It has been proposed that the presence of tubal intraepithelial carcinoma (TIC), in association with one-third to nearly half of pelvic serous carcinomas, is evidence of fallopian tube origin for high-grade serous carcinomas that would have been otherwise classified as primary ovarian or peritoneal. To address this hypothesis, we evaluated a series of 114 consecutive pelvic (nonuterine) gynecologic carcinomas at our institution (2006 to 2008) to determine the frequency of TIC in 52 cases in which all the resected fallopian tube tissue was examined microscopically. These 52 cases were classified as ovarian (n=37), peritoneal (n=8), or fallopian tube (n=7) in origin as per conventional criteria based on disease distribution. The presence of TIC and its location and relationship to invasive carcinoma in the fallopian tubes and ovaries were assessed. Among the 45 cases of ovarian/peritoneal origin, carcinoma subtypes included 41 high-grade serous, 1 endometrioid, 1 mucinous, 1 high-grade, not otherwise specified, and 1 malignant mesodermal mixed tumor. TIC was identified in 24 cases (59%) of high-grade serous carcinoma but not among any of the other subtypes; therefore, the term serous TIC (STIC) is a more specific appellation. STICs were located in the fimbriated end of the tube in 22 cases (92%) and in the ampulla in 2 (8%); they were unilateral in 21 (88%) and bilateral in 3 (13%). STICs in the absence of an associated invasive carcinoma in the same tube were detected in 7 cases (30%) and with invasive carcinoma in the same tube in 17 (71%). Unilateral STICs were associated with bilateral ovarian involvement in 15 cases and unilateral (ipsilateral) ovarian involvement in 5 (the remaining case with a unilateral STIC had a primary peritoneal tumor with no ovarian involvement); the bilateral STICs were all associated with bilateral ovarian involvement. Six of the 7 primary tubal tumors were high-grade serous carcinomas, and 4 of these 6 (67%) had STICs. Based on conventional criteria, 70%, 17%, and 13% of high-grade serous carcinomas qualified for classification as ovarian, peritoneal, and tubal in origin, respectively; however, using STIC as a supplemental criterion to define a case as tubal in origin, the distribution was modified to 28%, 8%, and 64%, respectively. Features of tumors in the ovary that generally suggest metastatic disease (bilaterality, small size, nodular growth pattern, and surface plaques) were identified with similar frequency in cases with and without STIC and were, therefore, not predictive of tubal origin. The findings, showing that nearly 60% of high-grade pelvic (nonuterine) serous carcinomas are associated with STICs, are consistent with the proposal that the fallopian tube is the source of a majority of these tumors. If these findings can be validated by molecular studies that definitively establish that STIC is the earliest form of carcinoma rather than intraepithelial spread from adjacent invasive serous carcinoma of ovarian or peritoneal origin, they will have important clinical implic...

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Most prior studies of primary diagnosis in surgical pathology using whole slide imaging (WSI) versus microscopy have focused on specific organ systems or included relatively few cases. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that WSI is noninferior to microscopy for primary diagnosis in surgical pathology. A blinded randomized noninferiority study was conducted across the entire range of surgical pathology cases (biopsies and resections, including hematoxylin and eosin, immunohistochemistry, and special stains) from 4 institutions using the original sign-out diagnosis (baseline diagnosis) as the reference standard. Cases were scanned, converted to WSI and randomized. Sixteen pathologists interpreted cases by microscopy or WSI, followed by a wash-out period of ≥4 weeks, after which cases were read by the same observers using the other modality. Major discordances were identified by an adjudication panel, and the differences between major discordance rates for both microscopy (against the reference standard) and WSI (against the reference standard) were calculated. A total of 1992 cases were included, resulting in 15,925 reads. The major discordance rate with the reference standard diagnosis was 4.9% for WSI and 4.6% for microscopy. The difference between major discordance rates for microscopy and WSI was 0.4% (95% confidence interval, −0.30% to 1.01%). The difference in major discordance rates for WSI and microscopy was highest in endocrine pathology (1.8%), neoplastic kidney pathology (1.5%), urinary bladder pathology (1.3%), and gynecologic pathology (1.2%). Detailed analysis of these cases revealed no instances where interpretation by WSI was consistently inaccurate compared with microscopy for multiple observers. We conclude that WSI is noninferior to microscopy for primary diagnosis in surgical pathology, including biopsies and resections stained with hematoxylin and eosin, immunohistochemistry and special stains. This conclusion is valid across a wide variety of organ systems and specimen types.

