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Fine‐needle aspirates and tissue sections from 120 surgically treated parathyroid (PT) lesions and histologic archive material from PT lesions in 1,500 additional cases of hyperparathyroidism were reviewed to assess the importance of various features in distinguishing PT disease from other types of lesions by aspiration cytology. We conclude that the morphologic variation shown by PT lesions is so many‐sided that this distinction cannot be based on the presence or absence of a single feature only. Instead the cytologic picture as a whole must be taken into account and evaluated with full knowledge of the anatomical conditions pertaining to the lesion examined. If still in doubt, the diagnosis can be substantiated by supplementary immunocytochemical examinations. Diagn. Cytopathol. 16:476–482, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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