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Marginal vacuoles in metastatic thyroid carcinoma: A case report
Author(s) -
Pitts William C.,
Berry Gerald J.
Publication year - 1989
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/dc.2840050216
Subject(s) - medicine , pathology , thyroid , thyroglobulin , biopsy , thyroid carcinoma , vacuole , metastatic carcinoma , metastasis , carcinoma , stain , staining , cytoplasm , cancer , biology , biochemistry
A case of metastatic follicular carcinoma to the iliac bone in a 78‐yr‐old woman is presented. Fine‐needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) smears showed numerous, cohesive tumor cell groups with moderately abundant cytoplasm and distinctive, peripherally situated pink‐staining vacuoles on May‐Grünwald‐Giemsa stain. The presence of marginal vacuoles strongly suggested the possibility of metastatic thyroid carcinoma. Immunohistochemical studies performed on a concomitant needle core biopsy showed immunoreactivity for thyroglobulin, supporting a thyroid derivation for this metastasis. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in which marginal vacuoles (“flame cells”) have been identified in a malignant thyroid condition.