Cytology practical

What are the three neoplastic different cell types?

-Epithelial

-Mesenchymal (eg, spindle cells)

-Round

Epithelial

Mesenchymal (spindle)

Round

how do we do a cytological examination

• Low power review (x10 objective)

  • Good places to look at

• Quality

  • Any/many cells?

  • Well/poorly preserved?

• Background

  • Haemorrhage, granules, protein, matrix, debris, disrupted cells

• Predominant cells

  • Neutrophils? Other cells?

• Cells (x 40 or oil)

  • Individual or organised

  • Single or mixed population?

  • Cell size, shape, variation?

  • Nuclear size, shape, variation, abnormal mitoses?

Describe epithelial

§High yield, cells associated with one another, rafts, sheets, acini, cuboidal, columnar

Describe mesenchymal

-Low yield, spindle shaped cells, usually single but may be in aggregates, there can be "matrix"

Describe round

§High yield, discrete round cells, not adherent

Examples of epithelial neoplasia

-Surface (squamous, transitional, hair follicles)

-Glandular (apocrine and exocrine)

-Benign (papilloma, adenoma)

-Malignant (Adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma)

Examples of round neoplasia

§Lymphocytes

§Mast Cells

§Histiocytes

§Plasma cells

-Benign (histiocytoma)

-Malignant (Mast cell tumour)

Examples of mesenchymal neoplasia

§Fibrocytes

§Muscle cells

§Osteoblasts

§Endothelial cells

-Benign (Fibroma, Leiomyoma)

-malignant (Haemangiosarcoma, Fibrosarcoma)

Lymph node- Reactive

Lymph node- lymphadenitis

Lymph node- lymphoma

Lymph node- Metastatic

how can you approach an unknown mass

Is the sample sufficient for diagnosis

Inflammatory

• What type?

• Septic?

Is there cystic content?

• What type

Mainly tissue cells - neoplasia

• What type (epithelial, round, mesenchymal)

• Benign or malignant

how can you approach known tissues

§E.g., lymph node, prostate, spleen, liver

§Is the sample sufficient for diagnosis?

§Think about the normal cell population in that tissue; does what you have on the slide match that? E.g., should it be epithelial, round or mesenchymal or a mixture, what functional cells should be present?

§Think about possible pathologies (e.g., what 4 things cause lymph nodes to enlarge, what 4 things cause prostatic enlargement); which does the cytology best fit with?

§Is there evidence of inflammation?

§Which of my narrowed list of possibilities fits best?

Dog: lump right thigh

Sarcoma

Dog: Submandibular lymphnode

Oral tumour metastasis

Dog: Prostate FNA

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia

Dog: Skin distal right foreleg

Sarcoma

Dog: Thoracic fluid

Thoracic fluid: carcinoma

Dog: Mammary mass

Mammary Carcinoma

Dog: Skin mass ventral neck

Histiocytoma

Dog: subcutaneous mass chest wall

Lipoma

Dog: subcutaneous nodule head

Epidermal inclusion cyst

Dog: Skin mass on flank

Mast Cell Tumour

Dog: Skin mass dorsal neck

Histiocytoma