• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.57-60
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• 2005

A patient with actinomyces infection of the submandibular soft tissue was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). A 38-year-old woman presented with a right submandibular mass which slowly grew in size over one month. Clinically and radiologically, the lesion was considered as tuberculous lymphadenitis or cellulitis. The polymerase chain reaction for tuberculosis was done by aspirated specimen but the result was negative. The smears of aspiration cytology showed characteristic colonies (sulfur granules) of actinomyces in inflammatory background. After antibiotic therapy for eight months, the patient has been well, showing no detectable mass. This patient was simply and rapidly diagnosed by FNAC and can avoid unnecessary surgical biopsy.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.71-75
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• 1995

A fine needle aspiration biopsy specimen of a retroperitoneal mass in a 26-year-old man who had had an orchiectomy for seminoma was submitted for cytologic evaluation. Cytologic features of the specimen included uniform neoplastic cells found singly or in groups of several cells intermingled with lymphocytes in a characteristic foamy, lacelike background. These cells varied from 10 to 20 m in diameter. The nuclei were round to ovoid with fine or reticular chromatin and one or more prominent nucleoli. The poorly defined cytoplasm stained pale-blue or blue with cytoplasmic vacuoles. The cytologic appearance was consistent with seminoma. Documented reports of the cytological appearance of seminoma are rare. The diagnosis of primary gonadal seminoma by fine needle aspiration biopsy is probably not indicated since the treatment of a primary gonadal tumor, regardless of its histogenesis, requires surgical resection. However, fine needle aspiration biopsy is extremely valuable in the diagnosis of extragonadal as well as metastic and recurrent seminoma.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.113-119
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• 1994

Thirty cases of Kikuchi's lymphadenitis, diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology, were reviewed to determine the main cytologic features helpful in reaching a diagnosis. The patients(mean age 26.6 years, male: female = 1:3.8) presented with lymphadenopathy (cervical 24, submandibular 3, and axillary 1) with or without fever and local tenderness. Excisional biopsy was done for confirmation in 5 cases and the remaining 25 cases showed the similar cytologic and clinical features. In the aspiration smears of all cases, there was a heterogenous celluar mixture including frequent extracellular karyorrhectic nuclear debris, phagocytic histiocytes, plasmacytoid monocytes, and a variable number of polymorphous lymphocytes such as immunoblasts, activated large lymphocytes, and small mature lymphocytes. The characteristic cytologic features of Kikuchi's lymphadenitis were the following: (1) frequent extracelluar karyorrhectic nuclear debris in the background : (2) phagocytic histiocytes with eccentrically placed crescentic nuclei and abundant pale cytoplasm containing phagocytized karyorrhectic debris : (3) plasmacytoid monocytes, which were medium-sized cells with eccentrically placed round nuclei and amphophilic cytoplasm : (4) no neutrophilic background.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-34
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• 2000

Pulmonary hamartoma is an uncommon benign tumor consisting of a mixture of loose fibromyxoid tissue, cartilage, fat, and cleft-like spaces lined by cuboidal or ciliated epithelium. Cytologically, the presence of a mesenchymal component is essential for the diagnosis of pulmonary hamartoma. We report the fine needle aspiration cytologic findings of two cases of pulmonary hamartoma. Case 1 was a 71-year-old woman with a mass, measuring $1.8{\times}1.5cm$ in the upper lobe of the right lung. Case 2 was a 51-year-old woman with a mass, measuring $2.3{\times}2.0cm$ in the lower lobe of the right lung. Fine needle aspiration cytology of both pulmonary masses revealed several sheets of loose fibromyxoid tissue fragments with focal cartilaginous differentiation and a few clusters of bland cuboidal epithelial cells on the bloody background. The diagnosis was histologically confirmed by needle biopsy.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.97-102
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• 1996

Fine needle aspiration cytology of a pulmonary mass was performed on a 51-year-old man who had a left testicular mass. Cytologic features were composed of a homogeneous population of malignant cells associated with a background of foamy and lacelike material. The cellular features were characterized by monomorphous cell proliferation of relatively regular large cells, generally isolated or grouped. Occasionally, fine blanching stroma with large tumor cells and scanty lymphocytes were noted. The tumor cells had a round, regular nucleus, prominent round nucleoli, and a thin rim of cytoplasm containing large vacuoles or lacunae filled with glycogen. The fine needle aspiration cytologic diagnosis was highly consistent with metastatic seminoma from testis and less likely primary or other metastatic carcinoma. The diagnosis of resected testicular mass was classic seminoma. Despite the fact that cytopathologists were not familial with diagnosis of seminoma due to clinician's lack of interest in fine needle aspiration cytology of germ cell tumors including seminoma, it appears that a diagnosis of this tumor should not be problematic in cytologic material if specific histologic criteria are applied.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.84-87
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• 1996

