1995 Volume 34 Issue 4 Pages 614-620
We carried out cytological examinations on smeared cells from 4 cases of intracystic papilloma and 7 cases of intracystic carcinoma to clarify the cytological characteristics of these two conditions. There were differences in the cytological characteristics of clustered cells of the individual cells. The cytological features of the clustered cells were characterized as follows;rich tumor cell cytoplasm at the periphery of the cluster in intracystic papilloma, the long axes of nuclei uero arranged in the same direction in intracystic papilloma and in a radiating fashion in intracystic carcinoma, apocrine like cells were present in the background in intracystic papilloma, and some tumor cells were located away from the cluster in intracystic carcinoma. The characteristics of the individual cells can be summarized as follows; central nuclei and partially thickened cytoplasm in intracystic papilloma, prominent vacuolation of the cytoplasm and deviated nuclei with prominent nuclei in intracystic carcinoma.
Cytological morphometory revealed that the long-diameter of the nuclei of intracystic papillary carcinoma was 1.2 times greater than that of intracystic papilloma (9.2±1.6μm vs 7.7±1.9 μm;P<0.01).
The coefficient of the variation of the long-diameter of the nuclei of intracystic papilloma was greater than that of intracystic papillary carcinoma (25.5% vs 18.3%), indicating that intracysitic papilloma showed more variation nuclear in size. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the mean area of the nuclei of intracystic papillary carcinoma and intracystic papilloma (34.5% vs 33.0%).
In cytological diagnosis of cystic lesions of the breast, detailed observation of the architecture of clustered cells at low magnification and overall assessment of the individual cells are important.
