Amiya Kumar Gouda, Shivangi J. Harankhedkar, Bidyut Prava Das, Pranati Mohanty
BACKGROUND Undifferentiated tumours form a heterogeneous group of tumours with little or no evidence of differentiation. The objective of our study is to identify the lineage of morphologically undifferentiated tumours by means of immunohistochemistry. It also highlights the application of appropriate panel of antibody available for particular lineage. MATERIALS AND METHODS This prospective study was carried out at SCB medical College and Hospital Cuttack in the Department of Pathology for a period of two years (September 2011 to August 2013). Total 50 cases of undifferentiated tumours by light microscopy were included in the present study. RESULTS Out of 50 cases of undifferentiated tumours, 33 were assigned an epithelial lineage (carcinoma 66%) taking into consideration the cytokeratin positivity, 11 cases came out to be of lymphoid origin (22%) with LCA positivity, 1 case of sarcoma (2%) was diagnosed and 3 came out to be malignant melanomas (6%). 2 cases were left undifferentiated with all four broad lineage markers negative. CONCLUSION The study highlights the importance of immunohistochemistry in dealing with undifferentiated tumours. It helped in assigning a lineage to the undifferentiated tumour by studying tumour morphology and judicious use of Antibodies.
