Background:Filariasis is a major health problem in tropical countries including India. Fine needle aspiration cytology plays an important role in prompt recognition of disease.Aim:To assess the role of fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in diagnosis of filariasis at all possible sites.Materials and Methods:Total 250 cases of superficial swellings at various sites were subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology.Results:Out of 250 cases, 24 cases of filariasis were detected which include breast lumps (8 cases), lymph nodes (6 cases), scrotal swellings (4 cases), thyroid swellings (3 cases), soft tissue swellings (2 cases) and ascitic fluid (1 case). Eosinophilia was present in 8 out of 24 cases with a percentage ranging from 12-24%. Significant adherence of inflammatory cells and macrophages to microfilariae was present in 3 out of 24 cases.Conclusions:In endemic areas, it should be considered one of the differential diagnoses of a superficial swelling. Careful screening of FNAC smears help in detecting microfilaria even in asymptomatic patients and thus plays a significant role in recognition of the disease and institution of specific treatment.

Background:Tuberculous lymphadenitis is most common cause of lymphadenopathy in developing countries. Although enormous literature is available on various aspects of the disease including cytological patterns and its incidence in others parts of India and in other countries, only limited literature is available regarding its incidence and morphological spectrum on cytology in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh in Gorakhpur region.Aim:The present study was undertaken to estimate the incidence of tuberculous lymphadenitis in our settings along with its morphological spectrum on cytology as well as to determine the utility of culture of fine needle aspirates in addition to cytology and Ziehl–Neelsen (ZN) staining.Material and Methods:Four hundred cases of superficial lymphadenopathy were subjected to fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), and in case, smears were stained with Hematoxylin and eosin (H and E), Giemsa, and ZN stain and categorized into three cytomorphological patterns. All the aspirates were inoculated on two sterile Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium.Result:Out of 400 cases of consecutive lymph nodes aspirated, 180 cases (45%) showed features of tuberculous lymphadenitis. Smears revealed epithelioid granulomas with caseous necrosis in maximum cases (40%). On statistical analysis, difference between group I and group II was found to be significant (P < 0.05); while comparison between groups II and III as well as between groups I and III was found to be statistically insignificant. Overall, acid fast bacilli positivity was seen in 51.6% of the cases.Conclusion:FNAC has been proved very safe, highly sensitive, and first line investigation in diagnosing tubercular lymphadenitis. The sensitivity can be further be increased by complementary cytomorphology with acid fast staining. Diagnostic accuracy can further be increased by culture.

Spindle epithelial tumor with thymus-like differentiation (SETTLE) is an extremely rare type of thyroid tumor with fewer than 35 reported cases available in the literature so far, most of them having been diagnosed histologically after resection. The tumor is believed to be derived from branchial-pouch or thymic remnants, occurring in young adults, predominantly in males, with a male:female ratio 1.8:1. Case: A 14-year-old girl presented with a nodular mass in her right thyroid that had been present for 1 year. Ultrasonological study revealed a heterogeneous solid mass (2.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 cm) in the right lobe of the thyroid. Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) smears were highly cellular and comprised of predominantly dissociated uniform spindle cells with naked oval nuclei along with some aggregates and groups. Occasional islands of epithelial cells were also present. Cytologically, the spindle cells had bland nuclear chromatin, with very scanty mitotic figures. Upon examination of the FNA smears, a provisional diagnosis of SETTLE was suggested along with a request for an incisional biopsy to rule out another differential diagnosis of medullary carcinoma thyroid. On the resected tissue specimen, diagnosis was histologically confirmed to be SETTLE. Immunohistochemical study revealed a strong and diffuse positivity for high-molecular-weight keratin and vimentin, and negativity for thyroglobulin, calcitonin, S-100 protein, desmin, chromogranin and synaptophysin. Conclusion: Cytologically, SETTLE can safely be considered, especially if spindle elements are observed along with the occasional group of epithelial cells in FNA smears from the thyroid of young adults. It can help in the preoperative recognition of lesions based on distinctive cytomorphological features and immunohistochemical characteristics, allowing a more sound therapeutic approach because these patients can present with delayed metastasis.

Background:Although using fine needle cytology with aspiration (FNC-A) for establishing diagnoses in the retroperitoneal region has shown promise, there is scant literature supporting a role of non-aspiration cytology (FNC-NA) for this region. We assessed the accuracy and reliability of FNC-A and FNC-NA as tools for preoperative diagnosis of retroperitoneal masses and compared the results of both techniques with each other and with histopathology.Methods:Fifty-seven patients with retroperitoneal masses were subjected to FNC-A and FNC-NA. Smears were stained with May-Grunwald Giemsa and hematoxylin and eosin stain. An individual slide was objectively analysed using a point scoring system to enable comparison between FNC-A and FNC-NA.Results:By FNC-A, 91.7% accuracy was obtained in cases of retroperitoneal lymph node lesions followed by renal masses (83.3%). The diagnostic accuracy of other sites by FNC-A varied from 75.0%–81.9%. By FNC-NA, 93.4% diagnostically accurate results were obtained in the kidney, followed by 75.0% in adrenal masses. The diagnostic accuracy of other sites by FNC-NA varied from 66.7%–72.8%.Conclusions:Although both techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages, FNC-NA may be a more efficient adjuvant method of sampling in retroperitoneal lesions.

Introduction: Cervical cancers are the second most frequent type of cancer in females. It develops from premalignant to invasive stages in a multistep process of carcinogenesis. The differentiation between cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III (CIN III) and early squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix could be difficult to diagnose in certain situations unless we see the invasion. The objective of the study was to determine the expression of p53 & Ki67 in CIN and cervical cancers and its correlation with grading and differentiation of cervical cancers with special emphasis on whether the use of Ki67 & p53 markers could help in differentiating CIN III from early SCC. Material and Methods: A prospective study on 90 cases of cervical biopsies, including-cases of : chronic cervicitis (40), CIN III (19) and invasive carcinoma (31). All cases were evaluated by immunohistochemistry using Ki67 & p53 monoclonal antibodies. Results: Both Ki67 & p53 showed higher expression in CIN III and invasive cervical carcinoma than chronic cervicitis with statistically significant difference p<0.01 and p<0.001 respectively. High significant difference of p53 & Ki67 expression was found between patients with CIN III and invasive cervical carcinomas. There was a clear trend for increasing number of cases with positive Ki67 & p53 index with increasing grades of cervical cancer. Conclusion: Ki67 & p53 showed increased expression from CIN III to SCC and it may be helpful adjunct in differentiating these two lesions. These markers could be used as biomarkers in the evaluation of the proliferative activity and progressive potential of dysplastic and neoplastic changes.