• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.74-78
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• 1994

A case of retroperitoneal paraganglioma is presented with fine needle aspiration cytologic features. A 57-year-old woman complained of abdominal discomfort and left flank pain for 2 years. The abdominal CT scan revealed an ovoid mass left to the abdominal aorta. Percutaneous fine needle aspiration was performed from the mass. The smear revealed cellular sheets or groups on hemorrhagic background. The tumor cells were ovoid, round to spindle shaped with mild to moderate cellular pleomorphism. The nuclei were round to ovoid and had evenly dispersed chromatin and small nucleoli. The cytoplasm was amphophilic, finely granular and poorly defined. Cells having large or spindle nuclei were quite frequently observed, however, mitosis was not present The cytologic findings suggested paraganglioma, but the frequent spindle cell pattern and the pleomorphism made it difficult to exclude other endocrine tumors and sarcomas. The clinical, histological and ultrastructural findings as well as cytologic findings contributed to confirmatory diagnosis.