adequate cases [20 negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy, 28 high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), 50 low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 21 atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude HSIL (ASC-H), and 14 atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS)] and analyzed with cervical biopsy results., Results: (a) HSIL cytology (28): 21 (75%) were p16 positive (11 biopsies available - 92% were positive for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1 and above) and 7 (25%) were p16 negative (3 biopsies available - all showed only HPV with small atypical parakeratotic cells). (b) LSIL cytology (50): 13 (26%) cases were p16 positive (12 biopsies available - all were CIN1 or above) and 37 (74%) were p16 negative (12 biopsies available - all negative for dysplasia. However, 9 (75%) of these biopsies showed HPV). (c) ASC-H cytology (21): 14 (67%) were p16 positive (6 biopsies available - 5 showed CIN 3/Carcinoma in situ/Ca and 1 showed CIN 1 with possibility of under-sampling. Cytomorphologic re-review favored HSIL) and 7 (33%) were p16 negative (5 biopsies available - 3 negative for dysplasia. Remaining 2 cases - 1 positive for CIN 3 and 1 showed CIN 1 with scant ASC-H cells on cytomorphologic re-review with possibility under-sampling in cytology specimen). (d) ASCUS cytology (14): All (100%) were p16 negative on cell block sections of cervical cytology specimen. HPV testing performed in last 6 months in 7 cases was positive in 3 (43%) cases., Conclusion: p16 immunostaining on cell block sections of cervical cytology specimens showed distinct correlation patterns with biopsy results. Reflex p16 immunostaining of cell blocks based on the algorithmic approach to be evaluated by a multiinstitutional comprehensive prospective study is proposed.

Background: The evaluation of serous fluids by conventional one color immunocytochemistry is complex and challenging., Design: We selected and studied 37 serous fluid cytology specimens (23 pleural, 13 peritoneal, 1 pericardial), collected over a 4-year period. They were unequivocally positive for metastatic adenocarcinoma based on clinical correlation, cytomorphology, and one color immunocytochemistry on cell block sections. 3 mum serial sections of cell blocks were immunostained by a two chromogen method (peroxidase with brown chromogen followed by alkaline phosphatase with red chromogen). Combinations evaluated were: A- vimentin followed by cytokeratin (CK) 7; B- calretinin followed by BerEP4, C- calretinin followed by CK 20. Additionally, difficulty of interpretation was evaluated on a scale of 1(easy) to 5 (difficult). Cases demonstrating decreased or complete loss of immunoreactivity with alkaline phosphatase red chromogen system were also evaluated with routine one color immunostaining by alkaline phosphatase and peroxidase individually. The pretreatments for antigen retrieval and antibody dilutions were identical to those used for conventional one color immunostaining with respective immunomarker., Result: Combination 'A' showed correlation with the immunoreactivity pattern observed with one color immunostaining. However, the immunoreactivity of the second immunomarker was compromised in combinations B and C. In the latter group, the sections immunostained with one color alkaline phosphatase indicator system also showed weak immunoreactivity or complete loss of immunoreactivity for the corresponding second immunomarker. However, the peroxidase system showed proper immunoreactivity for those immunomarkers. Average difficulty of interpretation for the two color method was 1.06 (range- 1 to 2) as compared to 2.95 (range: 1 to 5) with the one color method. This difference was statistically significant (two-tailed P<.0001, paired t test). The higher scores of difficulty were observed in cases with a paucity of tumor cells and cases with predominance of isolated tumor cells., Conclusion: Dual immunostaining facilitated identification of the foreign population of malignant cells in effusion fluids with objective, reproducible precision. However, due to relatively lower sensitivity of alkaline phosphatase as a second indicator system, immunoreactivity was diminished for BerEP4 and lost for CK 20.