Spinal paragangliomas are rare benign tumors. The gangliocytic paragangliomas (GP) of spine are even rarer. The GPs are almost exclusively seen in duodenum. In spine, the usual site of affection is cauda equina region. The involvement of other spinal levels is far less often and includes thoracic and cervical region. We report this case of GP involving the conus medullaris region and reaching up to the upper part of cauda equina. The prognosis of spinal GP is excellent after total excision, as it is classified under WHO Grade I tumor. The patient made a full recovery after tumor removal. Clinical, radiological, and pathological characteristics of this rare tumor are discussed here along with.
Dysplastic Gangliocytoma of the Cerebellum, also called as Lhermitte-Duclos Disease (LDD), is a rare condition. The importance of diagnosing it is to rule out co-existant Cowden's syndrome by thorough clinical examination in view of increased risk of visceral malignancy associated with the latter. Though considered as hamartomatous lesion by some, it is mentioned as a tumour of central nervous system by WHO (Grade I). A lesion, seen in young adults usually, presents with signs & symptoms of raised intracranial tension.We herein describe a casethat came with the symptoms of obstructive hydrocephalus five years back and diagnosed as having some tiny cerebellar lesion on imaging. As the patient was not willing to have biopsy done for definitive diagnosis at that time, it remained undiscovered till present. This time, classical MRI finding (tiger stripes appearance) &diagnostic histopathological features were seen leading to the diagnosis. Association with Cowden's syndrome was not found in this case.
Background: The various advantages of Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy/ cytology can be limited due to inadequacy of the specimen and expertise required for diagnosis. Cell blocks (CBs), though routinely used in cytology of body fluids, can also be used in FNA material with considerable increase in diagnostic accuracy. Aims & objectives: To compared FNA & CB as diagnostic tool and to evaluate whether cell block adds to the diagnostic accuracy of FNA.
Methods: This is a two years prospective study carried out in the pathology department of a tertiary heath care hospital and medical college of South India which included the cases undergoing the FNAC, and followed by the biopsy. CB was prepared using Tissue coagulum clot (TCC) method. The smears and tissue sections were assessed for cellularity and adequacy for diagnosis. CBs were grouped into four diagnostic categories. FNA & CB were compared with histopathology (HPE) diagnosis to calculate Sensitivity, Specificity and Diagnostic Accuracy.
Result: A total of 195 cases were included. Cellularity and adequacy for diagnosis were higher in CB. They were diagnostically better (superior) in 13.84% (27) cases. The sensitivity (95.77%) and diagnostic accuracy (94.87%) of CB was found to be considerably higher than FNA (78.84% and 78.46% respectively).
Conclusion: In cases of suspicious/ intermediate diagnosis or diagnosis discordant with clinical ones, by FNA; should be followed with the CB to improve the diagnostic yield & to facilitate accurate diagnoses. TCC method is a simple CB method which has higher diagnostic accuracy than FNA.
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