The widespread use of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy of salivary gland lesions in many centers is testimony to its usefulness and acceptance as a diagnostic technique. Many pertinent questions concerning a mass arising in the salivary gland can be answered by evaluation of FNA cytologic material, and these include whether the mass is truly of salivary gland origin, whether the lesion is inflammatory or neoplastic, and if neoplastic, whether benign or malignant. On diagnosis of a neoplastic salivary gland lesion, the next important issue is to correctly classify the tumor, particularly if malignant. Specific cytologic diagnoses can be achieved in the majority of cases, thus enabling the clinician and patient to make appropriate informed decisions. The cytologic evaluation of salivary gland tumors, however, is limited by the wide range and heterogeneous nature of benign and malignant tumors arising in this area, many of which share similar or show overlapping cytologic features, making the diagnosis of rare tumors problematic. In this review, the cytologic features of the major salivary gland neoplasms, the differential diagnoses, and the salient points that, if examined carefully, help achieve a specific diagnosis are discussed.

These findings demonstrate that PAR1 expression is increased in prostate cancer. Its predominant expression in vascular network suggests that it may play a direct and crucial role in angiogenesis and could be a relevant target for therapeutic interventions to control or to prevent disease progression.

The p16 (CDKN2a/INK4a) gene is an important tumor-suppressor gene, involved in the p16/cyclindependent kinase/retinoblastoma gene pathway of cell cycle control. The p16 protein is considered to be a negative regulator of the pathway. The gene encodes an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6, which regulate the phosphorylation of retinoblastoma gene and the G1 to S phase transition of the cell cycle. In the present study, p16 gene promoter hypermethylation patterns and p16 protein expression were analyzed in 100 consecutive untreated cases of primary head and neck squamous cell carcinoma by methylation-specific PCR and immunohistochemical staining. The p16 promoter hypermethylation and apparent loss of p16 protein expression were detected in 27% and 74% of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, respectively. By 2 test, history of alcohol or tobacco use was significantly correlated with the loss of p16 protein expression (P ‫؍‬ .005 and .05, respectively). When patient follow-up data were correlated with various clinical and molecular parameters, tumor size and nodal and clinical stage were the strongest prognostic predictors for disease-free survival (tumor recurrence) and for cause-specific and overall survival in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Neither p16 promoter hypermethylation nor apparent loss of p16 protein expression appears to be an independent prognostic factor, although loss of p16 protein may be used to predict overall patient survival in early-stage head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

To evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of subgrouping and grading soft-tissue sarcomas by fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB), a blind review was conducted of 84 FNAB specimens from 77 malignant and 7 benign soft-tissue lesions. Cytomorphologic subgroups included 31 spindle-cell, 24 pleomorphic, 11 myxoid, 7 epithelioid/polygonal, 3 small round cell, and 8 nondiagnostic cases. Malignancies included one lymphoma and 41 primary, 15 recurrent, and 20 metastatic soft-tissue sarcomas. Adequacy was defined as a majority of slides with at least 5 clusters of 10 unobscured cells. Five originally false-negative cases were considered nondiagnostic on review. Sarcoma was recognized in 59 of 64 adequate cases (92%) with available histology; however, the specific histopathologic subtype was identified in only 9 cases (14%). Benign myxoid and spindle-cell lesions were difficult to separate from low-grade sarcomas in 4 cases, and a B-cell lymphoma with sclerosis mimicked a low-grade myxoid sarcoma. The assigned cytologic grade accurately reflected the histologic grade in 90% of sarcomas when segregated into high and low grades. Pleomorphic, small round cell, and epithelioid/polygonal subgroups corresponded to high-grade sarcomas in all cases with only minor noncorrelations. Major grading noncorrelations occurred in 50% of myxoid and 9% of spindle-cell sarcomas. Therefore, attention should be given to specimen adequacy, and caution should be exercised when attempting to grade myxoid and spindle-cell sarcomas by FNAB.