1982 Volume 21 Issue 4 Pages 714-719
A case of malignant lymphoma, in which atypical lymphocytic cells were revealed by the cytologic examination of vaginal smear and urinary sediment, was presened.
The patient, 71 year-old female, visited our hospital because of atypical genital bleeding and urinary retension.
The vaginal smear (Papanicolaou-stained) showed many scattered single cells, which were small, round or oval shaped and had scanty cytoplasm. The nuclei were mostly round-like and a few cleaved in shape, and had fine or coarse granular chromatin. Some mitotic figures were observed, however, one or two nucleoli were present in a few of the cells. Also in the urine and ascites, the same tumor cells were showed by the cytologic study.
On further examination of the vaginal biopsy specimen, this case was diagnosed as small-cell-type of non-Hodgkin's diffuse lymphoma by the classification of LSG. The origin of this lymphoma was presumed to be in the vagina, although the pelvic organs had been widely invaded by the tumor, as the result of autopsy.
We think that exfoliative cytology may be useful in establishing a diagnosis of malignant lymphoma.
