title: Papillary carcinoma of the breast. Cytologic study of nine cases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the cytologic findings of papillary breast carcinoma by fine needle aspiration.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group consisted of fine needle aspiration (FNA) specimens of breast tumors from nine patients performed during the period 1988-1997. Eight were female, and one was male. The FNA results were compared with the final histologic diagnosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The tumor sizes were 4-6.5 cm. The aspirations yielded a good amount of bloody material. The smears revealed high cellularity, papillary clusters, isolated low-to-tall columnar cells, mild to moderate atypia, hemorrhagic background, foam and hemosiderin-laden macrophages, calcification, rare mitoses, palisading row of cells and bipolar cytoplasmic eosinophilic granules. The smears were diagnosed as either suspicious or suggestive of papillary carcinoma. The histologic examination revealed invasive papillary carcinoma.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Papillary carcinoma of the breast can be diagnosed by using a panel of cytologic findings that includes hypercellularity, papillary clusters, hemorrhagic background, palisading rows of tall columnar cells, cellular atypia and calcification. The interesting finding in this study was the presence of eosinophilic bipolar cytoplasmic granules, which has not been reported before.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Shiraz Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
authors.forename: P V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Talei
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Malekhusseini
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Monabati
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vasei
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D018567:Breast Neoplasms, Male / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental; D008875:Middle Aged