Abstract
Background : Granular cell tumors located in the bronchus are rarely found, and the cytologic features of this tumor have not been reported. We present two cases of bronchial granular cell tumor, which had differences in nuclear pleomorphism.
Cases : In both cases (Case 1 : 45-year-old female, Case 2 : 37-year-old male), a nodule was revealed in the right upper lobe on computerized tomography imaging. A cytologic diagnosis was difficult with samples from transbronchial aspiration, but the histologic diagnosis was a granular cell tumor based on the transbronchial biopsy. A lobectomy was performed for both cases. Imprint cytologic smears obtained from resected specimens revealed many tumor cells with abundant and granular cytoplasm. The cytologic specimens from Case 1 showed uniform tumor cells, whereas, the specimens obtained from Case 2 showed a variety of tumor cells with large and/or spindle nuclei, which suggested the possibility of malignancy. Histologically, both the tumors were diagnosed as a granular cell tumor, and the tumor cells were immunohistochemically positive for S-100 protein.
Conclusion : Focusing on abundant and granular cytoplasm could allow us to make the correct diagnosis of granular cell tumor although the nuclear features varied from case to case : some having large and/or spindle nuclei.
