Carcinosarcoma of the stomach

Asymptomatic giant gastric carcinosarcoma

Carcinosarcoma is an aggressive malignant neoplasm separate from adenocarcinoma with need for a radical early treatment for good response and survival. Less than 75 cases have been reported worldwide. Here, we report a case of an asymptomatic carcinosarcoma of stomach in a lady in her 70's presenting incidentally who underwent distal gastrectomy with Billroth II reconstruction for a large epigastric mass along with a review of literature. Although carcinosarcoma in the stomach is a rare entity, it should be considered as a differential diagnosis in a rapidly growing gastric growth. It requires further descriptions and collections of individual cases.

Esophageal extraskeletal neoplasm Ewing's sarcoma: Case report

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Ewing sarcomas are a group of small round cell tumors that occur predominantly in the long bones as well as in extraosseous locations such as the extremities, trunk, and retroperitoneum (Gier, 1997) [2]. Extraosseous Ewing sarcoma (EES) is a type of small round cell tumor that occurs in soft tissues. I rare cases, EES occurs in the esophagus (Maesawa et al., 2002; Johnson et al., 2010) [1,3]. Ewing's sarcoma is a rare and highly aggressive cancer most frequently arising in people under 20 years of age. We report an uncommon case of primary paraesophageal Ewing's sarcoma in a 25-year-old female.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 26 years old Asian female referred primarily for surgical treatment due to esophageal cancer detected on her diagnostic investigations and revealed a primary tumor located near the gastroesophageal junction. Based on the results of diagnostic investigations which confirmed the possibility of the tumor Ewing sarcoma of esophagus, which was biopsy and immune histochemical stain proven the patient was qualified for surgical treatment. She underwent Mckewon esophagectomy on October 2021 for Ewing sarcoma of esophagus. She was first followed with neoadjuvant intravenous chemotherapy, after taking three cycles of neoadjuvant chemo showed good response in CT scan the patient underwent Mckewon esophagectomy, post op recovery was smooth she underwent 2 cycles of adjuvant chemotherapy after four months of surgery. Her followup visit was uneventful.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

Ewing's sarcoma is the second most frequent primary malignant bone cancer, after osteosarcoma. It was first described by James Ewing in 1921, as an undifferentiated tumor developing in the diaphysis of the ulna of a young female patient (Ushigome et al., 2002) [6]. Ewing sarcoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumor (ES/PNET), previously thought to be separate tumors, is now treated as the same tumor; both have similar immunohistochemical characteristics and chromosomal translocation (Maesawa et al., 2002) [1]. They are malignant tumors composed of undifferentiated small round cells, usually affecting children, adolescents, and young adults (Kondo et al., 2005) [7]. Generally ES/PNET affects the bones and deep soft tissues (Soulard et al., 2005) [8], although other organs such as the pancreas, small bowel, esophagus, kidneys, prostate, ovaries, vagina and rectovaginal septum have been reported; this is termed as extraskeletal ES/PNET (Bloom et al., 1995) [9]. To the best of our knowledge, only 5 cases of gastric ES/PNET have been reported in the English language literature. Extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma is a very rare disease, accounting for 6 %-47 % of all cases of Ewing's sarcoma. It is mainly diagnosed in the trunk, extremities, retroperitoneum, and head and neck region. Patients with extraosseous Ewing's sarcoma are more likely to be older, female, and not of Caucasian origin. An extraskeletal origin of the disease is correlated to poor prognosis (Siegel et al., 1988; Granowetter and West, 1997; Ushigome et al., 2002) [4-6]. We present an uncommon case of extraskeletal Ewing's sarcoma, and discuss its rare presentation and evolution. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of paraesophageal primary Ewing's sarcoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor. Adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma account for the vast majority of esophageal malignancies. Other malignancies known to occur in the esophagus include melanoma, sarcoma, and lymphoma. Among the sarcomas, carcinosarcoma is the commonest with both carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements followed by leiomyosarcoma of mesenchymal origin. Other sarcomas reported in the literature are liposarcoma, synovial sarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, granulocytic sarcoma, histiocytic sarcoma, schwannoma rhabdomyosarcoma, and epithelioid sarcoma.

