The majority of the eligible posters for the society's 1999 Pathologist-In-Training Award were selected from the group of posters that were submitted to the Ultrastructural Pathology Section at the annual meeting of the USCAP (March 20-26, 1999, San Francisco). The Ultrastructural Pathology section is a new section that has been added to the diverse groups of posters that are exhibited at this annual meeting. The addition of the Ultrastructural Pathology section underscores the continued role or electron microscopy in the diagnosis and investigation of a variety of pathologic conditions.

The winning poster, exhibited by Dr. D. Ferrer and her colleagues, is an example of the role of electron microscopy in the prediction of tumor behavior. The number of nucleoli and the attachment of nucleoli to the nuclear membranes are ultrastructural features that correlate with cellular replication and protein synthesis. Dr. Ferrer and her colleagues examined the nucleolar morphology of 43 node negative infiltrating breast carcinomas. Seventeen of these 43 cases had recurrent tumors and the remainder had no recurrent tumor. Both the number of nucleoli per cell and the number of cells with nucleoli in contact with the nuclear membrane were independent predictors from tumor recurrence in lymph node negative, infiltrating ductal carcinoma of the breast.

Honorable mention must be made of two additional posters. Dr. Antonescu and her colleagues performed a comparative ultrastructural analysis of primary fibrosarcomas and malignant fibrous histiocytomas of bone. Fibroblast differentiation and collagen were common to both fibrosarcomas and malignant fibrous histiocytomas. The morphologic features the hybrid, fibrohistiocytes suggest that they are modified fibroblasts. The intruiging conclusion that the predominant cells in these two types of tumors are fibroblasts and their variants is supports the concept that malignant fibrous histiocytomas are simply, high grade, pleomorphic fibrosarcomas.
Dr. Moinfar and his colleagues performed electron microscopy on eight comedo carcinomas of the breast to determine the type cellular necrosis that accounted for the intraluminal necrosis that is a feature of this type of intraductal carcinoma. The interesting finding was that the predominant type of necrosis was apoptosis. Oncosis, passive cell death, also accounted for the intraluminal necrosis.

PITA Committee
Karlene Hewan-Lowe, MB, BS
Atlanta, Georgia
Email: khewanl@emory.edu

Elba Turbat-Herrera, M.D.
Shreveport, Louisiana
Email: eturba@lsumc.edu