Paraproteins and plasma cell dyscrasias.

Serum protein electrophoresis done on 1100 patients with various diseases in one year demonstrated M-band in 31 patients. Most (87%) had the classical features of plasma cell dyscrasia (PCD), however a few had unusual presentations which are highlighted. A 22-year-old male operated for a massive tumour of the scapula clinically diagnosed as chondrosarcoma revealed plasmacytoma with amyloid on histology. Another case of kala-azar presented with features akin to that of PCD and one case had dual malignancies. Such a high incidence of PCDs with varied picture in a short time is not usually seen in other parts of this country; a fact which may be due to lack of awareness.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of a subcutaneous metastasis of a malignant Brenner tumor of the ovary. A case report.

The fine needle aspiration cytologic findings of a subcutaneous metastasis from a malignant Brenner tumor of the ovary are described. Polygonal cells in clusters and single cells with fine cytoplasmic elongations, moderately pleomorphic nuclei having granular chromatin and multinucleate cells, occasional but prominent grooving of nuclei and many mitotic figures were the salient cytologic features. The cytohistologic correlation was good. The rare metastatic site of this unusual ovarian neoplasm makes this an interesting case and the first of its kind to the best of our knowledge.

Role of AgNOR in diagnosis of thyroid follicular neoplasms on fine-needle aspiration smears.

This is a retrospective study to examine the role of AgNOR in differentiating thyroid follicular carcinoma and adenoma preoperatively on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) smears. Nineteen histopathology-proven cases of follicular adenoma and carcinoma were selected for this study. May-Grünwald-Giemsa-stained smears were destined and AgNOR staining technique was employed. Significant differences of AgNOR values were observed among follicular carcinoma versus adenoma (P < .05) and follicular carcinoma versus control cases (P < .01). Thereby the AgNOR technique may have some role in differentiating between benign and malignant follicular neoplasms of thyroid.

Argyrophilic nucleolar organizer regions (AgNORs) in breast lesions--a study on fine needle aspirates.

Nucleolar organizer region-associated proteins are argyrophilic and may be visualized by silver stains. This study is a prospective analysis of the AgNOR counts in a range of breast lesions seen in fine needle aspiration (FNA) smears. A total of 72 cases including ductal carcinomas (n = 24), fibrocystic change (n = 24), fibroadenoma (n = 16), proliferative lesions (n = 4) and miscellaneous lesions (n = 4) were studied. The ductal carcinomas showed higher AgNOR counts (mean 16.63 +/- 7.09) compared with the non-malignant lesions (mean 6.39 +/- 1.96), the difference being statistically significant. A cut off AgNOR score of 11 could reliably discriminate malignant from non-malignant lesions. In ductal carcinomas, the AgNOR scores showed a tendency to increase with higher grades of malignancy. There was no correlation with the presence or absence of lymph node metastases at the time of presentation. It is concluded that AgNOR counting, although tedious, is inexpensive, and provides useful information regarding cellular proliferation, and can supplement information obtained by more sophisticated techniques.

Fine needle aspiration cytology of accessory axillary breasts and their lesions.

Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of 25 cases of accessory axillary breast tissue was performed during a five-year period. The patients were referred to the cytology clinic with clinical diagnoses of axillary lymphadenopathy (16), accessory breasts (5) and lipomas (4). FNAC revealed accessory breasts in 17 cases, fibroadenoma in 7 and fibrocystic disease in 1. Of the 17 accessory breasts, 12 were clinically thought to be lymphadenopathy or lipomas. FNAC remains an important tool in preventing unnecessary surgery in such cases.

Fine needle aspiration biopsy in gynecologic malignancies. Recurrent and metastatic lesions.

This study evaluated the efficacy of fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in 80 suspected cases of recurrent and metastatic gynecologic malignancies. RNAB was performed at 90 sites in 80 patients; 42 of the sites were deep seated. The cytologic diagnosis correlated well with either histology (7 cases) or clinical follow-up. FNAB diagnosis of deep-seated lesions precluded exploratory laparotomy, and further therapy was administered accordingly. Thus, FNAB in gynecologic malignancies was safe, reliable and cost effective.

Fine-needle aspiration of plasma cell disorders: special emphasis on plasma cell subtype.

Fine-needle aspiration cytology and clinical presentations of 16 cases of plasma cell dyscrasias (PCD) have been studied in a period of 6 yr. There were seven cases of solitary plasmacytomas of bones, two cases of extramedullary plasmacytomas, and seven cases of multiple myelomas. Differential counts of mature and immature plasma cells along with presence of cell clumps, mitosis, and bi/multinucleations were studied. The cytological findings revealed no correlation with the different subtypes of PCDs; however, it was helpful in the differential diagnosis. Bone marrowing findings, immunological parameters, available histopathology, and X-ray appearances were analysed. Clinical diagnosis of PCDs were made in only three cases. Thus fine-needle aspiration biopsy was considered as an important diagnostic modality in tissue diagnosis of plasma cell tumors, particularly in solitary plasmacytoma of bone and extramedullary plasmacytoma.