Faculty Bibliography

The SNARECOIL needle is a specimen capturing bone marrow biopsy needle that incorporates a tiny internal capturing coil. It was developed to minimize postinsertion needle manipulation and to facilitate specimen recovery. Forty-four patients underwent 50 bone marrow biopsy procedures with the SNARECOIL needle for a variety of hematologic indications. Second and third procedures were done for follow-up or staging. Each procedure retrieved a specimen with an average length of 2.1 cm. Fifty-two percent of the specimens were > or =2.0 cm in length. The majority of specimens demonstrated intact marrow architecture enabling a pathologic diagnosis in every case. Delicate cores of nontrabeculated marrow were recovered in three cases. The SNARECOIL bone marrow biopsy needle reliably retrieves intact bone marrow core specimens for pathologic interpretation

Co-activation of Meisl with Hoxa7 or Hoxa9 homeobox genes by retroviral gene insertion has recently been reported to be leukemogenic in murine myeloid leukemia. In this study we determined their expression in human leukemia. Most human myeloid leukemia cell lines co-expressed MEIS1 with HOXA7 and HOXA9. Among patients with acute leukemia, 50% of AML patients expressed MEIS1, while the majority of ALL patients were negative. A total of 89.5% of patients expressing MEIS1 co-expressed HOXA7. In unadjusted models, poorer response to chemotherapy was associated with expression of HOXA7 regardless of MEIS1 status and older patients were more likely to express either gene

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to determine the sensitivity of hepatic digital subtraction arteriography (DSA) for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and dysplastic nodules (DNs) when compared with pathological findings from whole liver explants. METHOD: Twenty-one patients 30-72 years old (mean 54 years) with cirrhosis and known or clinically suspected HCC (20 prior to chemoembolization) underwent hepatic DSA with subsequent transplantation within 80 days (mean 32 days). The prospective DSA report was compared with pathologic findings from explanted livers. RESULTS: Overall, DSA detected 31 of 95 HCC lesions for a sensitivity of 33%. Of these 31 lesions, 28 were hypervascular and 3 were hypovascular. DSA detected all six HCCs measuring >5 cm, all six HCCs measuring 3-5 cm, and all five HCCs 2-3 cm, resulting in a sensitivity of 100% (17/17) for HCC >2 cm. DSA detected 7 of 18 HCCs measuring 1-2 cm (sensitivity 39%) and 7 of 60 HCCs < or =1 cm (sensitivity 12%). Overall sensitivity for DSA in detection of HCC < or =2 cm was 18% (14/78 lesions). None of 17 DNs (0.2-1.5 cm in size) was identified on DSA. CONCLUSION: DSA is insensitive to small HCC (< or =2 cm), carcinomatosis arising within nodules, and DN

BACKGROUND: Extramedullary plasmacytoma of the breast is an uncommon neoplasm, occurring either as a solitary tumor or as evidence of disseminated multiple myeloma. CASE: Two cases of plasmacytoma of the breast were diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology. Aspiration smears showed a dispersed population of plasmacytoid cells with eccentric nuclei, abundant cytoplasm and the characteristic paranuclear hof. CONCLUSION: The clinical, cytologic and immunophenotypic features of plasmacytoma are characteristic, and the importance of distinguishing these neoplasms from primary mammary tumors is important to avoid unnecessary surgery

A tissue biopsy needle maximizes adequate specimen retrieval and minimizes patient pain and tissue disruption. The proposed biopsy needle incorporates an internal snare-coil for capturing specimens. The snare-coil device is described along with needle durability and performance testing. Sharply cut, nonfragmented, cored specimens were retrieved from a resin-based foam. In clinical practice, the snare-coil technology may minimize post-insertion needle manipulations and patient pain. Further studies are required to determine the impact of snare-coil needles on the retrieval of adequate specimens from patients