Dengue, endemic in India presents in mild to severe forms with or without bleeding. There is no specific treatment available till date hence severe dengue has to be recognized in early stages. Platelet counts are unreliable as they do not correlate with bleeding. Platelet indices have been studied for their utility as predictors of severity of the disease and aid in guide to transfusion therapy. Mean platelet volume is inexpensive and available with routine complete blood counts in hematology analyser. Its role as marker in diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of dengue has been investigated with platelet indices reports. To study MPV patterns, association with platelet counts and relevant laboratory parameters in dengue. The study was conducted over one month in the year 2016 in department of Hematology, Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital, Bengaluru. 100 serologically proven dengue cases were analysed with data collected from the records in the departments of Hematology and Microbiology against patient’s unique hospital identification number. There was a predominance of young male patients. The range for MPV was 8.7 – 13.2 (average 10.95) with 35% normal and 65% high MPV cases. There was 48% cases with moderately severe / severe thrombocytopenia. 32% with increased hematocrit, 35% with leucopenia, 54% with significant atypical lymphocytosis and 42% with antibody pattern. There was an increased number of high MPV seen in severe thrombocytopenia, increased hematocrit significant atypical lymphocytosis and antibody pattern whereas normal pattern was noted in leucopenia. High MPV is a useful predictor of severe dengue platelet recovery and may guide in transfusion therapy.

Occupying a prime location in face, nasal cavity is the main route of entry of air into the body. Nasal lesions can have varied presentations ranging from simple inflammatory to even malignant tumours. The aim of this study is to find the incidence of nasal lesions along with their histopathological patterns and correlation with age-gender distribution and site of the lesion. The present study was done in the department of Pathology, MGMCRI, for a period of six months from January 2019 to June 2019 and included 58cases of nasal biopsies. Tissue was processed and studied as per standard operating procedures. Out of the 58 cases studied, 55.17% were inflammatory of which 28.13% were fungal infections. There were 37.93% benign lesions and 6.7% malignancies. Majority of the lesions were seen in the age group of 20-39 years, with male preponderance. The most common location involved was nasal cavity with allergic inflammatory polyp being the most common lesion. Although most of the nasal biopsies sent are inflammatory, secondary to infection or allergy, variety of benign and malignant lesions of nose are also common. Eventhough they can be suspected clinically confirmation can be done only by histopathological examination. Hence histopathology digs out the ‘black box within the beauty’ and remains the gold standard for the diagnosis of nasal lesions.

Breast cancer has become one of the leading cause of morbidity and mortality among female population both in developing and developed countries. Research also suggests the rising rate of breast cancer every year. Various advancements and research in this field has led to the discovery of both sporadic and genetic susceptibility prevailing in persons who develop this cancer. Even though various immunohistochemical(IHC) markers are being used in the workup of breast cancer, none of them is found to be totally effective in predicting the prognosis of the patient. It is known that BRCA mutations are associated with breast cancers and the protein expression of BRCA1 in breast cancer can be identified by IHC. Hence, the purpose of this review is to highlight the role of BRCA1 and KI-67 as diagnostic and prognostic IHC markers in breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most leading causes of death in female population. BRCA1 and Ki-67 protein expression can be used to assess the grade of tumour and thereby predict the prognosis of the patient. Incorporating these markers along with existing hormone receptor workup can help in better approach in dealing with breast cancer.

Background: Esophageal malignancy is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in India. The most common malignancy of esophagus is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) followed by adenocarcinoma. But recently, an increase in incidence of adenocarcinoma owing to lifestyle modification has been observed. Other rarer varieties such as granular cell tumor (GCT) and carcinoid tumors are also reported more frequently in the recent literatures. Review of literature: Certain types of esophageal malignancies on evaluation were characteristically localized to specific areas. For example, SCC is more common in upper and middle esophagus owing to the nature of the lining epithelium, adenocarcinoma is prevalent in lower esophagus due to Barrett's metaplasia, and neuroendocrine tumors are frequently encountered in the lower end of esophagus due to the presence of endocrine cells. But rarer types of epithelial and mesenchymal lesions cannot be localized and diagnosed based on site alone. They require histopathological evaluation for confirmatory diagnosis. In the present review, we discuss the different types of malignancies encountered in esophagus, their incidence, histopathological findings, and theranostic value. Conclusion:The incidence of esophageal malignancy has shown an upward trend in the recent years. A thorough knowledge on the varieties of lesions possible in esophagus helps in providing an accurate diagnosis, which ultimately dictates the prognosis of the patient.