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Touch Imprint Cytology of Merkel Cell Carcinoma - A Case Report -  

Kim, Lucia (Department of Pathology, Inha University, College of Medicine)
Park, In-Suh (Department of Pathology, Inha University, College of Medicine)
Han, Jee-Young (Department of Pathology, Inha University, College of Medicine)
Kim, Joon-Mee (Department of Pathology, Inha University, College of Medicine)
Chu, Young-Che (Department of Pathology, Inha University, College of Medicine)
Choi, Suk-Jin (Department of Pathology, Inha University, College of Medicine)
Publication Information
The Korean Journal of Cytopathology / v.16, no.2, 2005 , pp. 93-97 More about this Journal
Abstract
Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare primary cutaneous neuroendocrine carcinoma which commonly presents as a skin nodule, and can develop into regional lymph node metastases, as well as spread systematically. Here, we describe the cytological features of a touch imprint of MCC that arose on the face of a 62-year-old female. This touch imprint was acquired from an incisional biopsy specimen which had been submitted for frozen section. The touch preparation produced a highly cellular imprint of loosely cohesive groups of small- to medium-sized malignant cells exhibiting uniform round to oval nuclei, delicate nuclear membranes, fine chromatin, small nucleoli, and scanty cytoplasm, with occasional paranuclear button-like inclusions. We applied cytokeratin 20 to the touch imprint for immunochemistry, allowing us to visualize the tumor cells with paranuclear dot-like positivity. Both the cytological and immunocytological features were quite distinct.
Keywords
Merkel cell carcinoma; Imprint; Cytology; Neuroendocrine carcinoma; Skin;
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