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BACKGROUND: Glassy cell carcinomas of the uterine cervix are poorly differentiated carcinomas composed of cells with a large, round to oval nucleus containing one or multiple prominent nucleoli, finely vacuolated eosinophilic to amphophilic cytoplasm and distinct cell borders. These cells occur in sheets and chords, with fibrovascular septae presenting a mixed inflammatory infiltrate. This neoplasm has a poor response to radiotherapy and a worse prognosis than the usual types of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. There are few reports on the cytologic and histopathologic features of this neoplasm. CASE: A 56-year-old woman presented with a large, exophytic cervical tumor. Exfoliative cytology showed clusters of cells and single cells with large, round to oval nuclei, with one or multiple nucleoli and moderate to large, finely granulated cytoplasm with distinct cell borders. The background of the smears had a polymorphous inflammatory infiltrate, necrotic debris and proteinaceous material. A high mitotic rate was observed, as were rare bizarre and atypical multinucleated cells. There was no evidence of koilocytes. These findings were highly suggestive of glassy cell carcinoma and were confirmed by the histologic and immunocytochemical findings, with positivity for cytokeratin (MNF116), vimentin and carcinoembryonic antigen and negativity for HMB-45. CONCLUSION: Glassy cell carcinoma of the cervix presents a cytologic picture that can be highly suggestive of the diagnosis in typical cases; however, in difficult cases ancillary techniques, such as immunocytochemistry, as well as histologic findings might confirm the diagnosis.

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Fibromatosis (or desmoid tumor) is an infiltrative fibroblastic/myofibroblastic lesion presenting a moderate risk for local recurrence and no metastatic potential. Classically, these lesions are classified whether in abdominal or extra-abdominal sites, and may be multicentric or familial. Primary fibromatosis of the breast (PFB) is an uncommon lesion that shows histological similarities with abdominal fibromatosis (AF), and frequently poses difficulties in the differential diagnosis with other spindle cell tumors of the breast. It has been demonstrated that AF usually shows immunoreactivity for estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors; conversely, in most of the studies, the cells from PFB are consistently negative for both receptors. We report on a case of a 41-year-old female with two desmoid tumors, affecting the abdominal wall and the breast tissue. To the best of our knowledge, there is no previous report in which hormonal receptors were evaluated in abdominal and mammary desmoid tumors in the same patient. We assessed the immunohistochemical expression of ER and PR in both lesions; while the AF showed immunoreactivity for both receptors, the cells from PFB were all negative. Although we have considered just this case, we still believe that these findings could support a distinctive etiopathogenesis of abdominal and mammary fibromatosis.

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Histoplasmosis is caused by the dimorphic fungus Histoplasma capsulatum. It manifests by the presence of fever as the only symptom in most individuals. The disease may present as self-limited pneumonia, or as an hematogenous widespread fungal infection with a potentially fatal outcome in elderly individuals and people with compromised T-cell mediated immunity. Here, we report a case of disseminated cutaneous histoplasmosis in a patient with AIDS. The patient was a 33 year old male homosexual, intravenous drug user, who had been diagnosed with HIV infection 5 years earlier. He has in good health, but had erythematous papules and pustules in the skin of the scalp, face, back, thighs, abdomen, palms, and soles. He was placed on anti-retroviral therapy, fluconazole for mucosal candidiasis, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole for pneumocystis prophylaxis, and antibiotics for the skin pustules. The skin lesions improved remarkably within 14 days. He was discharged and soon lost to follow-up. After his discharge, skin biopsy and fungal culture results revealed H. capsulatum. He was seen again 1 year later. the interim history revealed that he had taken fluconazole 100 mg/day for 1 month and fluconazole 150 mg/week for 7 months. He had not continued anti-retroviral therapy, nor taken other antifungal drugs. The clinical evolution of the disease was exceptional in that there was disappearance of all the skin lesions attributed to histoplasmosis with fluconazole. Although itraconazole remains the drug of choice for histoplasmosis. Cutaneous histoplasmosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of atypical cutaneous lesions in individuals infected with HIV.

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The authors present the autopsy findings of two related patients and the biopsy findings of a third member of the family. The oldest member was 34 years old at death and on postmortem examination he had haemangioblastomas in the retina, cerebellum, medulla and spinal cord. Other findings were renal cell carcinoma, phaechromocytoma, cysts of kidney and pancreas, hydromyelia and atypical meningiomas. His brother died when 30 years old. The autopsy revealed haemangioblastomas of cerebellum, renal cell carcinoma and a clear cell cystadenoma of epididymus. The third patient was the daughter of the first and presented with headache and dizziness. CT-scan showed a cerebellar haemangioblastoma. Epidemiological considerations on the commonest visceral and CNS lesions and a review of current diagnostic criteria are discussed.

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Os autores relatam os achados de autópsia de pacientes de uma mesma família e o diagnóstico por biópsia de hemangioblastoma de um terceiro membro desta mesma família. O primeiro paciente tinha 34 anos por ocasiao do óbito e os achados de necrópsia mostraram hemangioblastoma de retina, cerebelo, bulbo e medula espinhal, além de carcinoma renal, feocromocitoma, lesoes císticas de rim e pâncreas, hidromielia e meningiomas atípicos. Seu irmao morreu com 30 anos de idade e a autópsia revelou hemangioblastomas de cerebelo, carcinoma renal e cistoadenoma de células de células claras de epidídimo. A terceira paciente era filha do primeiro paciente e apresentou cefaléia e ataxia. A tomografia computadorizada mostrou lesao cerebelar cística e a biópsia confirmou tratar-se de hemangioblastoma. Sao feitas consideraçoes epidemiológicas sobre lesoes viscerais e do sistema nervoso mais comumente encontradas, além de discutir critérios diagnósticos.

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A partir de uma cultura de micobactérias isoladas de doente hanseniano de forma virchowiana e altamente bacilífera, foram preparadas duas suspensöes em soro fisiológicos fenicado, contendo uma delas 1,5 x 10**7 bactérias por ml, outra 5,1 x 10**7 bactérias por ml, mortas pelo calor. O preparado, uma mitsudina bacilar, antes de ser aplicado em humanos, foi submetido a todas as provas de qualidade e inocuidade recomendadas pela OMS. Submeteram-se espontaneamente à experimentaçäo 65 hansenianos, em tratamento no CELSA, recebendo cada um, inoculaçöes intradérmicas da suspensäo bacteriana, uma ou mais vezes à razäo 0,1 ml em cada inoculaçäo. A leitura das respostas foi realizada entre 21 e 30 dias, sendo o tubérculo formado em milímetros lineares e biopsiado para exame. Quarenta e um virchowanos, dois indeterminados e um dimorfo, todos Mitsuda-negativos, foram selecionados para análise dos resultados. Somente um virchowiano deixou de responder macroscopicamente; 43 responderam com tubérculos que variaram entre um e 9 mm. Trinta e cinco dos pacientes que responderam positivamente, tiveram duas respostas biopsiadas para exame histopatológico, fornecendo os seguintes resultados: 26 com granuloma tuberculóide típico; cinco com infiltrado dimorfo, tanto T como L; quatro com infiltrado I, linfo-histiocitário. Em 18 dos casos, foram encontrados BAAR no contexto histopatológico; oito pacientes com MH tuberculóide, todos Mitsuda-positivos responderam igualmente com reaçöes positivas. Treze pacientes deixaram de ser avaliados por terem formas clínicas mal definidas ou por motivo de insatisfatório controle. Nenhum paciente apresentou fenômenos adversos à experimentaçäo

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