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A unique renal neoplasm characterized by eosinophilic cytoplasm and solid and cystic growth was recently reported in patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). We searched multiple institutional archives and consult files in an attempt to identify a sporadic counterpart. We identified 16 morphologically identical cases, all in women, without clinical features of TSC. The median age was 57 years (range, 31 to 75 y). Macroscopically, tumors were tan and had a solid and macrocystic (12) or only solid appearance (4). Average tumor size was 50 mm (median, 38.5 mm; range, 15 to 135 mm). Microscopically, the tumors showed solid areas admixed with variably sized macrocysts and microcysts that were lined by cells with a pronounced hobnail arrangement. The cells had voluminous eosinophilic cytoplasm with prominent granular cytoplasmic stippling and round to oval nuclei with prominent nucleoli. Scattered histiocytes and lymphocytes were invariably present. Thirteen of 16 patients were stage pT1; 2 were pT2, and 1 was pT3a. The cells demonstrated a distinct immunoprofile: nuclear PAX8 expression, predominant CK20-positive/CK7-negative phenotype, patchy AMACR staining, but no CD117 reactivity. Thirteen of 14 patients with follow-up were alive and without disease progression after 2 to 138 months (mean: 53 mo; median: 37.5 mo); 1 patient died of other causes. Although similar to a subset of renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) seen in TSC, we propose that sporadic "eosinophilic, solid, and cystic RCC," which occurs predominantly in female individuals and is characterized by distinct morphologic features, predominant CK20-positive/CK7-negative immunophenotype, and indolent behavior, represents a novel subtype of RCC.

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Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is an autosomal dominant disorder with characteristic tumors involving multiple organ systems. Whereas renal angiomyolipoma (AML) is common in TSC, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is rarely reported. Fifty-seven RCCs from 13 female and 5 male TSC patients were reviewed. Age at surgery ranged from 7 to 65 years (mean: 42 y). Nine patients (50%) had multiple synchronous and/or metachronous RCCs (range of 2 to 20 RCCs) and 5 had bilateral RCCs (28%). Seventeen patients (94%) had histologically confirmed concurrent renal AMLs, including 15 with multiple AMLs (88%) and 9 (50%) with AMLs with epithelial cysts. None of the 15 patients with available clinical follow-up information had evidence of distant metastatic disease from 6 to 198 months after their initial surgery (mean: 52 mo). The 57 RCCs exhibited 3 major distinct morphologies: (1) 17 RCCs (30%) had features similar to tumors previously described as "renal angiomyoadenomatous tumor" or "RCC with smooth muscle stroma"; (2) 34 RCCs (59%) showed features similar to chromophobe RCC; and (3) 6 RCCs (11%) showed a granular eosinophilic-macrocystic morphology. Distinct histologic changes were also commonly present in the background kidney parenchyma and included cysts or renal tubules lined by epithelial cells with prominent eosinophilic cytoplasm, nucleomegaly, and nucleoli. Immunohistochemically, all RCCs tested showed strong nuclear reactivity for PAX8 and HMB45 negativity. Compared with sporadic RCCs, TSC-associated RCCs have unique clinicopathologic features including female predominance, younger age at diagnosis, multiplicity, association with AMLs, 3 recurring histologic patterns, and an indolent clinical course. Awareness of the morphologic and clinicopathologic spectrum of RCC in this setting will allow surgical pathologists to better recognize clinically unsuspected TSC patients.

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