Biomarkers in Diagnostic Head and Neck Tumor Pathology
摘要
Tumors in the head and neck region constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasms, and most of them can be diagnosed via hematoxylin and eosin stained-slides. Some tumors arising from this area are morphologically similar to tumors arising from other organs and complicate the establishment of a correct diagnosis. In addition, metastatic cancers of unknown primary are commonly seen in head and neck lymph nodes, and sometimes it is difficult to discriminate metastatic regional tumor from distant metastatic ones. As an ancillary technique, immunohistochemistry is an invaluable tool that provides excellent information on tissue-specific protein expression patterns to assist surgical pathologists in establishing a precise diagnosis and therapeutic information. This review is aimed to make an introduction for application of biomarkers in diagnostic head and neck tumor pathology.