Cytoplasmic vacuoles: clue in the fine-needle aspiration diagnosis of melanoma.

For the fine-needle aspiration (FNA) diagnosis of melanoma recognition of characteristic morphologic features is key. In our practice we noted that cytoplasmic vacuoles in Romanowsky-stained FNA smears of melanoma appeared to be a frequent finding. To investigate this premise, we examined 36 consecutive melanoma FNA cases that had both adequate Papanicolaou-stained and Romanowsky-stained smears in an effort to determine the prevalence, and thereby, the potential diagnostic utility of cytoplasmic vacuoles in the diagnosis of melanoma compared to established cytomorphologic parameters of melanoma.