Abstract
The authors examined 100 xanthoma cells each of 12 subjects, who were diagnosed histologically to have thexanthoma of the stomach. Smears made by the squashing method were performed by Papanicolaou, Sudan III and PAS-staining and examined under oil immersion at a 1000-field magnification with a light microscope. Characteristics of cytologic findings of xanthoma cells are as follows:
1. Cells are comparatively large, and round or oval.
2. Nuclei are generally small and oval. The cells are usually mononucleated. But sometimes large bi-nucleated cells or a large polynucleated cells with three or more nuclei may appear.
3. The degree of anisokaryosis is slight, but that of anisocytosis is high.
4. The nucleo-cytoplasmic ratio is very small and the cell is rich in cytoplasm.
5. The nucleus mainly consists of a granular chromocenter with normal tinctorial properties. Chromatin is evenly distributed. The nuclear clear area is small.
6. Nucleoli are usually small and arborescent, each nucleus has one or two nucleoli.
7. The cytoplasms become filled with foamy vacuolation.
8. Reaction from the sudan III-staining is positive, but from the PAS-staining is negative.
9. The cells are generally recognized as a group of scattered cells and arranged in plane clusters, but are not arranged in clusters with threedimentional overlapping.
