Background This study identifies the incidence of appendiceal Enterobius vermicularis (E.v) infestation in all the patients undergoing appendectomy and evaluates the relationship between E. v infestation of the appendix and the acute appendicitis. Method ology: All the routinely examined appendectomy specimens received in the pathology laboratory of a referral hospital over a three year period of time were reviewed for the existence of E. v. These cases were evaluated for clinico-laboratory characterization. Results Out of 1150 appendectomies for clinical acute appendicitis picture, 31 (2.7%) cases revealed E. v infestation. The age ranged from 6 to 42 years old but more than 80% of the E. v infected cases were children. Twenty four cases (77.4%) did not show any other appendiceal pathology, six cases showed lymphoid hyperplasia and only one case showed concomitant histological acute inflammatory process. Conclusion E. v infestation is an incidental finding during histopathology examination of appendectomy specimens for patients with clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis, however there is no relation between the existence of E. v and occurrence of acute appendicitis which is the main indication for appendectomy, so further studies are recommended to reach out earlier diagnosis to eliminate the unnecessary surgical intervention. Also surgeons should consider E. v as a differential diagnosis when removing a normal looking appendix to take the necessary precautions for minimizing any chance of contamination and sending all the normal looking appendectomy specimens for histopathology examination.

Background Healthcare workers have a higher risk of acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The process of requesting pathological investigations is usually handled manually through paper-based forms. This study evaluated the potential for paper-based request forms to transmit severe acute respiratory virus coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) to laboratory staff in order to make recommendations for dealing with hospital paperwork in a post-COVID-19 world. Methods Paper-based forms were tracked from the time of test ordering until the release of the pathology report by calculating the time taken for the forms to reach the laboratory, and the exposure of each staff group to forms received from both high and moderate COVID-19 risk areas. Results Four hundred and thirty-two (83%) of 520 forms were received in the laboratory within 24 h. The remaining 88 (17%) forms took ≥24 h to be handled by laboratory personnel. The mean daily exposure time to the paperwork for various laboratory staff was as follows: receptionists, 2.7 min; technicians, 5.5 min; and pathologists, 54.6 min. Conclusion More than 80% of the forms were handled by laboratory personnel within 24 h, carrying a high potential risk for viral transmission. It is recommended that paper-based request forms should be replaced by electronic requests that could be printed in the laboratory if required. Another option would be to sterilize received paperwork to ensure the safety of laboratory personnel. More studies are needed to detect the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on different surfaces and determine the potential risk of COVID-19 transmission via paper.

Background: Appendectomy is the most commonly performed surgical procedure worldwide to manage appendicitis. The practice of sending all appendices specimens for routine histopathology examination depends on the concerned clinician. This study was performed to reveal the importance of routine histopathology examination of the appendectomy specimens with recording of the occurrence and distribution of unusual pathologic findings Methods: This was a retrospective record based comparative study performed in a single Hospital in Saudi Arabia, where the medical files of 766 patients were recruited. The appendectomy specimens were obtained either from our hospital or referred from any other hospital for histopathology examination. All the unusual diagnoses were reviewed by the histopathology author and blindly re-evaluated by other pathology consultant. Statistic analysis was performed manually. Result: 700 cases were within the usual histopathology scope. Unusual histopathological findings were observed in 66 cases (8.6%): four cases of mucinous neoplasms, 20 cases of fibrous obliteration or appendiceal neuroma, 18 cases showed parasitic infestation, and 24 cases were periappendicitis without appendicular acute inflammation. Conclusion: Routine histopathology examination of the appendix not only confirms the clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis, but also leads to the incidental diagnosis of much unusual pathologies which could have been missed by the surgeon, and these pathologies include parasitic infestation, peri-appendicitis, neuromas and appendiceal mucinous neoplasms.

Background: Little information is available about breast cancer (BC) in Sudan. Therefore, the present study aimed to provide baseline information about the demographic features and tumor characteristics, and also to investigate the associations between demographic variables and presentation stage in BC patients attending the National Cancer Institute-University of Gezira (NCI-UG), Sudan.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we included all BC patients treated at the NCI-UG from January to December 2013. Patients' demographic, clinical and pathological data were retrieved from the hospital records and analyzed using SPSS version 20, and associations between these factors were tested as well.Results: A total of 232 cases were included in this research. The majority (97.8%) of subjects were females and 2.2% were males. The median age at diagnosis was 50 years (range, 22-90). The mean time between identification of symptoms and diagnosis was 13 months (SD=16.1). Clinical stages I, II, III, and IV represented 6.9%, 37.0%, 40.9% and 15.2%, respectively. Advanced stage at diagnosis was associated with longer duration between identifying the symptoms to diagnosis (P=0.006). Also the level of education of BC patients was significantly associated with clinical stage at presentation (P = 0.01).Conclusions: Sudanese patients with BC present at a younger age and with more advanced stage at diagnosis than those in developed countries. Patients' education level and duration from identification of BC symptoms to diagnosis significantly impact the stage at the time of presentation. In limited resource setting, early diagnosis of symptomatic BC is crucial in reducing the disease burden.

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