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Small intestinal carcinoma with osteoclast-like giant cells
M Odeh1, I Misselevich, A Oliven
1Department of Internal Medicine B, Bnai-Zion Medical Center, Haifa, Israel.
The American Journal of Gastroenterology
|July 1, 1995
Abstract:
An elderly woman underwent jejunectomy for a large, stenosing neoplasm. Histologically, we found an undifferentiated carcinoma with scattered mononuclear and multinuclear macrophages in the intestine and lymph node metastases. The multinuclear cells, being acid phosphatase-positive and CD68-immunoreactive, are referred to as osteoclast-like giant cells. Hepatic secondaries were discovered 6 months postoperatively. The patient succumbed to a chemotherapy-related septic event. We suggest that intratumoral infiltration by mononuclear and multinuclear macrophages expresses one of the body's defense mechanisms against cancer.