title: Cytologic criteria to distinguish hepatocellular carcinoma from nonneoplastic liver.
abstract: The authors reviewed a series of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) specimens of the liver to identify useful cytologic criteria to distinguish hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) from nonneoplastic liver. Ten cytologic features were examined in this study: high cellularity, acinar pattern, trabecular pattern, hyperchromasia, pleomorphism, irregularly granular chromatin, uniformly prominent nucleoli, multiple nucleoli, increased nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio, and atypical naked hepatocytic nuclei. These features were examined in a series of 82 FNAB specimens from 52 patients with HCC and 30 patients with nonneoplastic lesions. With the use of a step-wise logistic regression analysis, three features were identified as predictive of HCC: increased nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio (P = 0.001), trabecular pattern (P = 0.002), and atypical naked hepatocytic nuclei (P = 0.03). When these three criteria were used, the sensitivity of diagnosing HCC by FNAB was 100%, and the specificity was 87%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Haber
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Holly
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bottles
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Stoloff
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002466:Cell Nucleolus / Q000473:pathology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D002843:Chromatin / Q000473:pathology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D013194:Staining and Labeling
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin