Journal of Clinical Pathology articles from March 2004

Journal of Clinical Pathology archives from March 2004

My approach to oncocytic tumours of the thyroid.(Review)
March 1, 2004... The traditional approach to oncocytic thyroid lesions classified these as a separate entity, and applied criteria that are somewhat similar to those used for follicular lesions of the thyroid. In general, the guidelines to distinguish...

Updated recommendations for HER2 testing in the UK.(Best Practice No 176)
March 1, 2004... This paper serves to update previously published guidance on rationale and methodology for HER2 laboratory testing following the recommendation for the use of HER2 targeted treatment in the management of advanced breast cancer in the UK....

The Journal of Clinical Pathology: quo vadis?(The Journal of Clinical Pathology)
March 1, 2004... "Idealism is what precedes experience; cynicism is what follows." David T Wolf (Born 1943). Although the new editorial team has been operating for the past 10 months, it is only now that they have really bedded down. I have deferred...

Reflective testing: providing added value.(Reflective Testing)
March 1, 2004... The processing of chemical pathology requests includes pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical phases. At its most basic, the post-analytical process is the reporting and delivery of validated results. One of the ways in which the...

Gene expression profiles in gastrointestinal stromal tumours.(Echo)
March 1, 2004... Initial clinical features and histopathology often fail to distinguish between benign and malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs). These tumours probably originate in the intestinal stem cells of Cajal and it is not possible to...

Guidelines for HER2 testing in the UK: the need to update in a new era of immunohistochemistry testing.(HER2 Testing)
March 1, 2004... For decades anatomical pathologists have established and managed diagnostic immunohistochemistry (IHC) laboratories to assist in accurate tissue diagnosis. Although test validation, quality control (QC), and quality assurance (QA) procedures...

The casino of life: markets, mathematics, and medicine: should chemical pathology look to the stockmarket?(Chemical Pathology)
March 1, 2004... Medicine is continuously changing--screening tools, diagnostic assays, and new medications and treatment modalities are rapidly being developed. However, in this age of super fast computers, one question that is not often asked is whether...

Parathyroid invasion, nodal recurrence, and lung metastasis by papillary carcinoma of the thyroid.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aims: Parathyroid invasion by papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is found in a small proportion of surgical specimens, but the clinicopathological relevance of this phenomenon is not well understood. This study investigated the possible...

Tumour angiogenic activity and vascular survival ability in bladder carcinoma.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: Tumour angiogenic activity (TAA) is an important prognostic factor in many human tumours, including transitional cell carcinomas of the urinary bladder. The new tumour vessels are formed in the invading tumour front. This...

Sputum cytology of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a newly described form of atypical pneumonia linked to a novel coronavirus. Aims: To review the sputum cytology of 15 patients who fulfilled the World Health Organisation clinical...

Pulmonary pathological features in coronavirus associated severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) became a worldwide outbreak with a mortality of 9.2%. This new human emergent infectious disease is dominated by severe lower respiratory illness and is aetiologically linked to a new...

Apoptotic gene variants do not predispose to primary Sjogren's syndrome in Australians.(Echo)
March 1, 2004... A molecular genetic study has suggested that a common variant in the Fas gene promoter region prevents an autoimmune response to intracellular ribonucleoproteins in some patients with primary Sjogren's syndrome. How this relates to...

Localisation of members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family and their receptors in human atherosclerotic arteries.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mediates endothelial cell mitogenesis and enhances vascular permeability. The existence of single or multiple VEGF isoforms and receptors suggests that these proteins may have overlapping...

Reflective testing: how useful is the practice of adding on tests by laboratory clinicians?(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aims: To investigate the clinical value and practice of reflective testing, a new term to describe the practice of adding on tests when reporting or clinically authorising results. Methods: A consultant medical biochemist collected over a...

Some observations on the measurement of haemoglobin [A.sub.2] and S percentages by high performance liquid chromatography in the presence and absence of [alpha] thalassaemia.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aims: To assess the accuracy and precision of measuring haemoglobin [A.sub.2] by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the presence and absence of sickle cell trait, with or without [alpha] thalassaemia trait. Methods: The...

Clinical evaluation of the polymerase chain reaction for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aims: Use of the polymerase chain reaction for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB PCR) as a basis for making clinical decisions on the initiation of antituberculosis treatment was studied. Methods: A retrospective study...

Does histopathological examination of breast reduction specimens affect patient management and clinical follow up?(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aim: To assess the value of the histopathological examination of routine breast reduction specimens. Methods: All patients who underwent breast reduction surgery over a 10 year period were identified. The histopathology report for each...

Prevalence and relevance of EBV latency in nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Israel.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is frequently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The incidence of NPC in Western countries is lower than in the Far East, and EBV latency in NPC is less prevalent. Israel, as a part of the...

