BACKGROUND.
Depressed neoplastic lesions of the colorectum have been specified in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). The aim of this study was to characterize endoscopic, histologic, and immunohistochemical features of depressed adenoma of the duodenum in patients with FAP.
METHODS.
Duodenoscopy was performed on 25 patients with FAP, and the neoplastic nonampullary lesions were classified as polypoid or depressed adenomas.
The grade of dysplasia, the proliferative activity determined by Ki-67 labeling index (LI), and the grade of p53 expression were compared between polypoid and depressed neoplasia.
RESULTS.
Ten subjects had depressed nonampullary adenoma, whereas polypoid adenoma was found in the remaining 15 subjects. Moderate dysplasia was more frequent in depressed adenoma than in polypoid adenoma (70% vs. 27%, P ฯญ 0.04).
Whereas p53 expression was not different between the two adenoma groups, the LI was significantly higher in depressed adenoma than in polypoid adenoma (59.7 ฯฎ 9.5 vs. 47.5 ฯฎ 10.7, P ฯฝ 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS.
Depressed adenoma of the duodenum is a distinctive phenotype of duodenal neoplasm in patients with FAP. The high proliferative activity of depressed adenoma suggests that there may be a need to survey FAP patients with such lesions intensively.