Abstract
Malignant lymphoma is diagnosed by histopathol-ogical examination. However, sample preparation, including immunostaining, is time-consuming. Touch smear cytology of biopsied lymph node specimens requires only stamping and staining smear preparation, allowing rapid microscopic examination. Therefore, individual cell morphologies of lymphoid tissue can be observed in a short time. As cytological diagnosis is the first step to determine malignancy, sample preparation for touch smear cytology is recommended upon lymphoid tissue biopsy. The present article overviews malignant lymphomas and describes the cytomorphological characteristics of malignant lymphomas that should be differentiated from reactive lymphadenopathy, in comparison with the normal lymph node structure.
