The authors expand the concept of composite hemangioendothelioma by adding a congenital case and provide a reappraisal of the hemangioendothelioma spectrum.

IntroductionMost gastric tumors are adenocarcinomas. Primary gastric adenosquamous carcinoma is a rare malignancy, mostly associated with Asian populations. It constitutes less than one percent of all gastric carcinomas and its clinical presentation is the same as adenocarcinoma. It occurs more frequently in the proximal stomach, usually presents with muscular layer invasion and tends to be found in advanced stages at diagnosis, with a worse prognosis than adenocarcinoma.Case presentationWe report the case of an 84-year-old Caucasian woman with an adenosquamous carcinoma extending to her serosa with lymphatic and venous invasion (T3N1M1). Nodal and hepatic metastasis presented with both cellular types, with dominance of the squamous component.ConclusionsAdenosquamous gastric cancer is a rare diagnosis in western populations. We present the case of a woman with a very aggressive adenosquamous carcinoma with a preponderance of squamous cell component in the metastasis. Several origins have been proposed for this kind of carcinoma; either evolution from adenocarcinoma de-differentiation or stem cell origin might be possible. The hypothesis that a particular histological type of gastric cancer may arise from stem cells might be a field of research in oncological disease of the stomach.

The August 2003 COM. A 47-year-old woman presented with a long history of muscle pain, weakness, and visual disturbances. Over the last year, she developed diplopia and left sixth nerve palsy. No other neuro-ophthalmologic abnormalities were found. Past medical and family history was unremarkable. Laboratory investigation disclosed hypophosphatemia, phosphaturia, elevated serum alkaline phosphatase activity, and normal serum calcium levels. CT scans showed a lobulated mass arising on the meningeal surface of the cavernous sinus, measuring 3x 2 x 2 cm. The lesion was partially resected and microscopic examination revealed a highly vascularized tumor composed of primitive mesenchymal cells arranged whether in a patternless-pattern or surrounding thin-walled, branching vascular spaces and thick-walled hyalinized vessels. Other eye-catching features were microcystic areas, multinucleated osteoclastic-like giant cells, scattered islands of mature adipocytes, foci of hemorrhage, thrombosed medium-sized-to-large vessels, and hemosiderin-laden macrophages. After surgery, the patient recovered from the muscle pain and weakness, with a significant improvement of serum calcium and alkaline phosphatase levels and phosphate blood levels. Taken together, the clinical and pathologic features were consistent with a diagnosis of phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor (mixed connective tissue variant) of the cavernous sinus in a setting of oncogenic osteomalacia. No further treatment was carried out. The patient has been followed for the last 4 years with no evidence of recurrent disease. Oncogenic osteomalacia is a rare clinical entity characterized by hypophosphatemia, phosphaturia, and a low concentration of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) caused by a neoplasm. Pathologists should be aware of this entity, because surgical excision of the tumor is usually curative.

Adenomatoid tumor and myelolipoma are benign, hormonally inactive tumors that are often incidental findings in the adrenal glands. Myelolipoma is more common than adenomatoid tumor in this location but both are rare, and as yet, the pathogenesis of both remains unclear. We report 2 cases of composite adenomatoid tumor and myelolipoma, incidentally found in the adrenal gland on investigation for other diseases. To our knowledge, composite adenomatoid tumor and myelolipoma of adrenal gland has not been previously reported.