Hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathies (HSAN) are disorders of hereditary neuropathy mainly affecting sensation and also accompanying autonomic nervous system dysfunction. They are divided into five subtypes based on inheritance pattern and clinical manifestation. Among HSAN, type II is characterized by autosomal recessive inheritance, presentation at later stage of life, slow progression and mainly sensation abnormalities. The main pathology of the peripheral nerve is the absence of myelinated nerve fibers. Type IV is very rare disorder and only a few cases have been reported. It is characterized by autosomal recessive inheritance, presentation at birth as failure to thrive, retarded motor development, unexplained pyrexia and rapidly progressive and severe clinical course. The main pathology of the peripheral nerve is a loss of unmyelinated and small myelinated nerve fibers. We report two cases of type IV and one case of type II especially focusing on ultrastructural findings, which are characteristic of and diagnostic for HSAN.
Autonomic Nervous System ; Failure to Thrive ; Fever ; Hereditary Sensory and Autonomic Neuropathies* ; Inheritance Patterns ; Nerve Fibers, Myelinated ; Parturition ; Pathology ; Peripheral Nerves ; Sensation ; Wills

Ectopic liver in the umbilicus is very rare, and a few cases have been reported in the world. It is thought that an increased intraabdominal pressure resulting in entrapment of liver cell nests causes the presence of liver in the umbilicus. It relates to neonatal problem such as infection. We report a case of ectopic umbilical liver in a stillborn male of 28 gestational weeks. His mother discovered loss of fetal movement 2 days before admission, and intrauterine fetal death was diagnosed by ultrasonography. Grossly, the umbilical cord was markedly swollen. On cut section, a well circumscribed, oval round, tan-colored soft mass was noted within the cord. Histologically, it consisted of hepatic cords without bile ducts. The umbilical vessels were distorted by the ectopic liver, and contained thrombi. These findings suggest that ectopic umbilical liver results in the intrauterine fetal death
Male ; Infant, Newborn ; Humans

The choroid plexus papilloma is a rare tumor. Its incidence is 0.4-0.6% of all intracranial tumors. Most cases of this tumor are found in the young subject, especially infant and childhood but its congenital form is very rare. The clinical and pathologic findings of congenital choroid plexus papilloma are similar to that of any age. But the cilia on the cell surface are common in the former and very rare in the latter. We present a case of congenital choroid plexus papilloma of the lateral ventricle in a 2 month-old male baby. He had suffered from a sudden onset of convulsions and a drowsy mental state for 2 days. The CT scan revealed a large intraventricular tumor in the left lateral ventricle with hydrocephalus. After ventriculo-peritoneal shunt(V-P shunt), his symptoms were improved. But the hydrocephalus was aggravated due to malfunction of V-P shunt, and he recieved the operation after 4 months. The gross examination revealed a large ovoid papillary tumor(4x3x3cm). On light microscopic examination, the tumor showed papillary structure lined by columnar eosinophilic cells. Some cells had cilia. The electron microscopic finding showed intercellular junction, microvilli and cilia. The tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin, vimentin and S-100 protein.
Infant ; Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence

We report a case of aggressive angiomyxoma in ischiorectal fossa of a 39-year-old women. The tumor is characterized by relatively large size(13 x 11 cm), grossly gelatinous appearance and locally infiltrative nature. Microscopically, it consists of many variable sized blood vessels and spindle or stellate cells widely separated in myxoid or collagenous stroma. Immunohistochemical stains reveal that the tumor cells are strongly positive for actin and desmin. Electron microscopic findings are that of a few cells dispersed in abundant intercellular substance and collagen bundles. These cells form irregular cytoplasmic process without basal lamina and contain endoplasmic reticulum having cistern.
Female ; Humans

Pigmented(melanotic) schwannoma is a very rare variant of schwannoma that characteristically has massive cytoplasmic melanin. Since it was described in 1946 by Bjorneboe, about 44 cases have been reported in the English literature. It has a relatively benign clinical course, but the cases arising in the cranial nerve and sympathetic chain show aggressive behavior with malignant potential. We herein report a typical case of pigmented schwannoma with light microscopic findings. The results of immunohistochemical and electronmicroscopic study are also presented. The patient was a 30 year-old Korean male who had a mass in his posterior neck for 10 years that recently.began to induce neurologic manifestations. The tumor, which was mainly in the extramedullary intradural space of the cervical canal extending to the extradural space and soft tissues of the neck, was relatively well defined and composed of black solid tissue. Microscopic, densely pigmented spindle cells forming fascicles, nuclear palisading, whorling and polygonal cells with vacuolated or clear cytoplasm were characteristic. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for vimentin, S-100 protein, and HMB-45. Electron microscopic study revealed that the tumor cells have interdigitating cytoplasmic processes containing varying stages of melanosomes with a very focal basal lamina and Luse body like collagen bundles.
Male ; Humans

Biliary cystadenoma of the liver is a rare multilocular cystic neoplasm of biliary origin. it occurs most often in middle aged women and rarely in children. Histogenesis of this tumor is uncertain. It may be developmental in origin arising from aberrant hamartomatous bile ducts or ectopic rests of embryonic biliary cystadenoma of the liver discovered at 8 month of intrauterine fetal life. This case supports its congenital theory.
Child ; Male ; Female ; Humans

