• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.197-199
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• 2014

Mediastinal paragangliomas are very rare neuroendocrine tumors. Complete resection is the standard treatment of a paraganglioma because of the tumor's potential malignancy and poor response to chemo- or radiotherapy. However, the highly vascular nature of the tumor and its characteristic anatomic location make complete resection difficult. We report a case of an anterior mediastinal paraganglioma, which was incidentally found on a chest computed tomography scan for chronic cough work-up of a 55-year-old woman. Complete resection was accomplished using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, and the patient recovered without any complications.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.51-53
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• 2020

Paraganglioma is a rare benign neuroendocrine tumor arising from the paraganglia of the autonomic nervous system. Paraganglioma occurs mainly in the carotid body, jugular foramen, and vagus nerve in the head and neck region. Herein, we report a case of paraganglioma of the submandibular region that has not been reported. This case highlights paraganglioma as a rare differential diagnosis for submandibular region tumors.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.183-188
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• 2021

Tumors that metastasize to the pituitary gland are unusual and metastasis of neuroendocrine neoplasm to the sellar region is extremely rare. We report a 59-year-old man with pituitary metastasis from pulmonary carcinoid tumor who presented with left progressive deterioration of visual field. Sellar dynamic magnetic resonance imaging revealed an enhancing sellar mass invading the left cavernous sinus. We report this unusual case with a review of the relevant literature.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.39.1-39.6
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• 2023

A 7-year-old spayed female Shih Tzu dog was presented for evaluation of recurrent hypoglycemia. Serum insulin levels during hypoglycemia were 35.3 µIU/mL. Ultrasonography and computed tomography showed a mesenteric nodule between the kidney and the portal vein, but no pancreatic mass was observed. During surgery, the nodule had neither anatomical adhesions nor vascular connections to the pancreas. Pancreatic inspection and palpation revealed no abnormalities. Hypoglycemia improved after resection of the nodule. Histopathological examination confirmed the nodule to be an islet cell carcinoma. Although extremely rare, ectopic insulinoma should be considered as a possible cause of insulininduced hypoglycemia in dogs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4587-4592
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• 2012

Purpose: This study used receiver operating characteristic curve to analyze Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) neuroblastoma (NB) and other peripheral nerve cell tumors (PNCT) outcome data. This study found under usage of radiotherapy in these patients. Materials and methods: This study analyzed socio-economic, staging and treatment factors available in the SEER database for NB and other PNCT. For the risk modeling, each factor was fitted by a generalized linear model to predict the outcome (soft tissue specific death, yes/no). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was computed. Similar strata were combined to construct the most parsimonious models. A random sampling algorithm was used to estimate the modeling errors. Risk of neuroendocrine (other endocrine including thymus as coded in SEER) death was computed for the predictors. Results: There were 5261 patients diagnosed from 1973 to 2009 were included in this study. The mean follow up time (S.D.) was 83.8 (97.6) months. The mean (SD) age was 18 (25) years. About 30.45% of patients were un-staged. The SEER staging has high ROC (SD) area of 0.58 (0.01) among the factors tested. We simplified the 4-layered risk levels (local, regional, distant, un-staged/others) to a simpler 3-tiered model with comparable ROC area of 0.59 (0.01). Less than 50% of PNCT patients received radiotherapy (RT) including the ones with localized disease. This avoidance of RT use occurred in adults and children. Conclusion: The high under-staging rate may have precented patients from selecting definitive radiotherapy (RT) after surgery. Using RT for, especially, adult PNCT patients is a potential way to improve outcome.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.513-517
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• 2015

Background: Growing evidence suggests that the members of the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) are important for tumorigenesis. HERC4, one component, is a recently identified ubiqutin ligase. However, the expression level and function role of HERC4 in lung cancer remain unknown. Our objective was to investigate any correlation between HERC4 and development of lung cancer and its clinical significance. Materials and Methods: To determine HERC4 expression in lung cancer, an immunohistochemistry analysis of a tissue microarray containing samples of 10 lung normal tissues, 15 pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas, 45 squamous epithelial cancers and 50 adenocarcinomas was conducted. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was applied to obtain a cut-off point of 52.5%, above which the expression of HERC4 was regarded as "positive". Results: On the basis of ROC curve analysis, positive expression of HERC4 was detected in 0/10 (0.0%) of lung normal tissues, in 4/15 (26.7%) of pulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas, in 13/45 (28.9%) of squamous epithelial cancers and in 19/50 (38.0%) of adenocarcinomas. It showed that lung tumors expressed more HERC4 protein than adjacent normal tissues (${\chi}^2$=4.675, p=0.031). Furthermore, HERC4 positive expression had positive correlation with pT status (${\chi}^2$=44.894, p=0.000), pN status (${\chi}^2$=43.628, p=0.000), histological grade (${\chi}^2$=7.083, p=0.029) and clinical stage (${\chi}^2$=72.484, p=0.000), but not age (${\chi}^2$=0.910, p=0.340). Conclusions: Our analysis suggested that HERC4 is likely to be a diagnostic biomarker for lung cancer.

• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.107-113
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• 2023

Mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma is defined as a tumor with a mixture of adenocarcinoma components and neuroendocrine neoplasm components. Each of these two components of mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma accounts for at least 30% of all tumors. Mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma might be located in the ampulla of Vater, a very rare location compared to other organs. Thus, its treatment and prognosis plans have not been established yet. We report three cases of mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma occurring in the ampulla of Vater. Each patient had a different clinical course. In general, difficulty in preoperative diagnosis, risk of early recurrence, and poor disease course were main hallmarks of mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma arising from the ampulla of Vater. However, one patient in this case report survived although she did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy due to her old age. Therefore, it is important to establish a careful treatment strategy for mixed adenoneuroendocrine carcinoma arising from the ampulla of Vater.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.2631-2635
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• 2013

Background: Despite recent valuable steps in initiating a cancer registry in Iran, data depicting prevalence, incidence, and clinical picture of pancreatic tumors in the country are exceedinglyly sparse. With the aim of filling this knowledge gap, we reviewed cases in the pathology archive of Shahid Sadoughi hospital (Yazd, Iran), between 2001 and 2011. Materials and Methods: Medical records of 177 patients are reported in the present study. In cases for which paraffin-embedded blocks were available, the specimens were evaluated by two independent pathologists blinded to the primary diagnosis. We extrapolated the frequency of malignant lesions in our study to the population of Yazd province, derived from national census data, to generate cancer incidence rates. Results: Final diagnosis of malignancy was made in 117 cases (66.1%), and the remainder (60 lesions, 33.9%) were classified as benign. Adenecarcinoma and neuroendocrine tumors were the two most common histological types of malignancy identified in 88 (75.2%) and 11 (9.4%) specimens, respectively. Crude annual incidence of pancreatic cancer was 0.55 per 100,000 person in 2001 and increased to 1.68 in 2011. Age standardized incidence rates in 2001 and 2011 were 0.75 and 2.68, respectively. A significant increasing trend in cancer incidence was observed during the 11 years of the study period (r=+0.856, p=0.009). Sex-stratified analysis, confirmed the observed trend in men (r=+0.728, p=0.034), but not women (r=+0.635, p=0.083). Conclusions: Over the past decade, incidence of pancreas malignancies has risen steadily in Yazd, Iran. Nevertheless, these figures are still substantially lower than those prevalent in developed nations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.373-376
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• 2015

Background: EVA1A (eva-1 homolog A) is a novel gene that regulates programmed cell death through autophagy and apoptosis. Our objective was to investigate the expression profiles and potential role of EVA1A in normal and neoplastic human pancreatic tissues. Materials and Methods: The expression pattern of EVA1A in normal pancreatic tissue was examined by indirect immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. Protein levels in paraffin-embedded specimens from normal and diseased pancreatic and matched non-tumor tissues were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Results: EVA1A colocalized with glucagon but not with insulin, demonstrating production in islet alpha cells. Itwas strongly expressed in chronic pancreatitis, moderately or weakly expressed in the plasma membrane and cytoplasm in pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma, and absent in normal pancreatic acinar cells. Although the tissue architecture was deformed, EVA1A was absent in the alpha cells of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, mucinous cystadenomas, solid papillary tumors and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. Conclusions: EVA1A protein is specifically expressed in islet alpha cells, suggesting it may play an important role in regulating alpha-cell function. The ectopic expression of EVA1A in pancreatic neoplasms may contribute to their pathogenesis and warrants further investigation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4525-4529
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• 2012

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and predicting factors of ovarian metastasis, and evaluate the histology of other ovarian neoplasms in women with early-stage cervical cancer. Methods: The medical records of women with cervical cancer stage IA-IIA who underwent primary surgical treatment at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University from January 2007 to December 2011 were used for the study. Demographic, clinical and histopathologic data of the women who underwent salpingo-oophorectomy were reviewed. Results: Of 264 women, the mean age was 52.3 years. The types of hysterectomy procedures were composed of 210 radical hysterectomy, 9 modified radical hysterectomy, 40 simple hysterectomy, and 5 abandoned hysterectomy. The prevalence of ovarian metastasis was 0.76% (2/264). All of ovarian metastatic patients were older than 60 years old, postmenopause, and had macroscopical stage IB1 cervical cancer. Others ovarian tumors were found in 7 patients including 1 synchronous ovarian carcinoma, 1 serous cystadenoma, 1 fibroma, and 4 teratoma. Conclusions: In cases of early-stage cervical carcinoma of the population studied, ovarian preservation could be another option in <60-year-old patients, with non-neuroendocrine cell type, stage IA, and no extracervical or ovarian lesions.