Pseudoangiosarcomatous carcinoma: a clinicopathological study of seven cases

Abstract

Seven cases of carcinoma mimicking angiosarcoma occurring in skin (3 cases), breast (3) and lung (1) are described. The cutaneous, pulmonary and one of the breast carcinomas were poorly differentiated and squamous in type; the other two breast tumours were poorly differentiated ductal carcinomas with focal squamous differentiation. Histologically, the pseudoangiosarcomatous pattern was due to complex anastomosing channels and spaces lined by neoplastic cells. The spaces contained hyaluronic acid. The neoplastic cells exhibited cytokeratin positivity but yielded negative results with the endothelial cell markers, factor VIII-related antigen and CD 3 4 (QB-END/lO). Two breast tumours showed binding of UEA-1. Ultrastructurally, unequivocal epithelial differentiation was demonstrated in six of the cases. Pathogenetically, these tumours appeared to be variants of acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma. Recognition of this unusual form of carcinoma is important, as an incorrect diagnosis of angiosarcoma may lead to inappropriate treatment and prognostication.

Acantholytic Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Upper Aerodigestive Tract: Histopathology, Immunohistochemical Profile and Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition Phenotype Change

“…Except in the lip (perhaps due to early detection and treatment), the head and neck mucosal ASCCs reported were associated with poor prognoses. Histomorphologically, ASCC may lose the typical features of SCC and mimic other epithelial or mesenchymal malignancies because of advanced acantholysis and dyskeratosis [5,11,12]. Because of its rarity, most of the previous studies have been case reposts and information concerning the immunohistochemical features of ASCC is limited.…”

Pseudoangiomatous Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the Oral Cavity of a Dog

“…1,2,10 The few ASCC cases that have been reported in the veterinary literature are divided into pseudoglandular and acinar variants. 4,5,12 To the authors' knowledge, the PASCC variant has not been reported previously in the veterinary literature.…”

“…5 The human entity is characterized by anastomosing cords of epithelioid cells, with multiple vascular clefts formed within the neoplastic nodules. 1,2,6,10,13,15 The vascular clefts are believed to be caused by acantholysis of the neoplastic cells that occurs at the center of the neoplastic cords, with subsequent infiltration of these clefts by erythrocytes. Decreased expression of intercellular adhesion molecules, such as E-cadherin and syndecan-1, results in decreased adhesion of epithelial cells, which eventually leads to acantholysis.…”

Immunohistochemical and cytogenetic characterization of acantholytic squamous cell carcinoma of the breast

“…In the breast, pure squamous cell carcinoma is rare, although approximately 4% of invasive ductal carcinomas show foci of squamous cell metaplasia [7]. Over the last 20 years, only seven cases of primary ASCC of the breast have been reported [2,6,16]. However, Eusebi et al [6] reviewed the older case series by Gersell and Katzenstein [8] and Toikkanen [20] and pointed out that, based on their histological description, probably several of their cases showed acantholytic features.…”