Psammoma bodies in Papanicolaou tests and associated factors to predict an underlying malignancy: a clinicopathological analysis of 10 cases

Primary peritoneal low-grade serous carcinoma detected in cervical smear: Pitfalls mitigated by clinicocytopathologic clues and cellblock immunocytochemistry

Pap smears play a role in detecting extrauterine serous tumours in asymptomatic women. Certain cytopathologic and histopathologic findings combined with relevant clinical and radiologic findings indicate the possibility of primary peritoneal serous tumours. Cellblock immunohistochemistry is a valuable confirmatory diagnostic tool.

Recurrent Primary Peritoneal Psammocarcinoma: A Case Report on a Diagnostic Challenge in Cytology

Psammocarcinoma (PCa) is a rare variant of low-grade papillary serous carcinoma that can arise from the peritoneal as well as ovarian surfaces. When this tumor involves the extra-ovarian peritoneum significantly and the ovarian surface minimally or not at all, it is considered of peritoneal origin. PCa has a recurrent indolent clinical course. It is challenging to diagnose peritoneal PCa, particularly on cytological smears because of the bland cellular features of neoplastic cells. We report a case of recurrent metastatic primary peritoneal PCa in a 71-year-old female of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry diagnosed on cytology of ascitic and cystic fluid.

Considerations on chemical composition of psammoma bodies: Automated detection strategy by infrared microspectroscopy in ovarian and thyroid cancer tissues

Ectopic calcifications are observed in many soft tissues and are associated with several diseases, including cancer. The mechanism of their formation and the correlation with disease progression are often unclear. Detailed knowledge of the chemical composition of these inorganic formations can be very helpful in better understanding their relationship with unhealthy tissue. In addition, information on microcalcifications can be very useful for early diagnosis and provide insight into prognosis. In this work the chemical composition of psammoma bodies (PBs) found in tissues of human ovarian serous tumors was examined. The analysis using Micro Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (micro-FTIR) revealed that these microcalcifications contain amorphous calcium carbonate phosphate. Moreover, some PB grains showed the presence of phospholipids. This interesting result corroborates the proposed formation mechanism reported in many studies according to which ovarian cancer cells switch to a calcifying phenotype by inducing the deposition of calcifications. In addition, other techniques as X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF), Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy(ICP-OES) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) were performed on the PBs from ovary tissues to determine the elements present. The PBs found in ovarian serous cancer showed a composition comparable to PBs isolated from papillary thyroid. Based on the chemical similarity of IR spectra, using micro-FTIR spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis, an automatic recognition method was constructed. With this prediction model it was possible to identify PBs microcalcifications in tissues of both ovarian cancers, regardless of tumor grade, and thyroid cancer with high sensitivity. Such approach could become a valuable tool for routine macrocalcification detection because it eliminates sample staining, and the subjectivity of conventional histopathological analysis.

The Current and Future States of Screening in Gynecologic Cancers

Gynecologic cancers contribute to a significant portion of cancer morbidity and mortality among women in the United States and across the globe. This article provides a comprehensive review of current screening guidelines and novel techniques that have promise in the prevention and early detection of gynecologic cancers in the future. The authors anticipate a move toward less invasive testing modalities, use of cancer biomarkers, and the prevention and treatment of high-risk factors such as human papilloma virus infection and obesity.