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We report the case of a 23-day-old neonate with neuroblastoma (NBL) in the right adrenal gland and widespread metastases to the liver. This raises the possibility of foetal NBL, which was missed during periodic ultrasonography done during the mother's pregnancy. We hope that this report would increase the awareness of physicians about foetal, congenital and neonatal NBL; and of sonographers about space-occupying lesions in the foetus. The clinicopathologic features and the management of neonatal NBL are discussed.

Background.Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and about 70% of all cancer deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. The cancer mortality pattern is quite different in Africa compared to other parts of the world. Extensive literature research showed little or no information about the overall deaths attributable to cancer in Nigeria.Aims and Objectives.This study aims at providing data on the patterns of cancer deaths in our center using the hospital and autopsy death registers.Methodology.Demographic, clinical data of patients who died of cancer were extracted from death registers in the wards and mortuary over a period of 14 years (2000–2013).Results.A total of 1436 (4.74%) cancer deaths out of 30287 deaths recorded during the period. The male to female ratio was 1 : 2.2 and the peak age of death was between 51 and 60 years. Overall, breast cancer was responsible for most of the deaths.Conclusion.The study shows that the cancers that accounted for majority of death occurred in organs that were accessible to screening procedures and not necessary for survival. We advise regular screening for precancerous lesions in these organs so as to reduce the mortality rate and burden of cancer.

Background.Despite the increased incidence of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) resulting from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic, there is still significant underreporting of KS in this environment.Objectives.This study was aimed at determining the incidence and clinicopathologic patterns of KS among HIV infected patients in Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Nigeria, over a 14-year period: January 2000 to December 2013.Methodology.The materials for this study included patients’ hospital clinical files, duplicate copies of histopathologic reports, and tissue blocks and corresponding archival slides in the Anatomic and Molecular Pathology Department and the HIV/AIDS unit of the Department of Haematology.Results.Within the study period, 182 cases of KS were diagnosed, accounting for 1.2% of all patients managed for HIV/AIDS and 2.99% of solid malignant tumours. The male-to-female ratio and modal age group were 1 : 1.3 and 5th decade, respectively. Most cases (90%) had purely mucocutaneous involvement with the lower limb being the commonest site (65.8%). The majority of lesions were plaques (65.8%). Vascular formation was the predominant histologic type seen (43.5%).Conclusion.KS in Lagos followed the same epidemiologic trend as other centers in Nigeria, with an increasing incidence in this era of HIV/AIDS.

Background: Nasopharyngeal cancer is a rare cancer worldwide. It is now found to be increasing in incidence in Nigeria, though the incidence is lower when compared to countries in the Mediterranean basin, North Africa and Southeast Asia. This cancer is frequently associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), but no previous study was done in this centre to document the association. Aim and Objectives: To assess the EBV status in Nigerian patients with nasopharyngeal cancer by using Latent membrane protein – 1 immunohistochemistry. ( LMP-1IHC). Materials and Methods: Thirty-five (35) out of Seventy-five (75) histologically-confirmed cases of nasopharyngeal malignancy (NPM) seen in the Department of Anatomic and Molecular Pathology of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos between January 2003 and December 2012 were available for EBV study using LMP-1 IHC. Results: EBV LMP-1 IHC was positive in thirty (86%) out of the thirty-five cases studied and these consisted of, 14 cases of undifferentiated carcinoma (WHO type 3), 5 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 2 cases of adenocarcinoma. Also seven out of eleven cases of differentiated non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (WHO type 2) were EBV positive and two of the three cases of keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (WHO type 1) were EBV positive. Conclusion: This study has shown that nasopharyngeal malignancy in our centre is highly associated with EBV latency as detected by LMP-1 immunohistochemistry.

Here, we present a case with an unusual chromosomal rearrangement in a child with a predominant phenotype of high-pitched crying showing deletion encompassingCTNND2due to an unbalanced translocation of chromosomes 4 and 5. This rearrangement led to a duplication of ~35 Mb in 4qter which replaced 18 Mb genetic materials in 5pter. Even though, in this patient, there was no clinically obvious modification to the classical phenotypes of CdCS, and the influence of the 4q-duplication cannot be completely excluded in this case. However, the region 4q34.1–34.3 was previously reported as a region not leading to phenotypic changes if present in three copies, an observation which could possibly be supported by this case.Conclusion. This study showed that in a patient with an unbalanced translocation resulting in 5p deletion, the presence of partial trisomy of chromosome 4q could be clinically insignificant.

Aim To determine the pattern of expression of selected bio-markers in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and correlate it with stage at presentation and prognosis Methods In a prospective study, formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumour tissues from patients with NPC were stained using immunohistochemistry (IHC) for selected bio-markers, namely E-cadherin, beta catenin, EGFR and cyclin D1 Results Forty patients were included in the analysis and had IHC. Age ranged from 17-65 years with a mean age of 48 years. About 80% of our cases had TNM stage III while the rest had stage IV disease at presentation. Also all our cases were either WHO histologic type III or IV tumours. Beta catenin expression was present in about 50% of patients. E-cadherin expression was present in all cases in about 50-60% of tumour cells. Cyclin-D1 was also present in all cases in 20-30% of tumour cells. EGFR expression was strong and in a minimum of 70% of tumour cells in all cases. Conclusion The expression pattern of E-cadherin, beta catenin, EGFR and cyclin D1 in this study correlates with accelerated progression, early metastasis, advanced disease and high probability of local recurrence even after radiotherapy and chemotherapy.