CONCLUSION

Ewing sarcoma is a rare entity among all esophageal malignancies. It presents as an exophytic mass, and in this case, it has presented as a mass occluding the lumen of esophagus. Most of these tumors present in locally advanced and disseminated condition, one of the reasons being difficulty and hence delay in diagnosis. In spite of best efforts, a group among them remains to be histologically uncharacterized.

Adenocarcinosarcoma at the esophagogastric junction with long esophageal invasion: a case report

BACKGROUND

Carcinosarcoma of the esophagus or esophagogastric junction (EGJ) is a rare malignancy with both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. There is no report of carcinosarcoma arising from the EGJ wherein the carcinomatous element was adenocarcinoma. We describe a patient with carcinosarcoma of the EGJ in which the carcinomatous element was adenocarcinoma.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 52-year-old man was diagnosed with carcinoma on his EGJ after complaining of appetite loss. All tumor markers (carcinoembryonic antigen, squamous cell carcinoma antigen, alpha-fetoprotein, and carbohydrate antigen 19-9) were within the respective normal ranges. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy showed a 150-mm (100 mm esophageal side and 50 mm gastric side) type 1 tumor on his EGJ. A histopathological examination of a biopsy specimen revealed well-differentiated tubular adenocarcinoma at the gastric side; however, only necrotic tissue was noted on the esophageal side. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography did not reveal any invasion of the adjacent structures; however, it did show five swollen regional lymph nodes. ¹⁸F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography did not reveal distant metastases. We performed thoracic subtotal esophagectomy, total gastrectomy, and two-field plus left cervical paraesophageal lymphadenectomy. Macroscopically, the lesion consisted of two components: a 7.5-cm type 2 tumor and a 9-cm type 1 tumor at the proximal end of the type 2 tumor. Microscopically, the type 2 tumor showed predominantly solid or cribriform proliferation of tumor cells with clear cytoplasm, which was moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma with enteroblastic-like differentiation. The tumor cells of the adenocarcinoma component had periodic acid-Schiff (PAS)-positive globules and were positive for sal-like protein 4 (SALL 4) and negative for α-fetoprotein (AFP) or human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2). The type 1 tumors consisted of the adenocarcinoma-like type 2 tumor and spindle cells (sarcomatous component). Part of the sarcomatous component showed cartilage differentiation. The type 2 and type 1 lesions were continuous lesions. The epicenter of the tumor was located at the EGJ. The adenocarcinoma component was present in 10 of 27 resected lymph nodes. The tumor was diagnosed as carcinosarcoma of the EGJ.

CONCLUSIONS

We report a rare patient with carcinosarcoma of the EGJ wherein the carcinomatous element was adenocarcinoma.

Carcinosarcoma of the Esophagogastric Junction

Carcinosarcoma of the esophagus and the stomach are rare neoplasms characterized by the simultaneous presence of carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements. There is no report in the literature of carcinosarcoma of the esophagogastric junction. We present a case of carcinosarcoma of the esophagogastric junction whose unique clinical presentation, surgical issues, morphological and immunohistochemical features makes it quite distinctive from similar cases observed in the esophagus or in the stomach.

Carcinosarcoma of the stomach: a case report

Carcinosarcoma is a rare malignant, biphasic tumor comprised of carcinoma and sarcoma components. In the gastrointestinal tract, carcinosarcoma is most frequently seen in the esophagus and rarely in the stomach. We report a 51-year-old female patient with 2-month-history of epigastric pain and dyspepsia. Endoscopic finding revealed a huge ulcerative lesion that infiltrated from the antrum to the mid-body. An endoscopically taken biopsy revealed poorly differentiated malignant round cell neoplasm. After the palliative subtotal gastrectomy, immunohistochemical studies showed two positive reactions for the epithelial marker and mesenchymal marker. Based on the above findings, the patient was diagnosed with gastric carcinosarcoma. The immunohistochemical analysis is a critical method in making an accurate diagnosis of carcinosarcoma.

