Published online Apr 28, 2014. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v20.i16.4597
Revised: February 5, 2014
Accepted: March 19, 2014
Published online: April 28, 2014
Invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC) is a rare histological type of tumor, first described in invasive ductal breast cancer, than in malignancies in other organs such as lungs, urinary bladder, ovaries or salivary glands. Recent literature data shows that this histological lesion has also been found in cancers of the gastrointestinal system. The micropapillary components are clusters of neoplastic cells that closely adhere to each other and are located in distinct empty spaces. Moreover, clusters of neoplastic cells do not have a fibrous-vascular core. The IMPC cells show reverse polarity resulting in typical ‘’inside-out’’ structures that determines secretary properties, disturbs adhesion and conditions grade of malignancy in gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Invasive micropapillary carcinoma in this location is associated with metastases to local lymph nodes and lymphovascular invasion. IMPC can be a prognostic factor for patients with cancers of the stomach, pancreas and with colorectal cancer since it is related with disease-free and overall survival. The purpose of this review is to present the characterization of invasive micropapillary carcinoma in colon, rectum, stomach and others site of GI tract, and to determine the immunohistological indentification of IMPC in those localization.
Core tip: We summarize the recent literature reports about individual cases and study groups of invasive micropapillary carcinoma. We postulated that invasive micropapillary carcinoma is still a great diagnostic challenge in pathomorphology and due to its high aggressiveness should be treated as a distinct histological subtype of carcinomas in gastrointestinal tract.