Background: Primary small cell carcinoma (SCC) of the esophagus is a rare and aggressive tumor with poor prognosis. In this study, we report the clinicopathological characteristics of 21 cases of small cell carcinoma of the esophagus treated at the Cancer Center of Sun Yat-Sen University, with particular focus on the histologic and immunohistochemical findings.

This study suggests that TAZ expression is a prognostic indicator of poorer survival probability for patients with resected NSCLC.

The higher proportion of positive labelling of Syn, CD56, CgA, and NSE in SCCC implicated that they are valuably applied in a differential diagnosis of the malignancy. The patients with SCCC receive one to three types of therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and have a poor prognosis.

No abstract

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to perform clinicopathological and immunohistochemical analysis and to investigate the Ewing sarcoma gene (EWS)-Wilms' tumor suppressor gene (WT1) fusion within desmoplastic small round cell tumors (DSRCTs). Histology slides and clinical data were reviewed for four patients with DSRCT. A variety of immunohistochemical staining was performed. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed to detect the EWS-WT1 fusion transcripts resulting from the chromosomal translocation t(11;22)(p13;q12). The patients consisted of four males aged from 26 to 52 years old (mean, 33.5). In three of these patients, the tumors were situated in the abdominal cavity and the tumor from the other patient was located in the pelvic cavity. The tumors were 8-15 cm in diameter (mean tumor diameter, 13), solid and gray-white, with an appearance of nodosity or sublobes, and hemorrhage or necrosis was observed. Microscopically, the tumors consisted of small round cell nests of unequal size. Hyperplastic and thick fibrous connective tissue surrounding the neoplastic cell nests was present in all cases. The tumor nuclei were hyperchromatic and contained inconspicuous nucleoli with a high level of karyokinesis. Immunohistochemical staining revealed diffuse and strong staining for CK, vimentin, desmin and CAM5.2 in all cases. Certain cases also expressed WT-1, EMA, NSE, CD56, CD99 and CK5/6. Staining was negative for myogenin, MyoD1, calretinin, CD117, CD34, HMB45 and CEA. EWS-WT1 fusion transcripts were detected in 3 out of 4 cases, but not in any other tumor types studied as controls using paraffin-embedded tissue by FISH. DSRCT is a highly maligant tumor occuring predominantly in the abdominal or pelvic cavity of young males with multiphenotypic differentiation. Basic morphological features, clinical manifestations and the detection of the EWS-WT1 fusion transcript within the tumor aid the recognition and diagnosis of the tumor.