Sarcomatoid carcinoma of the remnant stomach: report of a case

We herein report a case of sarcomatoid carcinoma that developed in a remnant stomach. A 76-year-old male with a history of distal gastrectomy for a duodenal ulcer 28 years earlier underwent investigation for a tumor in the remnant stomach. An endoscopic survey showed a round elevated tumor measuring 6 cm in diameter, and a biopsy specimen suggested carcinosarcoma. A total gastrectomy of the remnant stomach was performed, and the excised tumor was identified to be a malignant neoplasm consisting of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. A diagnosis of sarcomatoid carcinoma was made since the epithelial markers were positive even in the mesenchymal elements of the tumor. To our knowledge, only 4 cases of sarcomatoid carcinoma of the stomach have been reported in the English literature so far.

Rapidly deforming gastric carcinosarcoma with osteoblastic component: An autopsy case report

Carcinosarcomas are rare, malignant, biphasic tumors simultaneously comprising carcinoma and sarcoma in a single tumor. We present an extremely rare case of gastric carcinosarcoma with an osteoblastic component that drastically changed its shape within 2 mo. A 59-year-old male patient presented to the emergency outpatient unit with a complaint of black stool. Gastrointestinal endoscopy showed an ulcerated mass in the cardia of the lesser curvature of the stomach. Biopsy specimens revealed only adenocarcinoma. Two months later, the ulcerated lesion drastically changed its shape into an exophytic tumor. Total gastrectomy was performed. In the resected specimen, the gastric tumor contained both adenocarcinoma and sarcoma components with lace-like osteoid. The patient died 7 mo after the operation, and an autopsy was performed. In the autopsy, widespread metastases were present in the liver, lung, lymph nodes and peritoneum. In this report, we describe a case of gastric carcinosarcoma and presume its tumorigenesis based on the autopsy findings.

Gastric carcinoma with osteoblastic differentiation

INTRODUCTION

Carcinosarcoma is a rare malignant biphasic tumor which has sarcomatous and carcinomatous components. Stomach localization is very rare. We discuss the diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of patients diagnosed with gastric carcinosarcoma in company with the literature review.

PRESENTATION OF CASE

A 73-year-old white male patient applied to hospital with dyspeptic complaints lasting for 2months. His endoscopic examination revealed an ulcero-vegetating mass in the cardiac region of his stomach. Total gastrectomy and D2 lymph node dissection were performed for the patient. In the pathologic evaluation, the tumor was found consistent with Stage IIA stomach adenocarcinoma in accordance with AJCC (7edt, 2010) classification. Pathologic specimen was reevaluated by an expert pathologist for the patient with progression and liver metastasis under adjuvant chemotherapy and concomitant radiotherapy. The new pathology was consistent with gastric carcinosarcoma, and 90% of the tumor was identified as osteosarcoma whereas 10% was identified as carcinoma. Cisplatin doxorubicine-based chemotherapy was given considering the fact that sarcomatous component was dominant.(1) The patient was given 3 courses of chemotherapy. However, as the patient showed progression under therapy, he died after 14months of the diagnosis.

DISCUSSION

Gastric carcinosarcoma is a very rare and clinically aggressive malignancy. Recurrence is likely to occur with a rate of more than 50% in patients who have undergone resection within the first year following surgery, and overall survival time is 10-15months.

CONCLUSION

In refractory gastric carcinoma cases with rapid progression, we suggest that gastric carcinosarcoma with biphasic component should be taken into consideration and the pathological evaluation should be performed by an expert pathologist.

Gastric carcinosarcoma: A case report and review of the literature

Carcinosarcoma of the stomach is a rare biphasic tumor that consists of both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. The common carcinoma component is tubular or papillary adenocarcinoma and the mesenchymal sarcomatous components are variable but may include leiomyosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and osteosarcoma. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of gastric carcinosarcoma and to present a review of the available literature. We report a case of carcinosarcoma in a 62-year-old female including the clinical and histopathological features of this tumor. Following ultrasound and computed tomography scans, laparotomy was performed, revealing a large mass, followed by radical surgery. Macroscopically, a polypoid tumor was observed. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma and poorly differentiated sarcoma with a high mitotic index and necrotic areas. At present, the achievement of a definitive diagnosis is dependent on immunohistochemical staining and radical surgery. Thus, more effective diagnostic methods are required to improve patient survival.

Morphologic manifestations of gene-specific molecular alterations ("genetic addictions") in mouse models of disease

Neoplasia in both animals and humans results in part from lasting activation of tumor-promoting genes ("oncogenes") or diminished function of genes responsible for preventing neoplastic induction ("tumor suppressor genes"). The concept of "genetic addiction" has emerged to indicate that neoplastic cells cannot maintain a malignant phenotype without sustained genotypic abnormalities related to aberrant activity of oncogene(s) and/or inactivity of tumor suppressor gene(s). Interestingly, some genetic abnormalities reliably produce distinct morphologic patterns that can be used as structural signatures indicating the presence of a specific molecular alteration. Examples of such consistent genetic/microanatomic pairings have been identified for mutated oncogenes, such as rising mucin-producing capacity with RAS overexpression, and mutated tumor suppressor genes-including PTEN eliciting cell hypertrophy, RB1 dictating neuroendocrine differentiation, and TRP53 encouraging sarcomatous transformation. Familiarity with the concept of genetic addiction, as well as the ability to recognize such regular genomic-phenotypic relationships, are of paramount importance for comparative pathologists who are engaged in phenotyping genetically engineered mice to help unravel genomic intricacies in both health and disease.

Rare Cause of Stricture Esophagus-Sarcoma: A Case Report and Review of the literature

Adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma account for the vast majority of oesophageal malignancies. Other malignancies known to occur in the oesophagus include melanoma, sarcoma, and lymphoma. Among the sarcomas, carcinosarcoma is the commonest with both carcinomatous and sarcomatous elements followed by leiomyosarcoma of mesenchymal origin. Other sarcomas reported in the literature are liposarcoma, synovial sarcoma, myxofibrosarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma, granulocytic sarcoma, histiocytic sarcoma, schwannoma rhabdomyosarcoma, and epithelioid sarcoma. We report a case of malignant spindle cell tumour of oesophagus. Sarcomas of esophagus present as a polypoid exophytic soft tissue mass. Our patient presented with a stricture which is a rare presentation. Locally aggressive treatment with surgery is beneficial, and local palliative treatment including radiotherapy is worthwhile.

A distinctive novel epitheliomesenchymal biphasic tumor of the stomach in young adults ("gastroblastoma"): a series of 3 cases

This report describes 3 cases of a distinctive, hitherto unreported gastric epitheliomesenchymal biphasic tumor that differs from other biphasic tumors of the stomach and elsewhere: carcinosarcoma, biphasic synovial sarcoma, teratoma, and mixed tumor. The tumors occurred in young adults, 2 males and 1 female, of ages 19, 27, and 30 years. Two tumors were located in the greater curvature in the gastric body and one in the antrum. The tumors measured 5, 6, and 15 cm in maximum diameter, and their mitotic rates were 0, 4, and 30 mitoses per 50HPF. There were 2 components: uniform oval or spindled cells in diffuse sheets, and clusters or cords of epithelial cells occasionally forming glandular structures with small lumens. The epithelial elements were positive for keratin cocktail AE1/AE3, keratin 18, and partly for keratin 7, but were negative for keratins 5/6, 20 and epithelial membrane antigen. The spindle cells were positive for vimentin and CD10. All components were negative for CD34, CD99, estrogen receptor, KIT, smooth muscle actin, desmin S100 protein, p63, calretinin, chromogranin, synaptophysin, CDX2, and thyroid transcription factor 1. In situ hybridization for SS18 rearrangement was negative in all cases separating this tumor from synovial sarcoma. All 3 patients were alive after follow-up of 3.5, 5, and 14 years. Because these tumors have some resemblance to blastomas of other organs, we propose the term "gastroblastoma" for this distinctive, at least low-grade malignant epitheliomesenchymal tumor of the stomach.

Carcinosarcoma of the stomach: A case report and review of the literature

Carcinosarcomas are rare, malignant, biphasic tumors. We report the case of a 62-year-old man with gastric carcinosarcoma, along with its clinical, macroscopic and histopathological features. Macroscopically, a specimen of deformed stomach was obtained that measured 200 mm × 150 mm × 100 mm. A 150 mm × 100 mm × 50 mm exophytic tumoral mass (Borrmann typeI) was found, which involved the posterior wall from the cardia to the antrum. Histopathologically, a mixed type of malignancy was revealed: an adenocarcinoma with intestinal metaplasia, with interposed fascicles of fusiform atypical cells and numerous large, rounded and oval cells. The tumor showed positive histochemistry for cytokeratin 18, epithelial membrane antigen, carcinoembryonic antigen, chromogranin A and vimentin. Liver metastases were diagnosed 8 mo postoperatively, and the patient died 4 mo later. A review of the available literature is also presented.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: diagnostic challenges and practical approach to differential diagnosis

Over the last decade, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) have evolved from histogenetically obscure gastrointestinal mesenchymal tumors to well-defined tumors with distinctive clinical, morphologic, ultrastructural, histogenetic, and molecular characteristics, for which targeted therapy is available. This is largely attributable to the discovery of CD117 overexpression and activating mutations in c-kit or platelet-derived growth factor alpha genes in most of GISTs. The availability of specific diagnostic tests and targeted therapy for GISTs has led to an increased awareness of these tumors. At the same time, the list of potential GIST mimics has lengthened considerably and it has become increasingly important that GISTs be distinguished from their mimics because correct diagnosis has implications for both treatment and prognosis. The purpose of this review is to provide an update of the expanding differential diagnosis of GISTS, to draw attention to unusual GIST variants, to provide a practical approach the differential diagnosis of GISTs and to highlight some of the challenges faced by pathologists in resolving this differential diagnosis.

Saturation labeling with cysteine-reactive cyanine fluorescent dyes provides increased sensitivity for protein expression profiling of laser-microdissected clinical specimens

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) provides the capability to isolate and analyze small numbers of cells from a specific area of a histologic section. LCM has particular value for analysis of early stage tumors, which are often small and intermixed with non-tumor tissue. It has previously been shown that a new generation of cysteine-reactive cyanine dyes can, in principle, provide increased sensitivity for two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE) profiling when sample quantitities are limiting. However, the comparative advantage of the new dyes in a clinical setting has not been established. Here, we report that cysteine-reactive dyes allowed the identification of more features than established, lysine-reactive dyes with a given number of cells. This was true both with extracts prepared from human papillomavirus E6 and E7-transduced human keratinocytes, a model for early-stage cervical cancer, and with LCM samples. In an experiment comparing LCM clinical samples of gastric adenocarcinoma versus precancerous, spasmolytic polypeptide expressing metaplasia (SPEM) from the same patient, cysteine labeling allowed the identification of more than 1000 discrete protein spots in samples containing 5000 cells. This is a 5- to 50-fold smaller sample than used in previous studies. Both labeling methods had a comparable success rate for protein identification by mass spectrometry (MS). The proteins associated with more than 40 differentially abundant spots in the clinical samples were identified by MS. In this exploratory analysis, changes in expression levels of cytoskeletal proteins, molecular chaperones, and cell-signaling proteins were seen. The identification of a number of proteins that are potentially relevant to tumor progression suggests that the method holds promise for biomarker discovery.