title: Clinicopathological study of rhinosporidiosis with special reference to cytodiagnosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rhinosporidiosis is a chronic infective disorder caused by Rhinosporidium seeberi. It usually presents as a soft polypoidal pedunculated or sessile mass. Nose and nasopharynx are the commonest sites, followed by conjunctiva, maxillary sinuses, penis, urethra.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to present the clinicopathological features of rhinosporidiosis in a large series of cases and to asses the role of cytology in diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  63 cases were included in the study group. Diagnosis of rhinosporidiosis was confirmed in all cases by histology with or without cytological evaluation. May-Grünwald-Giemsa and hematoxylin and eosin (H and E) staining was used in all cases, and special stains like periodic acid Schiff and mucicarmine were used in a few cases. Detailed clinical history of all the cases was noted. Routine hematological investigations including ABO blood grouping were done in all possible cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Evaluation of the clinical data in our series demonstrated male predominance (36 out of 63; 56%). Nose and nasopharynx were the commonest sites involved (74.6%). Routine hematology tests did not show any significant change in most of the cases. However, a significant proportion of the study population (18 out of 41; 44%) had blood group O. Cytodiagnosis attempted in 17 cases out of 63 cases achieved 100% correlation with histology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Morphological appearance alone in a few cases failed to give diagnosis of rhinosporidiosis. Cytology can be very helpful in diagnosis in these cases, but histology is the mainstay of diagnosis.
authors: Department of Pathology, Bankura Sammilani Medical College, Bankura, India.
authors: Anuradha
authors: A
authors: Sinha
authors: Jyoti P
authors: JP
authors: Phukan
authors: Gautam
authors: G
authors: Bandyopadhyay
authors: Sanjay
authors: S
authors: Sengupta
authors: Kingshuk
authors: K
authors: Bose
authors: Rajib K
authors: RK
authors: Mondal
authors: Manoj K
authors: MK
authors: Choudhuri
keywords: Cytodiagnosis; rhinosporidiosis; rhinosporidium seeberi