Case report

An unusual case of low-grade tubulopapillary adenocarcinoma of the sinonasal tract

Ashish Bansal¹ , Keloth E Pradeep² and Krishna P Gumparthy¹

¹  Department of Histopathology, Wirral Hospitals NHS Trust, Upton, Wirral, CH49 5PE, UK

²  Department of Histopathology, Wrexham Maelor Hospital, Wrexham, UK

author email corresponding author email

World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2008, 6:54doi:10.1186/1477-7819-6-54

Published:	20 May 2008

Abstract

Background

Low-grade papillary adenocarcinomas of the sinonasal tract are rare neoplasms. Over recent years, little doubt remains that this tumour represents a separate entity based on morphology, ultrastructural features and behaviour. We outline a case of this rare entity displaying a not hitherto described immunophenotype.

Case presentation

A 32 year old man presented recurrent epistaxis was evaluated with endoscopy which revealed a well circumscribed pedunculated mass lesion in left nares. The mass was arising from the nasal septum which was excised along with the mass. The biopsy revealed low-grade, non-intestinal type sinonasal tubulopapillary adenocarcinoma.

Conclusion

TTF-1 immunoreactivity in absence of thyroid or pulmonary primary in the present case remains an enigma. However, this raises the possibility of the utility of this antibody to predict a better clinical outcome in the subset of low grade non-intestinal sinonasal adenocarcinoma. More cases of similar morphological appearance may need to be examined for TTF-1 immunoreactivity and clinically followed up to establish this theory.