Diagnostic courses of two cases of carcinomas of thegallbladder which were preoperatiively diagnosed mainly by exfoliative cytology as primary keratinizedsquamous cell carcinoma of the gallbladder are brieflydescribed.
One of the two cases was diagnosed on thebasis of cytologic features of a specimen obtainedfrom the gallbladder by aspiration biopsy under thedirectvision control with laparoscope, and the othercase on the same features of a specimen biopsiedfrom the duodenum under duodenoscopic direct vision.
The cytologic findings of smears of the two casesclosely resembled each other.
The detailed examination of smears revealed that in both cases atypicalepithelial cells had the following features characteristic of keratinized squamous cell carcinoma: variouscell shapes from oval or polygonal to quite irregularand bizarre forms, various cell sizes ranging betweenthe sizes of parabasal type and superficial type ofnormal squamous cell, dense opaque orangeophiliccytoplasma very frequently showing a laminar structure and/or perinuclear halo, nuclear pyknosis andkaryorrhexis or karyolysis and so forth.
