Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Flashcards

A 55-year-old woman has a breast biopsy showing cells with large nuclei, prominent nucleoli, and loss of normal glandular architecture invading the stroma. What is the most appropriate classification?

Answer: Invasive ductal carcinoma

Invasive ductal carcinoma is characterized by malignant epithelial cells with stromal invasion, large nuclei, and prominent nucleoli.

On a peripheral blood smear, you observe red blood cells shaped like a football or rugby ball with two pointed ends. What is the term for this morphology?

Answer: Elliptocyte

Elliptocytes (also called ovalocytes) are elongated red blood cells with two pointed ends seen in hereditary elliptocytosis.

A liver biopsy from a patient with chronic alcoholism shows hepatocytes containing eosinophilic, irregular cytoplasmic inclusions. What is this material?

Answer: Mallory-Denk bodies

Mallory-Denk bodies are aggregates of intermediate filaments (cytokeratin) found in hepatocytes in alcoholic liver disease.

A 70-year-old male has a serum PSA of 18 ng/mL. Prostate biopsy reveals glands lined by a single layer of cells with no basal cell layer. Gleason grading is used. What does a combined Gleason score of 7 (3+4) indicate?

Answer: Intermediate-grade carcinoma with predominantly well-formed glands

Gleason 3+4=7 indicates intermediate grade with the dominant pattern being grade 3 (well-formed glands) and secondary pattern grade 4 (poorly formed glands).

Which laboratory finding is most characteristic of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)?

Answer: Elevated D-dimer, prolonged PT and PTT, low fibrinogen, low platelets

DIC is characterized by widespread clotting consuming clotting factors and platelets, leading to elevated D-dimer, prolonged PT/PTT, low fibrinogen, and thrombocytopenia.

A kidney biopsy immunofluorescence shows linear IgG deposits along the glomerular basement membrane. This pattern is most consistent with which disease?

Answer: Goodpasture syndrome

Linear IgG along the GBM is the hallmark of anti-GBM disease (Goodpasture syndrome), reflecting antibodies directed against the GBM itself.

A colon resection specimen shows a tumor that histologically displays mucinous pools with scattered malignant epithelial cells floating within them. What percentage of the tumor must be mucinous for this classification?

Answer: Greater than 50%

Mucinous adenocarcinoma of the colon is defined when more than 50% of the tumor is composed of extracellular mucin pools containing malignant cells.