Cytology of extranodal Ki-1 anaplastic large cell lymphoma

✍ Scribed by Maureen F. Zakowski; Helen Feiner; Michael Finfer; Patricia Thomas; Norma Wollner; Daniel A. Filippa

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 819 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8755-1039
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0339(199603)14:2<155::aid-dc10>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

Ki-I-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an uncommon neoplasm which may present with extranodal as well as nodal disease. By definition, the tumor cells are immunoreactive for Ki-1 or Ber-H2 antigen (CD30).

There have been few published cytologic descriptions of this lymphoma, or of its detection in extranodal sites. We describe the cytologic findings in five cases of extranodal Ki-1 lymphoma. Cytologic findings in all five cases were similar and consisted of a heterogeneous population of lymphocytes and bizarre, pleomorphic tumor cells. These cells were characterized by generous amounts of vacuolated, basophilic cytoplasm, eccentric, multilobulated nuclei with some showing "wreath-like" configurations. Some nuclei contained huge nu- cleoli simulating Reed-Sternberg cells. All cases showed the characteristic surface membrane and cytoplasmic paranuclear dotlike staining for CD30. Our findings indicate that fine-needle aspiration and exfoliative cytology have a useful role in the diagnosis of Ki-1 ALCL in extranodal sites. Furthermore, eflusions containing anaplastic cells suspicious for lymphoma, particularly in AIDS patients, should be immunostained with antibodies to CD30.