Neuroblastoma, ganglioneuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma are derived from primordial neural crest cells and can be conceptualized as three different maturational manifestations of a common neoplasm. To assess the validity of immunohistochemistry and DNA Ploidy in the diagnosis of neuroblastic tumor in terms of prognostication, histologic and immunohistochemical evaluation with NB-84, neuron specific enolase(NSE) and S-100 protein and flow Cytometric DNA analysis were done on 21 neuroblastomas and 19 ganglioneuromas. Thirteen of 21 neuroblastomas were undifferentiated and 8 differentiating in type. Eleven of the 19 ganglioneuromas were mature in type and 8 had immature foci. Eighty one percent of neuroblastomas were positive for NB-84, 100% for NSE and 67% for S-100 protein, respectively. All ganglioneuromas were positive for NSE and S-100 protein, in contrast, only immature foci in ganglioneuroma were positive for NB-84. B-84 reacted positively with undifferentiated and differentiating neuroblasts including neuropil but not with mature ganglion cells. In contrast, NSE reacted positively with all components of neuroblastic tumor and S-100 protein mainly with cells of Schwannian differentiation. Three of eight(37.5%) differentiating neuroblastomas were strongly positive for NB-84 in contrast with seven of thirteen(53.8%) undifferentiated tumors, reflecting that undifferentiated cells tended to be positive for NB-84 in neuroblastoma. Twenty two percent of neuroblastoma showed diploidy and 78% aneuploidy including 11% of near-diploidy. Seven of eight(87.5%) differentiating neuroblastomas in contrast with seven of ten(70%) undifferentiated tumors showed aneuploidy. By contrast, 53% of ganglioneuroma showed diploidy and 47% aneuploidy with DNA index ranged from 1.12 to 1.19. Three of nine(33.3%) mature ganglioneuromas in contrast with five of eight(62.5%) ganglioneuromas with immature foci showed aneupolidy. Differentiating neuroblastoma tended to be aneuploid and ganglioneuroma with immature foci tended to be near-diploid. In conclusion, immunohistochemistry for NB-84, NSE and S-100 protein is useful for confirming neuronal, both neuronal and Schwannian, and Schwannian differentiation, respectively. Immunohistochemistry together with flow cytometric DNA analysis would be helpful to confirm the immature foci in ganglioneuroma.
Neuroblastoma

The present lesion was the first reported case of a benign intracystic phyllodes tumor in the inguinal region. We report the case of a 51-year-old female patient who presented with an inguinal mass. A clinical diagnosis of malignant lymphoma was considered in this case. The resected tumor was well-circumscribed and showed numerous papillary nodular protrusions into a central cystic cavity (3.5x2.5 cm). The microscopic findings showed hyperplastic epithelium-lined cysts with leaf-like intraluminal epithelium-lined bland stromal projections. The epithelial cell linings were strongly positive for estrogen and progesterone receptors.
Diagnosis ; Epithelial Cells ; Estrogens ; Female ; Groin ; Humans ; Lymphoma ; Middle Aged ; Phyllodes Tumor* ; Receptors, Progesterone

The p21 overexpression is thought to be a consequence of the p53 induced activation of the p21 gene. The immunohistochemical evaluation of p53 and p21 can be a valuable means of assessing the functional status of the p53 gene product. We examined the overexpression of p21 and p53 proteins in primary gastric lymphomas and the correlation with prognosis. A total of 32 cases of gastric lymphomas was classified into low-grade lymphomas of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue type (n=16) and high-grade B-cell lymphomas (n=16). In low-grade lymphomas, only one case showed p53 positivity and all cases were p21-negative. In high-grade lymphomas, seven cases were p53+/p21- (44%), one case was p53+/p21+ (6%), and eight cases were p53-/p21- (50%). The p53+/p21- cases had a much lower percentage of patients sustaining a continuous complete remission state (3/7, 43%) compared with other cases (6/7, 86%). From these results, we concluded that p21 expression is rare in primary gastric lymphomas. Therefore, p53-positive lymphomas can be assumed as having p53 mutation. And combined studies of p53 and p21 may be used as a prognostic indicator in primary gastric high-grade lymphomas.
Adult ; Aged ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Female ; Human ; Immunohistochemistry ; Lymphoma, B-Cell/*chemistry/pathology ; Male ; Middle Age ; Peyer's Patches/chemistry/pathology ; Prognosis ; Protein p53/*analysis/immunology ; Proto-Oncogene Protein p21(ras)/*analysis/immunology ; Stomach Neoplasms/*chemistry/pathology ; Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Pure choriocarcinoma is very rare in the testes, and host immune responses including tumor infiltrating lymphocytes are unusual in choriocarcinoma. This study reports a case of pure testicular choriocarcinoma with extensive lymphocytic infiltrate and granulomatous inflammation. Scrotal ultrasonography revealed a heterogeneous, hyperechoic intratesticular mass. -human chorionic gonadotropin levels were elevated in a radioimmunoassay. The hemorrhagic and necrotic solid mass was composed of two cell populations - mononuclear pleomorphic cells and intimately admixed multinucleated smudged cells. The tumor cells were positive for cytokeratin 7, epidermal growth factor receptors, human placental lactogen and p57. Many inflammatory cells were present within the tumor. The majority of infiltrating cells were CD8-positive cytotoxic cells, which also expressed granzyme-B and TIA-1. The tumor cells were positive for FasL, but negative for Fas. Therefore, this case seemed to escape the host defense response to the tumor due to the loss of Fas, although the cellular host immune response was still active.
Tumor Markers, Biological/analysis ; Testicular Neoplasms/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Male ; Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating/*pathology ; Humans ; Granuloma/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Chorionic Gonadotropin, beta Subunit, Human/metabolism ; Choriocarcinoma/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Adult