Infarction in a thyroid nodule after fine needle aspiration: report of 2 cases with a discussion of the cause of pitfalls in the histopathologic diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Background: In case of difficulty in the interpretation of fine needle aspiration (FNA) smears of a thyroid nodule, histopathologic examination is advised to arrive at a definitive diagnosis. On rare occasions, a specific diagnosis may be given based on cytologic examination, but FNA is followed by infarction of the thyroid nodule, with resultant difficulty in interpretation or even misinterpretation of bistopathologic material. We report 2 such cases.

Hodgkin's lymphoma: diagnostic difficulties in fine-needle aspiration cytology.

It is commonly believed that cytodiagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) is much easier than that of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). However, recognition of certain NHL subtypes with Reed-Sternberg (R-S)-like cells and results of immunohistochemical studies point to the contrary. To study the limitations of cytology in diagnosis of HL, fine-needle aspiration (FNA) smears of 130 lymphoma or suspected lymphoma cases were reviewed.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma: evidence for intracytoplasmic formation of precursor substance for calcification and its release from well-preserved neoplastic cells.

Psammoma bodies (PBs) are believed to represent a process of dystrophic calcification over nonviable and dying tissues. Light microscopic and ultrastructural observations suggest that PB formation follows the intracellular assembly of precursor substances and their calcification leading to death of tumor cells and their release. It may also be the result of local secretion of precursor substances like collagen by tumor cells into extracellular space and their calcification.

Secretory activity in medullary thyroid carcinoma: a cytomorphological and immunocytochemical study.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a relatively rare thyroid malignancy of C-cell origin that secretes calcitonin. Although its varied cytomorphologic features are well described in literature, very little is mentioned about the morphologic manifestation of its secretory activity. This study, based on nine fine needle aspiration (FNA) samples from eight MTC patients, is an attempt to present the varied cytomorphologic features suggesting secretory activity in MTC as observed in Papanicolaou and MGG stained FNA smears and correlate them with the immunocytochemical (ICC) staining for calcitonin performed on FNA smears and the serum calcitonin values.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma and its variants in fine needle aspiration smears. A cytomorphologic study with special reference to tall cell variant.

Objective: To study the fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytologic features of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) with special reference to its tall cell variant (TCV), which is the most aggressive of the variants.

Study Design: Fifty-four PTC cases were classified into variants, and the frequency of well-known morphologic criteria was determined. Four parameters were quantitatively analyzed based on a study of 200 consecutive neoplastic follicular cells: shape of cells, color of cytoplasm, intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusion (INCI) and nuclear grooves.

Role of fine needle aspiration cytology in the diagnosis of swellings in the salivary gland regions: a study of 712 cases.

Introduction: A mass in the salivary gland region often presents a diagnostic challenge with regard to its site of origin (salivary versus nonsalivary), benign or malignant nature, and tissue-specific diagnosis. The present study describes the utility of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology in the diagnosis of these lesions.

Subjects And Methods: Over a 6-year period (January 1994 to December 1999), 712 patients aged between 6 months and 91 years (median, 37 years) were subjected to FNA of swellings in their salivary gland regions.