ROLE OF SPUTUM CYTOLOGY IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF MEDIASTINAL GERM-CELL TUMOR

A rare ca-se of germ cell tumor of the mediastinum infiltrating the lu ng and metastasizing to the supraclavicular lymph node in a 25-year-ol d male is presented. The patient presented with a history of superior vena cava syndrome and chest roentgenograms revealed an abnormal media stinum- Primary positive diagnosis was made cytologically on Sputum sp ecimens. The peculiar cell type found in the Papanicolaou stained sput um smears were correlated with fine needle aspiration cytology of lung and lymph node, and confirmed the histologic pattern of the tumor met astasizing to the lymph node. To our knowledge, the present case is th e first report of a primary mediastinal seminoma (germinoma) infiltrat ing the lung and diagnosed by sputum cytology. These results suggest t he usefulness of sputum examination as an adjunctive diagnostic proced ure in the detection of patients with possible lung infiltrated germin al neoplasms.