title: The fine-needle aspiration appearance of the follicular variant of thyroid papillary carcinoma: a report of three cases.
abstract: The follicular variant of thyroid papillary carcinoma (FVTPC) is an uncommon neoplasm with the architectural features of a follicular lesion and the nuclear characteristics of a papillary carcinoma. The fine-needle aspiration (FNA) appearance is underreported in the literature. Three cases of histologically confirmed FVTPC that were aspirated prior to surgery are presented. Although the cytological features were suspicious or confirmatory of a low-grade thyroid carcinoma, they did not convey a specific diagnosis of the FVTPC. We suggest that this variant is recognizable as a neoplasm requiring surgical excision on FNA, but that the cytological appearance does not allow its specific diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Foothills Hospital, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hugh
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Duggan
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chang-Poon
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*