The approaches of physicians working in the field of pathology regarding forensic pathology practice and the training process [Patoloji alaninda çalişan hekimlerin adli patoloji pratigi ve egitim sürecine yaklaşimlari]

PubMedID: 24022310Objective: Forensic autopsies are performed by the forensic medicine department and the microscopic examination processes by pathology specialists within the forensic medicine practice in Turkey. Th is disconnection in the process raises problems in the training of both branches. The aim of this study was to determine the awareness of pathology staff on forensic medicine practices and responsibilities and their opinion on the pathology training model in the forensic medicine specialty and to discuss the matter within the framework of the present situation and global applications. Material and Method: A 15-item questionnaire form distributed to the participant physicians during registration at the 21st National Pathology Congress held in 2011 was evaluated. Results: 94 participants responded. A negative opinion was expressed by 72% about the interest in the general post-mortem process. The view that pathology specialists should undergo a separate training to perform autopsies was predominant and there was a general lack of interest in all kinds of autopsy processes. The percentage who said they knew the legal responsibility of a pathology specialist regarding forensic autopsies correctly was 37%. The questions "what are the necessary factors to contribute to the pathology training in forensic medicine" and "if anything is required, which of them would take priority" were respectively answered as "for me to be interested (46%)" and "a system guaranteeing that training will always be given by pathology specialists (67%)". Despite the possibility of becoming a forensic medicine specialist in two years, the mean answer score of the participants to the phrase "I do not consider becoming a forensic medicine specialist" was 4.1 (out of 5). Conclusion: A reluctance among the pathologists in our country was seen regarding forensic medicine specialists being able to perform post-mortem microscopic examination. However, despite their legal responsibilities, their interest in forensic pathology practice was low. There seems to be rational factor that would increase this interest in the near future. Cooperation is necessary to enable forensic medicine specialists to perform post-mortem pathology procedures. Th is cooperation should be based on improving the training of pathology research assistants

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: A multicenter study of 1160 Turkish cases

PubMed ID: 22798108Background/aims: The aim of this multicenter study was to determine the histopathological features and immunohistochemical profiles of gastrointestinal stromal tumors diagnosed in Turkish patients. Material and Methods: Twenty-eight participating centers registered their gastrointestinal stromal tumor cases on a nationwide database. The diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor relied upon hematoxylin & eosin features and the results of antibody panel including CD117, CD34, desmin, smooth muscle actin, S-100 protein, and Ki67. The database consisted of parameters including age, gender, location, and all other histopathological and immunohistochemical findings. Statistical analysis was performed using Pearson, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman tests. Results: From all of the gastrointestinal stromal tumors in the database, 1160 cases with a male to female ratio of 1.22 and a mean age of 56.75 years were included in the study. The most common location was the stomach (45.0%), followed by the small intestine, omentum-peritoneum, large intestine, and esophagus (32.0%, 12.6%, 9.3%, 1.1%, respectively). The risk groups were distributed as: 6.1% very low, 21.7% low, 19.3% intermediate, and 53% high-risk cases. Many histopathologic findings were correlated with risk groups. CD117 was positive in 95.3% of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, whereas CD34 was positive in 74.9%, smooth muscle actin in 45.9%, desmin in 9.2%, and S-100 in 19.1.%. Though no significant relation was found between CD117 expression and tumor location, CD34, smooth muscle actin and Ki67 expressions significantly varied in different locations (p=0.001) and risk groups. Conclusions: The results of this multicenter study demonstrated that features other than tumor size and mitosis and immune markers other than CD117 and Ki67 included in the antibody panel seem to be useful as predictive risk factors