title: Molecularly confirmed primary prostatic synovial sarcoma.
abstract: We report the second molecularly-confirmed primary prostatic synovial sarcoma. The diagnosis was particularly elusive at the light microscopic level in that the tumor failed to show epithelial differentiation, but it did show combined spindle-cell and poorly differentiated (round-cell) morphologies. The immunohistochemical staining profile was nonspecific and potentially misleading. Only by demonstration of the characteristic SYT-SSX gene fusion of synovial sarcoma by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of RNA extracted from archival material could the diagnosis be confirmed. This case further illustrates the use of this technique in diagnostic pathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fritsch
authors.forename: J I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Perlman
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Watts
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Argani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / Q000235:genetics; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013584:Sarcoma, Synovial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D015514:Oncogene Proteins, Fusion; C116512:SYT-SSX fusion protein