Fine-needle aspiration cytology combined with flow cytometry immunophenotyping is a rapid and accurate approach for the evaluation of suspicious superficial lymphoid lesions.
The authors report a prospective study on 88 samples of superficial lesions (lymph nodes, skin nodules, and breast tumors), performed by fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in 74 patients, allowing (i) morphologic analysis combined with immunophenotyping by flow cytometry (FCM) and (ii) a cytogenetic study in 33 cases. Thirty-nine FNAC (44.3%) were performed at the time of diagnosis. The cytology results were correlated with histopathologic examination in 32 cases. Forty-nine FNAC (55.7%) were performed in the context of follow-up of a lymphoma and the results were correlated with those of histopathologic examination in 14 cases. In this study, the concordance between FNAC plus FCM and histopathologic examination was 90% for low-grade non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphomas (NHLs) and 83% for high-grade NHL. The limits of this morphologic and phenotypic approach are (i) partial tumor infiltrations, (ii) Hodgkin lymphoma, and (iii) T-cell NHL. In conclusion, it may be said that this combined approach is very useful for diagnosis and follow-up of patients but requires teams experienced in the sampling technique and the morphologic diagnosis of the various types of low-grade NHL in which supplementary ancillary studies may be performed when morphology and flow cytometry immunophenoyping are not conclusive.
Mathiot
Claire
C
Hematology Laboratory, Department of Tumor Biology, Institut Curie, Paris, France. claire.mathiot@curie.net
Decaudin
Didier
D
Klijanienko
Jerzy
J
Couturier
Jérôme
J
Salomon
Anne
A
Dumont
Janine
J
Vielh
Philippe
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000378:metabolism; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D003582:Cytogenetics; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping / Q000379:methods*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor