Tailgut cyst is a rare congenital presacral lesion and is believed to arise from the persistent remnants of the postanal gut. Malignancy occurring in a tailgut cyst is extremely rare, and to our knowledge only 5 cases of carcinoid tumor arising in a tailgut cyst have been reported in the literature to date. We report a sixth case of carcinoid tumor arising in a tailgut cyst. The patient was a 41-year-old woman who presented with perianal pain. Sigmoidoscopy showed a 2-cm submucosal mass located 4 cm above the anal verge. The mass was a multilocular cyst with gray-tan solid portions. The cyst was lined by ciliated columnar, squamous, and transitional epithelia with small foci of carcinoid tumor in the cystic wall. The carcinoid tumor showed a trabecular growth pattern with uniform oval or round cells containing fine chromatin and positive immunoreactivity for chromogranin, synaptophysin, and cytokeratin. This case was unique because the tumor occurred at the anorectal junction, not in the retrorectal space, and unlike previously reported cases showed aggressive behavior and distant metastases.
Perivascular epithelioid cell tumor (PEComa) is a mesenchymal tumor consisting of distinctive perivascular epithelioid cells, and is commonly detected in the uterus. The liver is an uncommon site for primary PEComa. In this study, we report a case of primary hepatic PEComa in a 36-yearold woman. Upon gross examination, the tumor was a well-defined, brownish solid mass, measuring 6.5 × 5.2 × 4.5 cm. Microscopically, the tumor consisted largely of epithelioid cells and some spindle cells with a clear to eosinophilic cytoplasm and a rich network of delicate capillaries in the stroma. With the exception of their relatively large size and microscopically sinusoidal infiltrative growth pattern, all other histopathologic features of the tumor were consistent with their being benign. The tumor cells were positive for human melanoma black-45 and smooth muscle actin, and negative for cytokeratin-cocktail and c-kit.
BackgroundRecent reports have indicated that overexpression of mucin (MUC) 1 and/or MUC4 correlates with the occurrence and progression of extra-hepatobiliary malignancy. In this study, we investigated the expression of MUC1 and MUC4 and their prognostic significance in gallbladder adenocarcinoma.MethodsWe examined 54 surgical gallbladder adenocarcinoma samples by immunohistochemistry for MUC1 and MUC4 expression. Staining was evaluated as a sum score of extent and intensity, dividing the samples into low and high expression groups.ResultsThe low expression group for both MUC1 and MUC4 was 10 samples (18.5%), and the high expression group was 44 samples (81.5%). High MUC1 expression was significantly correlated with more differentiated tumors (p=0.033), whereas high expression of MUC4 correlated with negative nodal status (p=0.012). Other pathological features were not correlated with MUC expression. Multivariate cox regression analysis showed that neither MUC1 nor MUC4 expression correlated with survival.ConclusionsAlthough there were some correlations found, a prognostic role for either MUC1 or MUC4 expression in gallbladder carcinoma was not identified in this study. Further investigation is required.
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