Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Greeff.
Elastosis is common in infiltrating ductal and lobular carcinomas of the breast, occurring in approximately 90% of cases. It is also well described in some benign lesions of the breast and tumours of the salivary gland. Reports of venous elastosis in association with large-bowel carcinomas are rare. We describe elastosis in single cases of prostatic, gastric, bronchiolar-alveolar and cervical carcinoma.
A case of primary amyloidosis presenting as a goitre is reported. The clinical features of amyloid goitre are described and the difficulties in making a pre-operative diagnosis are discussed. A plan of management for this rare thyroid condition is suggested.
A case of melanin-producing medullary carcinoma of the thyroid gland is reported. The histological characteristics of the tumour were typical of medullary carcinoma, immunohistochemical testing for calcitonin was positive, and neurosecretory granules were found to be present on ultrastructural examination. In addition the tumour was producing melanin and melanosomes were identified in the same cells which contained neurosecretory granules, suggesting that the tumour arose from a common precursor cell of neural crest origin capable of producing both calcitonin and melanin.