Comparison of fascin expression in anaplastic large cell lymphoma and Hodgkin disease.

Diagnostic difficulties sometimes arise in distinguishing anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) from Hodgkin disease (HD), especially the syncytial variant. Study of the biologic features of diagnostic Reed-Sternberg cells in HD, in search of specific markers for Reed-Sternberg cells, has suggested fascin as a relatively specific and sensitive marker. We studied the frequency of fascin expression in 30 ALCLs and 34 cases of classic HD, including 17 cases of the syncytial variant.