• 대한세포병리학회지
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.144-151
• /
• 2008

Fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology is the decisive test in the pre-operative diagnostics of thyroid nodules. Here we share our institutional experience about thyroid aspiration and give suggestions for suspicious cytology results. Three hundred twenty-two cases in 270 patients (mean age 47.4 years, 243 women and 27 men) who underwent thyroidectomy were reviewed. Among the 322 cases, the FNA diagnosis of "positive for malignancy" was 87 cases (27.0%), "suggestive of malignancy" 30 cases (9.3%), "suspicious for malignancy" 61 cases (18.9%), "negative for malignancy" 102 cases (31.7%), and "unsatisfactory smear" 42 cases (13.0%). Eighty seven cases (100%) out of "positive for malignancy", 29 cases (96.7%) out of "suggestive of malignancy", and 39 cases (64.0%) out of "suspicious for malignancy" were papillary carcinoma (148 cases, 95.5%), or follicular carcinoma (2 cases, 1.3%), or metastatic carcinoma (1 case, 0.6%). Seventeen patients who had only negative or unsatisfactory cytology underwent thyroidectomy and nine cases (52.9%) were papillary carcinoma. We suggest that: the cytology diagnosis of "suggestive of malignancy" could be regarded as "positive for malignancy", the cytology diagnosis of "suspicious of malignancy" should be carefully correlated with clinico-radiologic manifestation, and even a negative or unsatisfactory smear should be carefully followed up.

• 대한세포병리학회지
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.194-199
• /
• 2008

The recent WHO classification has recognized mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma (MTSCC) as a distinct entity of renal cell carcinoma, exhibiting a mixed pattern of tubules and a surrounding spindle cell proliferation within a myxoid stroma, with low-grade nuclear features. A 51-year-old woman had an incidentally discovered renal mass. Radiologic examination revealed a large, well defined mass in the lower pole of the right kidney; a right radical nephrectomy was performed. Imprint cytologic smears from fresh surgical specimens showed cellular, cohesive clusters with thick, broad trabecular arrangements and branching structures. On high power fields, the tumor was composed of round-to-oval low-grade nuclei with vesicular chromatin and small nucleoli. The tumor cells had indistinct borders and pale, eosinophilic cytoplasm, In some areas, round-to-elongated tubular structures and spindle cell patterns were noted. Chronic inflammatory cell infiltration was noted, along with a mucinous back-ground and occasional psammoma bodies. Neither significant cytologic atypia nor mitosis was seen.

• 대한세포병리학회지
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.152-159
• /
• 2008

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) cannot differentiate follicular adenoma from follicular carcinoma since this distinction can only be based on the presence of capsular or vascular invasion, and this can￢not be detected on a cytologic smear. The goal of this study was to define the diagnostic cytologic findings of follicular neoplasm and the possibility of diagnosing follicular neoplasm by performing FNAC. The cases of histologically diagnosed follicular adenoma and follicular carcinoma on the thyroidectomy specimens were retrieved. Among them, the cases with preoperative FNAC that was done within 3 months of the operation were finally selected. Then we reviewed the FNAC and histologic slides of 19 cases: 9 follicular adenomas and 10 follicular carcinomas. Our results suggest that for cases of follicular neoplasm, the aspirates show high or abundant cellularity, frequent follicle formation and occasional cellular atypism of the follicular cells. However, the atypism is more pronounced and more frequently noticed in the cases of follicular carcinoma, which reveals more higher anisocytosis (7/10, 70%), nuclear pleomorphism (9/10, 90%), coarse clumping of chromatin (8/10, 80%) and cellular overlapping (8/10, 80%).

• 대한세포병리학회지
• /
• 제19권2호
• /
• pp.111-118
• /
• 2008

Background : Cervicovaginal cytology is a screening test of uterine cervical cancer. The sensitivity of cervicovaginal cytology is less than 50%, but studies of cytologic/histologic correlation are limited. We analyzed the diagnostic accuracy of cervicovaginal cytology in the detection of the squamous epithelial lesions of the uterine cervix and investigate the cause of diagnostic discordance. Materials and Methods : We collected a total of 481 sets of cervicovaginal cytology and biopsies over 5 years. The cytologic diagnoses were categorized based on The Bethesda System and the histologic diagnoses were classified as negative, flat condyloma, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I, CIN II, CIN III, or squamous cell carcinoma. Cytohistologic discrepancies were reviewed. Results: The concordance rate between the cytological and the histological diagnosis was 79.0%. The sensitivity and specificity of cervicovaginal cytology were 80.6% and 92.6%, respectively. Its positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 93.7% and 77.7%, respectively. The false negative rate was 19.4%. Among 54 false negative cytology cases, they were confirmed by histology as 50 flat condylomas, 2 CIN I, 1 CIN III, and 1 squamous cell carcinoma. The causes of false negative cytology were sampling errors in 75.6% and interpretation errors in 24.4%. The false positive rate was 7.4%. Among 15 false positive cytology cases, they were confirmed by histology as 12 atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) and 3 low grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). The cause of error was interpretation error in all cases. The overall diagnostic accuracy of cervicovaginal cytology was 85.7%. Conclusions : Cervicovaginal cytology shows high overall diagnostic accuracy and is a useful primary screen of uterine cervical cancer.