Adult ; Choristoma ; diagnosis ; Death, Sudden ; etiology ; Female ; Heart Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; Humans ; Pericardium ; Thymoma ; diagnosis ; Thymus Neoplasms ; diagnosis

Hemosiderin deposition is not often recognized on routine examination with hematoxylin and eosin staining; however, iron stains may be helpful in the evaluation of hemosiderin deposition in infant autopsies. This report describes the data obtained from autopsy of 86 infants and children whose deaths were investigated at the Forensic Medicine Council Bursa Morgue Department from January 2000 to January 2003. A histochemical technique was used to identify hemosiderin in lung, liver and spleen specimens, which was correlated with other descriptive variables such as the reported cause of death, postmortem interval, trauma history, gender, and age. There was a weakly positive but significant correlation between lung and liver hemosiderin scores (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, rho=0.348, p=0.001); i.e., given an increase in lung hemosiderin scores, an increase in liver hemosiderin scores was also observed. Similarly, a marked positive correlation between spleen and liver hemosiderin scores (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, rho=0.335, p=0.002) was observed. The probability of spleen hemosiderin-positive cases belonging to the age group under 6 months was found to be 4.3 times greater than those who were hemosiderin-negative (95% confidence interval, 1.6-11.8). After the major differential diagnoses were ruled out, this study demonstrated, that depending on the statistically assessed morphometric grounds, the presence of hemosiderin deposits in the liver and spleen were significantly higher in the age group under 6 months.
Adolescent ; Age Factors ; Cause of Death ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; *Forensic Pathology ; Hemosiderin/*metabolism ; Humans ; Infant ; Liver/pathology ; Lung/*pathology ; Macrophages/*pathology ; Male ; Spleen/pathology

INTRODUCTIONFactors that emerge as crucial participants in tumour invasion and metastases are matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) inhibitors and cellular adhesion molecules (CD44 and similar molecules). They play important roles in tumour invasion and metastasis in non-small-cell lung carcinomas (NSCLCs).

MATERIALS AND METHODSThe study was performed using the data of 33 patients. MMP-2 from the metalloproteinase family, TIMP-2 from the metalloproteinase inhibitor family and the adhesion molecule CD44v6 expression were investigated immunohistochemically to search their role in the metastasis and the clinical outcome of the patients with NSCLCs.

RESULTSTwenty-three tumours (70%) were squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 9 (27%) were adenocarcinoma (AC), and 1 (3%) was large cell carcinoma (LCC). MMP-2 and TIMP-2 were expressed in high rates in NSCLC but CD44v6 expression was about 50%. Lymphatic invasion was less frequent in TIMP-2- positive patients and this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.005). There was a statistically significant difference between SCCs and ACs with respect to CD44v6 tumoral expression (P = 0.004). Also, there was a negative correlation between lymphatic invasion and the extent of CD44v6; lymphatic invasion was significantly less in CD44v6-positive cases (P = 0.013).

CONCLUSIONWe found that TIMP-2 and CD44v6 can decrease the lymphatic invasion in NSCLCs. Also there was observed histiotype-related pattern of CD44v6 variant expression in SCCs.

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung ; enzymology ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Hyaluronan Receptors ; metabolism ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 ; metabolism ; Middle Aged ; Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2 ; metabolism