The role of the pathologist in diagnosis of unknown metastatic tumor

Abstract

Service d'anatomie pathologique, hôpital militaire d'instruction Mohamed-V, Rabat, Maroc Correspondance : oukablimohamed@yahoo.fr Reçu le 5 mai 2010 ; accepté le 31 juillet 2010The role of the pathologist in diagnosis of unknown metastatic tumor Abstract: Metastases are sometimes the first revelation of cancers. In metastatic disease of unknown origin, the role of the pathologist is to affirm the malignant character of the lesion; provide histological information for possible origins; and to give histological therapeutic arguments. In most of the cases, the histological analysis based on cellular morphology is sufficient to suspect a particular origin. In case of poor differentiated carcinoma in addition to the histological analysis, the immunohistochemical study allows the detection of various specific antigens. In this review, we approach various morphological criteria and the interest of the various antibodies to confirm the origin primitive of a metastasis. To cite this journal: Oncologie 13 (2011).