Cytologic features of the fine needle aspiration of metastatic epithelioid sarcoma are presented. The patient was a 48 year-old male who had been sufferring from recurrent and metastatic tumors of the right upper extremity for 6 years. The aspirate from the axillary mass cytologically consisted of isolated large polygonal cells with abundant, cyanophilic, slightly granular cytoplasm. Eccentrically located large round nuclei showed finely dispersed chromatin, small nucleoli, occasional convolution and folding of nuclear membrane, and frequent binucleation. Although both histologic and cytologic similarity of epithelioid sarcoma to squamous cell carcinoma is well known, findings of cyanophilic granular cytoplasm, convoluted nuclei, and binucleation appeared to be the differential points.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 1996

The cytologic samples of 26 ovarian cystic lesions from 25 women, aspirated under guide by trans-vaginal ultrasound, were evaluated for clinicopathologic correlation. Clinically 20 women were seeking medical assistance for infertility problems, and trans-vaginal cyst aspiration was done during follow-up of ovulation induction. Among them seven cases were histologically confirmed. Twenty cases of "benign cyst" in cytologic diagnosis were follicullar cyst and two cases of "endometriotic cyst" in cytology were histologically also proven in one case. One false positive diagnosis was given to corpus luteum cyst. It is emphasized that because the cysts are aspirated transvaginally and mature squamous epithelial cells occasionally could be mixed in the sample, attention should be given not to diagnose such cases as mature cystic teratoma. According to this study. ovarian aspiration cytology is useful in the management of cystic ovarian lesions, particularly in young women.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.179-184
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• 1990

Bone metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma appears to be peculiar when clinical manifestation of liver disease is not apparent, and initial diagnosis of metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma by fine needle aspiration cytology is rarely obtained. We experienced a case of 45-year-old man with metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma in the sacrum, which was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology. The intrahepatic mass, measuring 1.2 cm in diameter and kept unchanged in size for two years, was never proved to be hepatocellular carcinoma histopathologically. The aspirated neoplastic cells were mostly in sheets, showing abundant acidophilic cytoplasm and large, round, centrally located nuclei with single, prominent acidophilic mucleoli. In the cell block section, diagnosis of metastatic well-differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma was made without difficulty, and definite trabecular fashion with sinusoidal endothelial cell lining was found.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.142-147
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• 1991

Diagnosis of a thymic carcinoid was made on transthoracic fine needle aspiration in a 36-year old woman who had an anterior mediastinal mass on chest X-ray and CT scan. The aspiration smears showed numerous anastomosing ribbons and cords of small round tumor cells. The tumor cells had slightly eccentric nuclei and some granular cytoplasm. The small and uniform nuclei of the tumor cells had finely granular chromatin and thin nuclear membrane. The cytologic diagnosis of a carcinoid was confirmed on histopathologic, immunohistochemical, and electromicroscopic examination of surgical specimen.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 1990

Fine needle aspiration biopsy cytology (FNA) for diagnosis of a variety of breast tumors has been proven to be a simple, safe, and cost saving diagnostic methodology with high accuracy. Cytologic specimens from 1,029 fine needle aspirations of the breast during last 3-year period were reviewed and subsequent biopsies from 107 breast lesions were reevaluated for cytohistological correlation. FNA had a sensitivity of 81.6% and a specificity of 98.3%. One oui of 107 cases biopsied revealed a false positive result (0.9%) and the case was due to misinterpretation of apocrine metaplastic cells in necrotic backgound as malignant cells. A false negative rate was 8.4% (9 of 107 cases biopsied). Six of 9 false negative cases were resulted from insufficient aspirates for diagnosis, and remaining three of 9 false negative cases revealed extensive necrosis with no or scanty viable cells on smears. The results indicate that for reducing false positive and false negative rates of FNA, an experienced cytopathologist and a proficient aspirator are of great importance.