title: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: diagnostic potential of fine needle aspiration cytology.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The phenomenon of cancer-to-cancer metastasis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)/small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) is a rare event and only occasionally documented in the medical literature.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two patients with SCC of the skin that were previously treated for CLL are presented. Both had palpable lymph nodes in the neck and fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed to evaluate the pathological process. In addition, the literature on cutaneous SCC metastatic to CLL/SLL with special emphasis on the role of FNAC in this specific clinical situation was reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On examination of the FNAC smear, cancer-to-cancer metastasis of cutaneous SCC to lymph node replaced by CLL was found. In one of the patients, light microscopy examination of the smear was complemented by immunostaining of atypical cells with cytokeratin antibodies and immunophenotyping of lymphoid cells by flow cytometry. In addition to our two patients, nine cases of cutaneous SCC metastatic to CLL/SLL have been reported in the literature, and in only one was the diagnosis made by FNAC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  FNAC supported by ancillary immunocytological techniques could also be used in diagnosis of specific clinical situations such as cancer-to-cancer metastasis of the tandem of SCC-CLL/SLL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cytopathology, Institute of Oncology, Ljubljana, Slovenia. mflezar@onko-i.si
authors.forename: M Strojan
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Flezar
authors.forename: V Kloboves
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Prevodnik
authors.forename: I Srebotnik
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Kirbis
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Strojan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D016609:Neoplasms, Second Primary; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy