Journal Club #10: Calretinin immunohistochemistry as a tool to diagnose Hirschsprung disease

Diagnosis of Hirschsprung disease (HD) is quite entirely based on the histopathological analysis of suction rectal biopsies.This hematoxylin and eosin approach has some limitations, despite the help of acetylcholinesterase staining. pathologist.  [...] Calretinin immunohistochemistry overcomes most of the difficulties encountered using the combination of histology and acetylcholinesterase staining, and detects almost all cases of HD with confidence, with no false positives.

Guinard-Samuel V, et al. Calretinin immunohistochemistry: a simple and efficient tool to diagnose Hirschsprung disease. Mod Pathol. 2009 Oct;22(10):1379-84.

Bibliography.

Barshack I, et al. The loss of calretinin expression indicates aganglionosis in Hirschsprung's disease. J Clin Pathol. 2004 Jul;57(7):712-6.

Kapur RP. Calretinin-immunoreactive mucosal innervation in very short-segment Hirschsprung disease: a potentially misleading observation. Pediatr Dev Pathol.2014 Jan-Feb;17(1):28-35.

Szylberg L, Marszałek A. Diagnosis of Hirschsprung's disease with particular emphasis on histopathology. A systematic review of current literature. Prz Gastroenterol. 2014;9(5):264-9.