Cytokeratin positivity in seminoma

✍ Scribed by Karl T. K. Chen

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 15
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8755-1039
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0339(199608)15:2<182::aid-dc19>3.0.co;2-d

✦ Synopsis

A

Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy Study" in which the immunohistochemical findings of 10 cases of extragonadal germ cell tumors, including three cases of seminomas, were reported. In the discussion, they made a general statement that seminomas are negative for cytokeratin. Although their three cases of seminoma were all cytokeratin-negative, this has not been a universal observation. While cytokeratin negativity has been observed in some series of seminoma/dysgerminoma, studies in other series have yielded 30 to 73% cytokeratin In conclusion, cytokeratin immunostain is valuable in the differential diagnosis of extragonadal seminoma especially in fine-needle aspirations, but it is important to know that cytokeratin positivity cannot be used to exclude the diagnosis of seminoma.