Browsing by Author "Westerhoff, Maria"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Characterization of Chronic Gastritis in Lynch Syndrome Patients With Gastric Adenocarcinoma
    (Elmer Press, 2021-02) Saulino, David; Chen, Rong; Wang, Kai; Shen, Minqian; Zhang, Xuefeng; Westerhoff, Maria; Cheng, Jerome; Lin, Jingmei; Zhang, Xuchen; Feely, Michael; Liu, Xiuli; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: Gastric cancer is one of the Lynch syndrome (LS)-associated malignancies. Previous studies have suggested that LS patients with gastric cancer also had chronic atrophic gastritis in the background mucosa, but further histologic characterization was not attempted. This study aims to understand the histologic features of background chronic gastritis in LS patients with gastric adenocarcinoma. Methods: Eleven LS-associated gastric cancer cases were collected from five institutions. Demographics and clinical features were retrieved by review of medical charts. Pathological material was reviewed for tumor location and histologic type. In addition, non-neoplastic gastric mucosa was assessed for inflammation (chronic and active), atrophy, intestinal metaplasia (IM) in the antrum and body, as well as pyloric gland metaplasia and enterochromaffin-like (ECL) cell hyperplasia in the body. Results: Eleven LS patients with gastric cancer (four male and seven female) with a mean age of 63 years (range: 23 - 83) were included. Ten (90.9%) had personal cancer histories; however none of the patients had family history of gastric cancer. Eight (72.7%) patients underwent gastrectomy and three had endoscopic resection. Nine (81.8%) patients had tumor in the fundus and/or body and two had tumor present in the antrum. Seven (63.6%) cases were intestinal type or mixed type carcinoma, and the remaining four were signet ring cell carcinoma. Eight (of 11, 72.7%) patients had chronic gastritis, five (45.4%) had atrophy, and four (36.3%) had intestinal metaplasia. Four of five patients with both antrum and body mucosa available for evaluation (80%), demonstrated body-predominant chronic gastritis. Four patients had germline MLH1 alterations and all of these patients had chronic gastritis, including one Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) gastritis and three H. pylori-negative gastritis. Conclusions: None of LS patients with gastric cancer in our cohort had a family history of gastric cancer. Gastric adenocarcinomas in LS patients were primarily located in the fundus and/or body. Two-thirds of these tumors were of intestinal type and had a background chronic, H. pylori-negative gastritis. These results support a chronic atrophic gastritis with intestinal metaplasia-dysplasia-carcinoma sequence in LS-related gastric tumorigenesis, particularly in MLH1-mutated LS patients.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Interobserver study on histologic features of idiopathic non-cirrhotic portal hypertension
    (BMC, 2020-10-23) Kmeid, Michel; Zuo, Chunlai; Lagana, Stephen M.; Choi, Won-Tak; Lin, Jingmei; Yang, Zhaohai; Liu, Xiuli; Westerhoff, Maria; Fiel, M. Isabel; Affolter, Kajsa; Choi, Eun-Young K.; Lee, Hwajeong; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background Histologic features of idiopathic non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (INCPH) may overlap with those without INCPH. Recently, these features have been recognized as part of the larger spectrum of porto-sinusoidal vascular disease (PSVD). We assessed interobserver agreement on histologic features that are commonly associated with INCPH and studied whether a provision of relevant clinical history improves interobserver agreement. Methods The examined histologic features include lobular (such as anisocytosis, nodular regeneration, sinusoidal dilatation, increased parenchymal draining veins, and incomplete fibrous septa) and portal tract changes (such as paraportal shunting vessel(s), portal tract remnant, increased number of portal vessels, and obliterative portal venopathy). Thirty-four archived liver samples from patients with (group A) and without (group B) INCPH were retrieved. A total of 90 representative images of lobules (L) and portal tracts (P) were distributed among 9 liver pathologists blinded to true clinical history. Each pathologist answered multiple choice questions based on the absence (Q1) or presence (Q2) of clinical history of portal hypertension. Fleiss’ kappa coefficient analysis (unweighted) was performed to assess interobserver agreement on normal versus abnormal diagnosis, in L and P, based on Q1 and Q2. Results The kappa values regarding normal versus abnormal diagnosis were 0.24, 0.24, 0.18 and 0.18 for L-Q1, L-Q2, P-Q1, and P-Q2, respectively. With true clinical history provided, the kappa values were L- 0.32, P-0.17 for group A and L-0.12, P-0.14 for group B. Four pathologists changed their assessments based on the provided history. Interobserver agreement on the interpretation of L and P as normal versus abnormal was slight to fair regardless of provision of clinical history. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the histologic features of INCPH/PSVD are not limited to patients with portal hypertension and are subject to significant interobserver variation. Supplementary information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13000-020-01049-0.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Vascular Neoplasms of the Liver
    (Wiley, 2021-04) Lin, Jingmei; Westerhoff, Maria; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    The main vascular tumors of the liver include hemangioma, Kaposi sarcoma (KS), epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (EHE), and angiosarcoma. They develop in noncirrhotic livers and are increasingly being detected incidentally by imaging. All of these tumors express markers of vascular lineage, such as ERG, CD31, and CD34. The purpose of this review is to highlight the main pathological aspects of these tumors.