Fine‐needle aspiration of six carotid body paragangliomas

Abstract

We report six carotid body paragangliomas diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in five patients. A total of eight aspirations were performed. The cytologic findings are characteristic: hemorrhagic background, hypo- to hypercellular smears (depending on the skill of the aspirator) with cells having delicate, ill-defined, vacuolated cytoplasm, pleomorphic nuclei with distinct nucleoli, rare intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions, and prominent rosette formation. No complications arose in any of the eight aspirations. FNA is a safe, accurate means of diagnosing carotid body paragangliomas. It can provide essential information for treatment planning and patient management.

Cytologic Findings in Carotid Body Tumors

“…2,8,10 Plasmacytoid nuclear displacement, cytoplasmic vacuolization, cytoplasmic red granules and intranuclear inclusions have been described in some studies. 4,5,7,[9][10][11] Cytologic preparations in all 13 cases also had a bloody background; isolated and clusters of round to oval cells; anisocytosis; bizarre, giant nuclei; and glandlike structures. Also, we observed plasmacytoid cells and large cells with cytoplasmic vacuoles, nuclear grooves and intranuclear inclusions.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Nearly all of them emphasize the frequent presence of pleomorphism, acinar or rosette formations, giant nuclei (some of them bare), granular cytoplasm and indistinct cytoplamic borders; occasionally the cells are spindle shaped. 2,8,10 Plasmacytoid nuclear displacement, cytoplasmic vacuolization, cytoplasmic red granules and intranuclear inclusions have been described in some studies.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] Below we describe the FNA findings of carotid body tumors in 13 cases.…”

Cytoarchitectural Findings in the Diagnosis of Primary Soft Tissue Tumors

“…43 Although five variants-pleomorphic, myxoid, giant cell, inflammatory and angiomatoid -have been described, it is increasingly held that some of these types (pleomorphic, giant cell and inflammatory) are not cohesive entities but rather represent the shared anaplastic morphology of a wide range of other neoplasms, in which specific lines of differentiation can be demonstrated in most cases. 45 In cytologic smears, pleomorphic MFH is usually diagnosed by exclusion, but it could represent any of the pleomorphic variants of the sarcomas indicated or even metastasis from an anaplastic carcinoma, a…”

“…53,170 Angiomatoid MHF is a distinct entity that differs significantly from other members of this family by its involvement of a much younger age group, its histogenesis (most likely to be myofibroblastic) and the lack of pleomorphic features. 45 To the best of our knowlwedge, no cytologic description of this entity has been reported.…”