Cytomorphologic Comparison of Hodgkin Lymphoma and Anaplastic Large cell Lymphoma in Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology / 대한세포병리학회지

To study the differentiating cytomorphological features of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) using fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC), cytomorphological features of 16 patients with HL (n=8) or ALCL (n=8) were analyzed. In the initial cytological diagnosis prior to biopsy, HLs were properly diagnosed in 4 out of 8 cases (4 HL, 2 atypical, 2 benign), whereas all ALCL were diagnosed as malignancies. However, correct diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) was made in only two ALCL patients (2 NHL, 1 HL, 1 sarcoma, 4 malignancy without specific type). Overall, the percentage of large abnormal cells ranged from 30% to 90% in ALCL except for one case, whereas it was less than 5% in all 8 HL. A spectrum of atypical cells was more characteristic of ALCL. In contrast, HL showed an sharp difference between reactive lymphoid cells and neoplastic ones (bimorphic pattern). Moreover, the emergence of kidney-shaped abnormal cells or wreath-like multinucleated cells was helpful in diagnosing ALCL. The combination of thesefeatures would be useful in differentiating HL and ALCL. Nevertheless, these two types of lymphomas cannot be definitely distinguished based on cytomorphological features alone. Therefore, the aim of FNAC would be to suggest a specific diagnosis and indicate the need for a biopsy.

Clinicopathological Analysis of Systemic Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma

BACKGROUND: Several studies from western countries have reported variable prognoses for patients with systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) depending strongly on the expression of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). However, no prognostic significance of ALK expression in Koreans was reported in a single report regarding these patients, although the number of cases was limited in that study. METHODS: We analyzed the clinicopathological features of ALK+ ALCL and ALK- ALCL in 30 Korean patients diagnosed with primary systemic ALCL. RESULTS: ALK expression was detected in 60% of all ALCL patients (18/30), and there was no statistical significance to ALK expression in overall survival. Patients with ALK+ ALCL were younger in age and had negative bcl-2 expression; these differences were statistically significant. Tumors positive for ALK protein and granzyme B expression, and negative for bcl-2 expression with a null-cell phenotype tended to have better survival outcomes, althought this trend failed to reach statistical significance (p<0.2), probably due to the limited number of cases in this study. CONCLUSION: ALK protein expression and the absence of bcl-2 in tumor cells tend to result in better survival despite the failure of this trend to achieve statistical significance. Further studies that examine potential pathologic prognostic factors combined with the expression of ALK and apoptotic factors such as bcl-2 are needed. Additional larger-scale studies are also needed to conclude that ALK expression has no prognostic significance among Koreans.