Annales d'anatomie pathologique最新文献

Immunofluorescent study of paraffin sections of 80 lesions of the buccal cavity, for the most part malignant or pre-malignant revealed marked plasmocytosis in premalignant or early malignant cases. This plasmocytosis, easily seen by the use of anti-immunoglobulin sera, is of polyclonal type, with marked preponderance of IgG secretors. In infiltrating carcinomas and in recurrences, the number of plasmocytes decreases and the percentage of IgG secretors falls markedly. By contrast, that of IgA immunocytes remains the same. The significance of these findings is considered and their practical value in the surveillance of cases of leukoplasia is stressed.

Ultrastructural analysis of biopsies of the buccal mucosa was carried out in 12 non-smoking patients and 10 smokers with a confirmed clinical diagnosis of alcoholic cirrhosis. Certain signs of epithelial dysplasia, including increase in nuclear cytoplasmic ratio, proeminence of the nucleolus, fragmentation and proliferations of the basal layer accompanied or not by epithelial projections into the chorion, were seen in non-smoking cirrhotics, as in the smokers. These findings emphasise the predominant role of alcohol alone in carcinogenesis.

Complementing cytochemical and ultrastructural studies, immunocytochemistry may be used to define, in terms of immunoreactivity, the nature of the polypeptide(s) made and stored in the cells of the endocrine pancreas, islet or otherwise. Immunoserums are applied to histological sections after fixation of the material in Bouin's fluid, and in accordance with four protocols: indirect immunofluorescence, immuno-enzymatic technique, variants in prolonged primary incubation and the method of soluble peroxidase-antiperoxidase complexes. Certain precautions are essential for correct interpretation. In the adult, four essential immunoreactions, corresponding to hormones or "local hormones" are regularly detected:insulin, pancreatic glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide. The cytochemical and ultrastructural characteristics of the cells involved are known (B, A and D cells for the first three specificities). C-peptide immunoreactivity is easily identified, but other immunoreactivities are more irregular or contested: gastrin, cholecystokinin, vasoactive intestinal peptide, ACTH, met-enkephalin.

In 25 cases of germinal testicular tumours of the adult, a technique of indirect immunoperoxydase was applied to histological sections with the aim of demonstrating a substance reacting with an anti-beta HCG antibody (sub-unit of chorionic gonadotrophin hormone). If the experimental conditions were appropriate, the substance should actually be beta HCG.

The syndrome known as the Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia type III or type IIb presents a particular histological intestinal lesion: hyperplasia of the myenteric plexus. The electron microscopic study of the plexus of Auerbach in our observation suggests a disequilibrium of the different types of individual axonal sheaths compared to the descriptions of a normal plexus. The possible role of this anomaly in the genesis of intestinal manifestations in this syndrome is here discussed.

The authors describe the pathological lesions caused by argon laser emitted rays on the healthy gastric mucosa in 22 dogs. They compare 126 photocoagulated areas while varying the intensity and the exposure time of the laser ray in order to determine the ideal constants of an efficient photocoagulation, devoid of risk and with rapid healing of the lesions.

Study by electron microscopy and light cytoenzymology of two cases of alveolar sarcoma of the thigh occurring in young men indicated it to be an active tumour with an apparently functional organoid arrangement, characterised by an abundance of capillary vessels. The secretory nature of the cell elements was suggested by the marked development of smooth and granular reticular systems. The morphological result of this secretory activity was constituted by vesicular bodies with dense contents, surrounded by a membrane and sometimes containing periodic paracrystalline structures. This intravacuolar crystalline organisation goes hand in hand with an increase in acid phosphatase activity suggesting possible crinophagia. Amongst the different hypotheses advanced in the past, the morphological appearances seen here would most likely correspond with the endocrine nature of this tumour.

The third recurrence of a primary mucinous adenocarcinoma of the right parietal scalp was studied by histochemistry and electron microscopy. Histochemically the mucin produced by this neoplasm was of the sialomucine type. Electron microscopy revealed a high differentiated tumour whose cells looked like eccrine mucinous ones. The natural history of this carcinoma is similar to that of 33 ones already published. The tumours, round and elevated, grow in 75 p. 100 of the cases in patients over 50 years of age. They are located on the face or the scalp and more rarely on the trunk. Such tumours are frequently misdiagnosed as carcinomas. But the knowledge of thier morphological and histochemical features should lead to the right diagnosis all the more since the various biological and radiological investigations do not discover other primary neoplasm. Besides if these neoplasms are not metastases they are quite different from the other sweat gland carcinomas. They have a better prognosis than these tumours. However they give local recurrences, lymph node or subcutaneous metastases and a fatal issue in 6 p. 100 of the cases.

The authors report two new cases of bronchial granular cell tumour, a site which remains relatively rare. One of these cases was studied from the point of view of histoenzymology and ultrastructure. The appearances seen were identical to those seen in the literature. They lead to the problem of the histogenetics of the lesion, various morphological factors favouring a Schwann cell origin, whilst the presence of "transitional" cells is more in favour of a mesenchymatous origin, or at least the role of mesenchymatous cells in the development of these lesions.