When a cancer is removed or sampled, the pathologist reports the findings in a standard format called a synoptic report. It looks like a list of headings, each followed by a short answer: tumor type, grade, size, margins, lymph nodes, stage, and so on. The headings come from a published checklist. Laboratories across North America, …
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Dysplasia in Barrett esophagus is a precancerous change in the gland-forming cells that line a segment of Barrett esophagus. Barrett esophagus is a condition in which the normal squamous lining of the lower esophagus has been replaced by glandular cells resembling those of the intestine, usually after years of acid reflux. Dysplasia means those replacement …
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Minimal change disease is a kidney condition that causes large amounts of protein to leak into the urine. Its name comes from the way it looks under an ordinary microscope: the kidney appears essentially normal, with only minimal or no visible change. The real abnormality is invisible at that level and can be seen only …
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Lupus nephritis is inflammation and injury of the kidneys caused by systemic lupus erythematosus (usually just called lupus), an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues. In lupus nephritis, the immune system forms clumps called immune complexes that lodge in the kidney’s tiny filters and trigger inflammation. It is one …
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A liquid biopsy is a test that looks for signs of cancer in a blood sample, rather than in a piece of tumor tissue. The most common form looks for circulating tumor DNA, usually shortened to ctDNA, which are small fragments of genetic material that a cancer sheds into the bloodstream. By reading these fragments, …
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Pancreatoblastoma is a rare cancer of the pancreas. It is the most common type of pancreatic tumor in young children, usually appearing before the age of 10, with an average age of about 4 to 5 years. It can also occur in adults, although this is uncommon. The tumor is composed of cells that exhibit …
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Acinar cell carcinoma is a rare type of pancreatic cancer. It starts from acinar cells, the cells that make the digestive enzymes the pancreas uses to break down food. Because the tumor cells come from these enzyme-making cells, they often continue to produce pancreatic enzymes. Acinar cell carcinoma can occur at any age, including in …
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Mismatch repair (MMR) and microsatellite instability (MSI) testing tell doctors whether the DNA repair system inside a cancer is working properly. When that system breaks down, cancer cells accumulate many genetic errors, and those errors are exactly what can make the cancer respond to a powerful type of treatment called immunotherapy. The same test matters …
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PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) is a protein that some cancer cells use to hide from the immune system. Testing for PD-L1 is one of the most important biomarkers in advanced cancer of the stomach (gastric cancer) and the gastroesophageal junction (the area where the esophagus meets the stomach), because the result helps determine whether immunotherapy …
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The androgen receptor (AR) is a protein inside prostate cells that receives signals from male hormones called androgens, the most important of which is testosterone. These signals tell prostate cells to grow and divide. Almost all prostate cancers depend on this androgen signal to grow, which is why treatments that lower androgen levels or block …
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