The ongoing novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is principally defined by its respiratory symptoms. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) can affect the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and although the pathogenesis of COVID-19 is understood, the exact pathological alterations following infection require further investigation. Here, we report our histopathological findings from a right hemicolectomy specimen from a patient coinfected with COVID-19 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Our observations showed that the novel SARS-CoV-2 can affect the GIT, causing epithelial injury and pathological alterations attributed to its ability to infect absorptive enterocytes by interacting with the angiotensin converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) receptor. These pathological findings are regarded as viral cytopathic changes and should be considered when evaluating gastrointestinal specimens from COVID-19-infected patients.
Although the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 is known primarily to affect the respiratory system, current evidence supports its capability to infect and induce gastrointestinal tract injury. Data describing the histopathologic alterations of the digestive system in patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 are becoming more detailed, as the number of studies is increasing and the quality of our insight into the infection and the histopathologic findings is improving. This review highlights the range of pathologic findings that could be observed in gastrointestinal specimens from patients infected with coronavirus disease 2019 and the potential underlying pathogenetic mechanisms of this disease.
Primary breast lymphomas are uncommon tumors and account for <1% of all malignant neoplasms of the breast. They are almost always of non-Hodgkin type, with B-cell lymphomas being the most common subtype. Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a rare T-cell lymphoma that can involve the breast. Most of the articles in the literature describe ALCL in association with breast implants. We present a 48-year-old woman with a left breast enlargement and no history of an implant. Microscopic sections showed a high-grade CD30-positive lymphoid neoplasm with frequent giant cells, which turned out to be a primary ALCL of the breast, giant cell-rich pattern. To our knowledge, no cases of primary ALCL, giant cell-rich variant, have been reported in the breast in the absence of an implant making our case unique.
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