1996 Volume 35 Issue 2 Pages 71-76
We present herein 81 cases who underwent fine needle aspiration cytology of focal hepatic lesions from 1990 to 1995. The pathological diagnosis was hepatocellular carcinoma (48 cases), cholangiocellular carcinoma (4 cases), metastatic liver carcinoma (11 cases), liver cell adenoma (1 case), and other benign lesions (17 cases). Among 48 cytologicallydemonstrated cases of hepatocellular carcinoma, 44 were positive and 4 were suspicious. In the 44 positive cases, we confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma in 43 but could not make the diagnosis in one case. In the 4 suspicious cases, we were unable to diagnose malignancy because of minimal cellular atypia (3 cases) or scant material (1 case). In the 4 cholangiocellular carcinoma cases, we were able to diagnose adenocarcinoma in 3 cases, but could not make the diagnosis in one case. In the 11 metastatic liver carcinoma cases, we confirmed adenocarcinoma in 9 cases (colon 7 cases, pancreas 1 case, stomach 1 case) and carcinoid in 2 cases (colon 2 cases). Liver cell adenoma was ruled out due to a complete absence of cellular atypia. Among other benign lesions, 5 of 17 cases were considered suspicious due to overestimation of prominent nucleoli and variation in nuclear size. Hepatocellular carcinoma, especially well differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma, shows a high N/C ratio, heterogeneity of the nuclear chromatin pattern, and monotonous findings appeared to be important.
