1991 Volume 30 Issue 6 Pages 1147-1150
A case of clear cell sarcoma arising in the right first toe was reported. A 27-year-old female had suffered from a small nodule with tenderness of the right first toe. Two years after the initial symptoms, amputation of the first toe was performed. In preoperative aspiration biopsy cytology, relatively uniform spindle tumor cells, medium to large sized, were found. The tumor cell nuclei were short-spindle, with thin nuclear membrane. The chromatin pattern was finely granular. One distinctive, centrally located nucleolus was found. Histological diagnosis was clear cell sarcoma. Some tumor cells contained melanin granules demonstrated by Masson-Fontana preparation. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for S 100 protein. Ultrastructurally, some tumor cells contained melanosomes. The distinctive nucleolus of the tumor cell is characteristic cytologically and histologically. This is an important finding to differentiate clear cell sarcoma from other types of spindle cell sarcoma such as synovial sarcoma on cytology.
