Squash cytology is a rapid, reliable, simple technique for intraoperative consultation in neurosurgical practice with high overall accuracy. Causes causing an adverse impact on surgical management were rare and potential avoidable reasons for them were identified.

Background The ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic has greatly impacted the health services worldwide, challenging the way modern medicine has been practiced for decades. Aim The present study documents an institutional experience on its impact on cytology services. Materials & Methods The cytology samples received during lock down period in India (24 March to 17 May 2020) were analysis and compared to the samples received during the same time frame in year 2019. Results The data revealed an overall 92.6% reduction in cytology samples received. All sample types were reduced with a statically significant reduction in thyroid cytology samples (P‐value: .023). There was relative increase in breast and lymph node samples; however, this relative increase was not statistically significant. The malignancy rate also significantly increased by 34.1% accompanied by decrease in neoplastic category among the samples received during COVID‐19 lockdown period. Breast samples remain the most frequent sample type both in pre‐COVID‐19 and COVID‐19 periods. Majority of fine‐needle aspiration done in these cases, during the lockdown period, were either in cases for recurrence or primary diagnosis. Conclusion Prioritization of samples, proper precautions and triaging of patients before procedure helped in carrying out this procedure safely.

The present study is the largest series evaluating the role of US-guided FNA in the diagnosis of gallbladder lesions. It is a safe, rapid, reliable, cost-effective and reasonably accurate method for diagnosing gallbladder lesions. FNA should always be attempted in cases with a mass lesion.

No abstract

Histoplasmosis is a fungal infection caused by Histoplasma capsulatum, which commonly presents as transient pulmonary infection that usually subsides without treatment. Disseminated histoplasmosis may affect almost all systems, including the reticuloendothelial system, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, renal tract, central nervous system, bone marrow, and adrenal glands. Adrenal gland is frequently involved in disseminated histoplasmosis but commonly present as unilateral mass; bilateral involvement is rare. It is also rare in immunocompetent hosts and only few cases have been reported in past. We report four cases of adrenal histoplasmosis with bilateral involvement. These cases were initially diagnosed cytopathologically on fine needle aspirations performed on adrenal glands. All these patients were immunocompetent and two of them also had associated adrenal insufficiency. Diagnosis of adrenal histoplasmosis can be easily made on fine needle aspiration cytology. Adrenal histoplasmosis can occur in immunocompetent individuals and should be considered in differential diagnosis of bilateral adrenal masses in immunocompetent individuals.

No abstract

Increased angiogenesis has been found to be an adverse prognostic factor in solid tumors but evidences show that angiogenesis also plays an important role in hematological malignancies including multiple myeloma (MM). In this report we studied the various angiogenesis parameters like microvessel density (MVD) and total vascular area (TVA), on bone marrow biopsies in 50 newly diagnosed cases of MM. The aim was to study bone marrow angiogenesis in MM using light microscopy (MVD-A) and computerized image analyzer (MVD-B and TVA) and correlate it with clinical features, laboratory findings, histological features, and response to treatment on follow-up. Bone marrow biopsies of test cases (n = 50) were immunohistochemically stained with CD34 for visualization of microvessels. MVD-A (range 8-80; mean 50.4; SD 17.5), MVD-B (5.2-33.2; mean 16.3; SD 5.1), and TVA in percentage (range 0.42-7.20; mean 2.8; SD 1.5) were measured. Ten age- and sex-matched controls were studied and their parameters were taken as grade I. There was a significant correlation between these angiogenesis parameters (MVD-A vs MVD-B, Pearson's correlation coefficient (pcc) = 0.724; MVD-A vs TVA, pcc = 0.370; MVD-B vs TVA, pcc = 0.406). The angiogenesis was significantly higher in cases as compared to controls. Patients with residual disease had a higher MVD as compared to the complete responders. High tumor burden and diffuse pattern of infiltration were also associated with grade III MVD and TVA. Hence, it can be concluded that angiogenesis correlates with other histological features associated with prognosis and is also a good predictor for complete response in patients with multiple myeloma.

Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is a major cause of child mortality and morbidity. Children treated for SAM are at risk of refeeding hypophosphataemia (HP). The study was done to find out the incidence and various predictors of moderate/severe HP in SAM among North Indian children. This prospective observational study was conducted from August 2014 to July 2015 in the inpatients’ department of Department of Paediatrics at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, North India, a tertiary care teaching hospital. Before inclusion, ethical approval and written informed consent was obtained. Included in the study were sixty-five children aged 6–59 months of age, who were admitted to the hospital with SAM as per the WHO guidelines. SAM was defined as a mid-upper arm circumference <115 mm and/or weight-for-height/length <–3 z-scores of the WHO growth standards and/or have bilateral oedema. Serum P levels were measured on admission and for five consecutive days after starting feed. HP was defined as mild, moderate and severe with a cut-off of 1·19–0·65, 0·65–0·32 and <0·32 mmol/l, respectively. About 60 % children had HP, with 20 % having moderate/severe HP at admission. The proportion of HP increased to 83·1 %, with 38·5 % having moderate/severe HP on day 3 after feeding. It was concluded that HP is a common biochemical abnormality in SAM. Considering its impact on the health of the child, serum P levels should be monitored in patients with SAM who are treated with enteral feeding.