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Epithelial Thickening (epithelial + thickening)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	75%

Selected Abstracts

White sponge naevus with minimal clinical and histological changes: report of three cases

JOURNAL OF ORAL PATHOLOGY & MEDICINE, Issue 5 2006
Alberta Lucchese
White sponge naevus (WSN) is a rare autosomal dominant disorder that predominantly affects non-cornified stratified squamous epithelia: oral mucosa, oesophagus, anogenital area. It has been shown to be related to keratin defects, because of mutations in the genes encoding mucosal-specific keratins K4 and K13. We illustrate three cases diagnosed as WSN, following the clinical and histological criteria, with unusual appearance. They presented with minimal clinical and histological changes that could be misleading in the diagnosis. The patients showed diffuse irregular plaques with a range of presentations from white to rose coloured mucosae involving the entire oral cavity. In one case the lesion was also present in the vaginal area. The histological findings included epithelial thickening, parakeratosis and extensive vacuolization of the suprabasal keratinocytes, confirming WSN diagnosis. Clinical presentation and histopathology of WSN are discussed in relation to the differential diagnosis of other oral leukokeratoses. [source]

Blue-Violet Excited Autofluorescence Spectroscopy and Imaging of Normal and Cancerous Human Bronchial Tissue after Formalin Fixation

PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
Tanja Gabrecht
Autofluorescence (AF) imaging is a powerful tool for the detection of (pre-)neoplastic lesions in the bronchi. Several endoscopic imaging systems exploit the spectral and intensity contrast of AF between healthy and (pre-)neoplastic bronchial tissues, yet, the mechanisms underlying these contrasts are poorly understood. In this report, the effect of formalin fixation on the human bronchi AF, hence on the contrast, was studied by spectrofluorometric point measurements and DAFE (Diagnostic AutoFluorescence Endoscopy) broad field imaging. Generally, formalin-fixed samples have higher AF intensity than in vivo, whereas the emission spectral shape is similar. Additionally, the spectrofluorometric data showed a moderate decrease of the AF intensity on (pre-)neoplastic lesions relative to the healthy bronchial samples. However, this decrease was lower than that reported from in vivo measurements. Neither spectral measurements nor imaging revealed spectral contrast between healthy bronchial tissue and (pre-)neoplastic lesions in formalin. These results indicate that epithelial thickening and blood supply in the adjacent lamina propria are likely to play a key role in the generation of the AF contrast in bronchial tissues. Our results show that the AF contrast in bronchial tissues was significantly affected by standard, 10% buffered, formalin fixation. Therefore, these samples are not suited to AF contrast studies. [source]

Subungual melanoma: Histological examination of 50 cases from early stage to bone invasion

THE JOURNAL OF DERMATOLOGY, Issue 11 2008
Miki IZUMI
ABSTRACT Subungual melanoma is a rare form of malignant melanoma. It is extremely difficult to differentiate it histologically from benign melanonychia striata or melanocytic nevus, especially in the early stage. We divided 50 cases of subungual melanoma into four groups according to clinical progress, and examined their histological findings in each respective stage. In the early stage (19 cases), atypical melanocytes were polygonal showing slight nuclear atypia with no mitoses at all. In six out of 19 cases (31.6%), the atypical melanocytes proliferated more in the hyponychium than in the nail matrix, and only very few in the nail bed. Periungual pigmentation (Hutchinson's sign) appeared from the early stage in almost all cases. With stage progression (middle stage, 13 cases; progressive stage, 13 cases; and bone invasive stage, five cases) the number of atypical melanocytes and their degree of nuclear atypia increased, and the ascent of atypical melanocytes and pagetoid spread became conspicuous. Mitoses became apparent only from the progressive stage. From these observations, we would like to propose three new pathological clues of early stage subungual melanoma: (i) "skip lesion", proliferation of the tumor cells are more prominent in the hyponychium than in the nail bed or nail matrix; (ii) histological confirmation of Hutchinson's sign; and (iii) epithelial thickening and/or compact arrangement of the elongated basal cells. [source]

Zonal differentiation of the epithelium including the lid wiper at the human lid margin

ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2008
E KNOP
Purpose The lid margin represent the "other end" of the tear film and appear critically important for ocular surface integrity, in addition to the glandular structures that produce the tears. It guarantees the thin expansion of the tear film with every blink and prevents the leakage of tears over the lid border. However, the differentiation of the lid margin zones is insufficiently known as yet. Methods The upper and lower lid margin in human whole-mount specimens from ten body donors was investigated in serial section histology and compared to the image by in-vivo confocal microscopy in four eyes with a Heidelberg retina tomograph and Rostock cornea module (RLSM). Results At the inner lid border, following the keratinised epidermis of the free lid margin, a narrow zone (100-150µm) of para-keratinised squamous epithelium represented the muco-cutaneous junction (MCJ) corresponding to the line of Marx. This was followed by a much broader zone of epithelial thickening (50-100µm) that formed a kind of cushion, reclined sharply at the inner lid border and represented the so called lid wiper which extended for about 1mm and finally transformed into the epithelium of the sub-tarsal fold. MCJ and lid wiper extended all along the lid margin from nasal to temporal in upper and lower lid. Details of the epithelial structure as well as the underlying dermal papillae in these zones were also detectable by RLSM. Conclusion Due to its location and structure, the lid wiper appears as the structure that actually spreads the tear film and is distinct from the MCJ/line of Marx. Better knowledge of the lid margin structure and its different zones appears important for the understanding of ocular surface disease, in particular the dry eye disease. [source]