New blood vessels are initially formed through the assembly or sprouting of endothelial cells, but the recruitment of supporting pericytes and vascular smooth muscle cells (mural cells) ensures the formation of a mature and stable vascular network. Defective mural-cell coverage is associated with the poorly organized and leaky vasculature seen in tumors or other human diseases. Here we report t...

Vulvar leiomyomas are extremely rare smooth muscle tumors that easily mistaken for other lesions, as the differential diagnosis must consider a wide spectrum of benign and malignant lesions. We present case 52-year-old woman with three-year history progressive abdominal distension pain an enlarging vulvar mass distorting labia majora causing gait disturbance. Imaging confirmed enormous pelvic o...

To the Editor: We read with interest the article by Artinyan et al. (1) examining the effect of race and socioeconomic status on outcomes for gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). The authors queried the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database for histologically confirmed GIST (International Classification of disease for Oncology, third edition, code 8936) diagnosed between 1995 ...

Purpose. Histogenesis of synovial sarcoma remains controversial and reliable molecular markers for diagnosis are necessary. Expression of basic calponin, a smooth muscle differentiation-specific actin-binding protein, was studied in synovial sarcoma.Subjects and Methods. The basic calponin gene and the gene product were analyzed by reverse transcription PCR analysis (RT-PCR) and immunohistochem...

  Primary sarcomas of the kidney are exceptional. Among renal sarcomas, leiomyosarcoma is the most common histologic subtype amounting to 50-60% of all cases. The tumor usually arises from either the renal capsule or smooth muscle tissue in the renal pelvic wall. In this paper, we report a patient with leiomyosarcoma of the kidney presented with non-specific abdominal pain and a palpable mass....

Leiomyomas are benign tumors that originate on the smooth muscle, usually found in the uterus, gastrointestinal tract and skin. This type of tumor rarely occurs in the oral cavity, specially because of the lack of smooth muscle in this area1. Its most frequent location in this region, by decreasing order of appearance is: lips, palate, tongue and oral mucosa. It is usually asymptomatic; however...

Leiomyoma, benign tumors of smooth muscle origin, is one of the commonest uterine tumours in the reproductive age group and originates from the myometrium. While most leiomyomas are asymptomatic, they can grow and cause heavy and painful menstruation, painful sexual intercourse and urinary frequency and urgency. Extra uterine leiomyomas are rare, usually benign, they may theoretically arise fro...

We report a 51-year-old woman who presented to the emergency department with left-sided pleuritic chest pain 2 weeks after subtotal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy for a leiomyomatous uterus. Computed tomography scan of the chest revealed bilateral pulmonary nodules. Biopsy showed cytologically bland spindle cells without overt malignant features. Immunohistochemistry confirmed...

Spindle cell epitheliomas of the vagina (SCEVs) coexpresses epithelial and mesenchymal markers and were first described as a "mixed tumors of the vagina." However, unlike mixed tumors of other organs, which are believed to originate from myoepithelial cells, SCEVs neither immunohistochemically nor ultrastructurally show features of myoepithelial cells. The present expanded battery of immunohist...

Primary pleural leiomyoma is extremely rare and has only been described a few times. We present a case of a young woman with right pleuritic pain. A computed tomography confirmed the existence of a solid right pleural tumor which had compressed and displaced the lung, mediastinum and heart. Percutaneous biopsy showed a 'proliferation of smooth muscle cells without evidence of malignancy'. Surgi...