Percutaneous biopsy of pediatric solid tumors

Abstract

The brain has an estrogen‐biosynthetic potential resulting from the presence of neuronal aromatase, which controls the intraneural sex‐steroidal milieu and is involved in brain sexual differentiation, psychobehavioral regulation, and neuroprotection. In the rat brain, three distinct aromatase‐P450‐immunoreactive (AromP450‐I) neural groups have been categorized in terms of their peak expression time (fetal, fetoneonatal, and young‐to‐adult groups), suggesting the presence of region‐specific regulation on brain AromP450. In the present study, we compared the expressions between AromP450 protein and mRNA by using immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization with an ovary‐derived cRNA probe in serial sections of fetal, fetoneonatal, and adult male rat brains and then performed steroidal manipulations to evaluate the sex‐steroidal effects on AromP450 in adult orchiectomized and adrenalectomized (OCX + ADX) male rats. As a result, prominent mRNA signals were detected in the fetal (i.e., the anterior medial preoptic nucleus) and fetoneonatal (i.e., the medial preopticoamygdaloid neuronal arc) groups, although no detectable signal was found in the “young‐to‐adult” group (i.e., the central amygdaloid nucleus). In addition, the “fetoneonatal” AromP450‐I neurons were prominently reduced in number and intensity after OCX + ADX and then were reinstated by the administration of dihydrotestosterone, testosterone, or 17β‐estradiol. In contrast, none of the sex steroids had any significant effects on the young‐to‐adult group. Several possible explanations were explored for why the young‐to‐adult group may differ in aromatase expression and regulation, including the possibility that distinct splicing variants or isozymes for aromatase exist in the rat brain. J. Comp. Neurol. 500:557–573, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Diagnostic and prognostic information obtained on fine‐needle aspirates of primary neuroblastic tumors

“…Clinical staging [14][15][16] was as follows: 51 (39.5%) patients were diagnosed with localized disease (stages I-III), 68 (52.7%) were diagnosed with stage IV disease, and 10 (7.8%) patients were diagnosed with stage IVs disease. Follow-up in the 138 patients ranged from 1 to 145 months (median, 62 months).…”

“…Ganglioneuroma was diagnosed in smears containing purely ganglionic cells and schwannian tissue, with reservations because of the small sample. 14 Of the 138 FNA cases, histological analysis also was performed on 63 transcutaneous core needle biopsies 6,15,16 and on 43 surgical specimens, usually after chemotherapy, using the grading system of Shimada et al Aspirated cells were pooled in tubes containing 10 mL of RPMI with ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid and sent to the genomic core facility. Cells were counted on a In samples with > 4 Â 10 6 cells, the excess was cryopreserved for future molecular analyses.…”

“…19 The second modality, radio-guided transcutaneous histological biopsy performed with 18-gauge needle, is relatively safe with a morbidity of < 5% and results in representative samples containing tumor tissue fragments. 16,20 Sensitivity is within the range of 90% 6,15,16,21 but the technique is usually recommended for tumors measuring > 5 cm in diameter. The main drawback to the core needle biopsy procedure is the low percentage of malignant cells with a high volume of stromal tissue, although the problem can be resolved by multiple core needle passes (Fig.…”

“…13). 16 Several incidents of tumor spread occurring along the needle track have been reported. 22 The need for substantial quantities of neuroblastoma tumor material for biological studies contraindicates the core needle biopsy in many cases.…”

Core biopsy for diagnosis and tissue procurement

“…Another recent report by Soudack et al [3], demonstrated an accuracy of 98% in sonographically guided biopsies of soft tissue tumors. Good results from pediatric patients have also been obtained from core biopsy in a variety of solid tumor types [4]. These reports and others encompass multiple tumor types and patient populations, solidifying the central role of core biopsy for tissue diagnosis.…”