Fine‐needle aspiration biopsy of childhood rhabdomyosarcoma: Reevaluation of the cytologic criteria for diagnosis

Abstract

The distinction between rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and the other small round blue cell tumors of childhood has therapeutic implications which stress the importance of a correct diagnosis. In attempts to reevaluate the cytologic criteria of this entity, we reviewed a series of 17 fine-needle aspiration biopsies and three touch imprints from soft tissue masses. All cases had been histologically confirmed except for two cases that only had immunocytochemical and ultrastructural confirmation. The features occurring most commonly include a uniform population of tumor cells arranged as single cells and cohesive aggregates. The cells were predominantly round/polygonal, with uniform nuclei and scant to moderate amounts of cytoplasm. The nuclear chromatin was most often finely granular and hyperchromatic, while nucleoli were inconspicuous. Binucleated and multinucleated cells were found in 17 of the 20 smears. Intracytoplasmic vacuoles were present in 17 cases, ranging from occasional in one case, a few in 10 cases, and very numerous in six cases. We conclude that the presence of bi/multinucleated cells is an important clue for the diagnosis of RMS on fine-needle aspiration biopsy.

Basement Membrane Material and Tigroid Background in a Fine Needle Aspirate of Clear Cell Adenocarcinoma of the Cervix

“…The background was characteristic of germinoma/seminoma and has been described also for other tumors with high glycogen content, such as renal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, synovial sarcoma, Ewing's sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma. [4][5][6][7] However, the cytologic findings of the tumor cells observed in our case did not suggest those tumors. To the best of our knowledge, our case is the first revealing a tigroid background in clear cell adenocarcinoma of the female genital tract.…”

Cytomorphology of Giant Cell Tumor of Tendon Sheath

“…Multinucleated cells in rhabdomyosarcoma contain fewer nuclei than those of GCTTS, and rhabdomyoblasts are smaller, with a higher nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio than that of mononuclear cells of GCTTS. 1,3 In summary, when both cytologic and clinical features of a case are taken into account, the diagnosis of GCTTS can usually be made with certainty, or at least strongly suggested, using FNAC.…”

A Rare Case of Paratesticular Embryonal Rhabdomyosarcoma Diagnosed by Fine Needle Aspiration

“…5,10 Multinucleated giant cells were multiple in our smears, as is mentioned in the literature. 1,3,4,6 Atahan et al 3 also described the presence of multinucleated giant cells in 10 of 14 cases of embryonal RMS diagnosed by cytology. These were strap-shaped cells with abundant cytoplasm and centrally located nuclei.…”