title: Cytopathology of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid by fine needle aspiration.
abstract: To delineate the cytologic presentation of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, the fine needle aspiration smears were studied from 87 surgically proven cases. Six diagnostically useful findings were identified: papillary fronds, monolayered sheets, tissue fragments, intranuclear cytoplasmic inclusions, psammoma bodies and multinucleated giant cells. From 1,500 smears on "cold" nodules of the thyroid, 6 known false-negative and 4 false-positive diagnoses for papillary carcinoma were made. The estimated accuracy of the fine needle aspirate diagnosis of papillary carcinoma is 94%.
mesh_terms: D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000473:pathology; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D002479:Inclusion Bodies / Q000473:pathology; D008214:Lymphocytes; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*