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Granular cell tumour of the appendix in a patient irradiated for a rectal carcinoma

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Summary

We report on a 47-year-old man with a granular cell tumour of the appendix, discovered incidentally during surgery for a rectal adenocarcinoma that had been irradiated preoperatively. A detailed immunocytochemical analysis revealed positivity for S-100 and neuron-specific enolase (NSE). Electron microscopically, the cytoplasm of the tumour cells contained numerous pleomorphic lysosomes. In the appendix tissue adjacent to the tumour a neuroma and the histological features of radiation injury were present. Our findings suggest that this granular cell tumour may have originated from a pre-existing appendix neuroma which underwent granular degeneration, possibly as a result of radiation.

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Pipeleers-Marichal, M., Goossens, A., De Waele, B. et al. Granular cell tumour of the appendix in a patient irradiated for a rectal carcinoma. Vichows Archiv A Pathol Anat 417, 177–180 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190537

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190537

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