Unusual Differentiation to Pheochromocytoma-Like Cells in an Adrenal Neuroblastoma After Chemotherapy: A Case Report and Literature Review.

Abstract

The authors present a case of 3-year-old female with Stage 4 neuroblastoma originating from the left adrenal gland. Biopsy of the left adrenal tumor showed neuroblastoma. After three courses of chemotherapy, the left adrenal gland including the left adrenal tumor was surgically removed. Pathological findings of the resected tumor revealed that most of the neuroblastoma tissues changed to pheochromocytoma-like cells. The tumor cells were arranged in well-defined nests surrounded by a delicate fibrovascular stroma and had granular eosinophilic cytoplasm, and round to oval nuclei. Immunohistological analysis of the biopsy samples showed strongly positive Ganglioside GD2-staining cells, whereas almost all of the tumor cells in the resected specimen were Ganglioside GD2-negative; cells were very weakly stained. The authors suggest that a part of the neuroblastoma in the left adrenal gland exhibited unusual differentiation toward pheochromocytic lineage Ganglioside GD2-negative neuroblastoma in a patient who had been treated with intensive chemotherapy.

• Authors: Yukihiro Tatekawa
• Journal: Fetal and pediatric pathology (Fetal Pediatr Pathol) Vol. 34 Issue 5 Pg. 322-7 ( 2015) ISSN: 1551-3823 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 26207436 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• Vincristine
• Doxorubicin
• Cyclophosphamide
• pirarubicin
• Cisplatin

Topics

• Adrenal Gland Neoplasms (drug therapy, pathology)
• Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols (therapeutic use)
• Biomarkers, Tumor (analysis)
• Cell Differentiation
• Child, Preschool
• Cisplatin (administration & dosage)
• Cyclophosphamide (administration & dosage)
• Doxorubicin (administration & dosage, analogs & derivatives)
• Female
• Humans
• Immunohistochemistry
• Neoplasms, Second Primary (pathology)
• Neuroblastoma (drug therapy, pathology)
• Pheochromocytoma (pathology)
• Vincristine (administration & dosage)