Premium
Thymic epithelial cells as a diagnostic pitfall in the fine‐needle aspiration diagnosis of primary mediastinal lymphoma
Author(s) -
Yu Gordon H.,
Salhany Kevin E.,
Gokaslan Sefik T.,
Cajulis Ricardo S.,
De Frias Denise V. S.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
diagnostic cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1097-0339
pISSN - 8755-1039
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-0339(199705)16:5<460::aid-dc15>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - thymoma , medicine , pathology , lymphoma , fine needle aspiration , mediastinal tumor , cytopathology , cytology , mediastinum , radiology , biopsy
The cytologic diagnosis of primary mediastinal lesions is challenging due to the large number of lesions which may arise (i.e., lymphoma, thymoma, germ cell tumor), often with overlapping cytomorphologic features. We present an instructive case of primary mediastinal non‐Hodgkin's large‐cell lymphoma with sclerosis, entrapping thymic epithelium. Preoperative fine‐needle aspiration yielded predominantly epithelial fragments and few lymphoid cells, leading to the cytologic misdiagnosis of thymoma. The entity of primary mediastinal large‐cell lymphoma (LCL) is discussed and correlated with the cytologic features seen. In addition, histologic sections from 15 additional cases of primary mediastinal LCL were evaluated to determine the frequency with which significant numbers of epithelial fragments may be observed. Diagn. Cytopathol. 16:460–465, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.