RUNX3 expression in primary and metastatic pancreatic cancer.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aim: Runx transcription factors are important regulators of lineage specific gene expression, cell proliferation, and differentiation. Runx3 expression is lost in a high proportion of gastric cancers, suggesting a tumour suppressive role in...

Specificity of lymphoreticular accumulation of prion protein for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: Immunocytochemical accumulation of prion protein (PrP) in lymphoid tissues is a feature of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) that has been used both to aid in the diagnosis of patients and as a basis of large scale...

The binding of proteinase 3 antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (PR3-ANCA) varies in different ELISAs.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Background: The demonstration of proteinase 3 specific antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (PR3-ANCA), and the estimation of antibody values are useful in the diagnosis and management of patients with Wegener's granulomatosis (WG). However,...

Terminology used by pathologists in reporting on sudden infant deaths.(Original Article)
March 1, 2004... Aim: To determine whether the terms used by pathologists in reporting on sudden infant deaths are applied consistently. Method: Postal survey. Results: Replies were received from 63 pathologists who carry out necropsies after sudden...

Recurrent aneurysmal fibrous histiocytoma.(Letter to JCP)
March 1, 2004... Aneurysmal fibrous histiocytoma is a rare variant of cutaneous fibrous histiocytoma that results from blood vessel proliferation and haemorrhage into a fibrous histiocytoma. The resulting lesion has a very different clinical appearance, hence...

Gastric neuroendocrine carcinoma arising from heterotopic pancreatic tissue.(Case Report)
March 1, 2004... An 85 year old man presented with symptoms of dyspepsia and increase in stool frequency of two months duration. Upper endoscopy revealed an ulcer and the biopsy was interpreted as carcinoma with endocrine features. A formal distal gastrectomy...

Carcinosarcoma with a large cell neuroendocrine epithelial component: first report of an unusual biphasic tumour of the urinary bladder.(Case Report)
March 1, 2004... This article describes the first reported case of carcinosarcoma of the urinary bladder with a large cell neuroendocrine epithelial component. A 61 year old man presented with gross haematuria and underwent resection of a biphasic bladder...

Metastatic conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma with diffuse chromogranin A and androgen receptor positivity.(Case Report)
March 1, 2004... Conventional prostate adenocarcinomas consist mainly of tumour cells of luminal immunophenotype with scattered neuroendocrine (NE) cells. NE cells are defined by chromogranin A (CGA) immunoreactivity. Unlike luminal cells, NE cells lack...

Acute myeloid leukaemia with t(8;21) associated with "occult" mastocytosis. Report of an unusual case and review of the literature.(Case Report)
March 1, 2004... Approximately 20% of patients with systemic mastocytosis (SM) have an associated haematological, clonal, non-mast cell lineage disease, and most exhibit an associated myelogenous neoplasm. This report describes a 48 year old man with acute...

Cutaneous T cell lymphoma and classic Hodgkin lymphoma of the B cell type within a single lymph node: composite lymphoma.(Short Report)
March 1, 2004... Composite lymphomas are defined as two unrelated, morphologically and genetically distinct lymphomas occurring at the same point in time within the same tissue or organ. Since their original definition, several composite lymphomas have been...

A simple method for the prevention of endometrial autolysis in hysterectomy specimens.(Short Report)
March 1, 2004... Aims: Uteri are among the most common surgical pathology specimens. Assessment of the endometrium is often difficult because of pronounced tissue autolysis. This study describes a simple method to prevent endometrial autolysis and aid in...

Churg-strauss vasculitis diagnosed on muscle biopsy.(Correspondence)
March 1, 2004... An 81 year old man presented in October 2002 with a three week history of fatigue, generalised myalgia, increasing difficulty in getting up from the sitting position, and "pins and needles" sensation in both hands and feet. His past medical...

Tumorous amyloidosis of the breast associated with disseminated malignant lymphoma.(Correspondence)
March 1, 2004... We report a 77 year old woman with a 14 year history of lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma initially involving the parotid gland, cervical lymph node, and hilar lymph node. She was treated with chlorambucil but the disease ran a protracted course...

Lymph node retrieval after neoadjuvant radiotherapy for rectal adenocarcinoma.(Correspondence)
March 1, 2004... We read Dr Cserni's review of nodal staging for colorectal cancer with interest. (1) We have recently performed a multivariate analysis of factors affecting lymph node yield after resection of rectal cancer (unpublished data, 2003) and found...

False glomerulus in renal biopsy specimen: a possible pitfall under the dissecting microscope.(Correspondence)
March 1, 2004... Renal biopsy is often invaluable for the diagnosis of glomerular disease. Needle biopsy samples of the renal tissue are usually divided up into separate samples for light microscopy, immunofluorescence, and electron microscopy, preferably...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
March 1, 2004... Full details of events to be included should be sent to Maggie Butler, Technical Editor JCP, The Cedars, 36 Queen Street, Castle Hedingham, Essex C09 3HA, UK; email: maggie.butler2@btopenworld.com Surgical Pathology for the Practising...