title: Fine needle aspiration biopsy of hepatocellular carcinoma. Some unusual features.
abstract: The cytologic features of fine needle aspiration smears from 28 hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) were reviewed. All aspirations except one were guided. There were 14 well-, 11 moderately and 3 poorly differentiated HCC. The better-differentiated HCC were characterized by similarity of the tumor cells to hepatocytes (83%), cohesive cell clusters with a trabecular arrangement (72%) and presence of sinusoidal endothelial cells (66%). Other features included bile production (38%), atypical hepatocytic naked nuclei (52%), acinar formation (31%), intracytoplasmic vacuoles (14%) and abnormal vascular patterns (14%). Poorly differentiated HCC showed dyshesive pleomorphic cells. Unusual cytologic features from a well-differentiated HCC with fatty change and an HCC with a prominent acinar component are described. The identification of fatty change in dissociated well-differentiated hepatocytes or cytologic features suggestive of an adenocarcinoma do not preclude the diagnosis of HCC. The usefulness of cell blocks is emphasized.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, National University Hospital, Singapore.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wee
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chan-Wilde
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yap
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged