Papillary carcinoma is the most frequent neoplasia of the thyroid in countries with iodine-sufficient diets. It is in some cases associated with irradiation. Women in their thrirties seem to be more affected. The prognosis is very good.

On the smears colloid is scarce or absent. Psammoma bodies are normally a very rare finding in normal thyroid, but they are frequent in papillary carcinoma. Cells are numerous and display papillary arrangements with palisading of the cells, sheets or syncithium. Nuclei tend to overlap like tiles of a roof. Usually they are round or oval but they can be quite different in shape and size, even molding to one another.

The more typical aspect is pseudovacuolisation. These are intranuclear invaginations of the cytoplasm, also seen in melanoma. Nuclei often display grooves. With Papanicolaou staining, nuclei have a "ground-glass" aspect, like in histology. We present here a case of cystic papillary carcinoma. It can be a pitfall because of the degeneration of the cells.

38 year old man.

  

 

 


 

 Numerous sheets of thyreocytes with enlarged nuclei, irregular forms, with dense chromatin, grooves and very few cytoplasmic inclusions in this case (see insert).  
       
  Groups of thyreocytes with vacuolated cytoplasm and mayn psammoma bodies.  
       
  Arborescent papillae centered on connective tissue axes.  
       
  Close-up on a papilla with ground-glass nuclei arranged like tiles.  
       
 
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Dernière mise à jour: le 31 janvier, 2004
 

Pour en savoir plus:

Miller JM, Kini SR, Hamburger JI: Needle Biopsy of the Thyroid. Praeger, 1983.

Droese M: Cytological Aspiration Biopsy of the Thyroid Gland. F.K. Schattauer Verlag, 1980.

LiVolsi VA: Surgical Pathology of the Thyroid. Major Problems in Pathology, vol. 22. W.S. Saunders, 1990.