title: Hairy cell leukemia: a diagnosis by endoscopic ultrasound guided fine needle aspiration.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Endosonography (EUS) guided FNA is a relatively new imaging modality which is increasingly used for sampling deep-seated lymph nodes in the diagnosis and staging of various malignancies, both primary as well as metastatic. It is also useful for staging of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma as well as diagnosing recurrence. The diagnosis of leukemia on FNA samples from deep-seated lymphadenopathy poses an even greater challenge. Hairy cell leukemia (HCL) is an uncommon, but distinct, lympho-proliferative disorder of B cell origin. It usually affects the spleen and bone marrow and uncommonly involves lymph nodes. There are only a few cases reported where HCL was diagnosed on FNA specimens.
  
  
  METHODS
  We report the first case of HCL accurately rendered on EUS-FNA samples.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This report underscores the concept that the presence of a cytopathologist in the endoscopy suite plays an important role in providing accurate diagnoses of lymphoid lesions biopsied with EUS-FNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA. rschmidt@path.uab.edu
authors.forename: Regina S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Meara
authors.forename: Vishnu
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Juan Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Arnoletti
authors.forename: Darshana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jhala
authors.forename: Shyam
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Varadarajulu
authors.forename: Nirag
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jhala