Papillary carcinoma of the breast - Cytologic study of nine cases

OBJECTIVE: To study the cytologic findings of papillary breast carcinoma by fine needle aspiration. STUDY DESIGN: The study group consisted of fine needle aspiration (FNA) spe cimens of breast tumors from nine patients performed during the period 1988 -1997. Eight were female, and one tons male. The FNA results were compared with the final histologic diagnosis. RESULTS: The tumor sizes were 4-6.5 cm. The aspirations yielded a good amou nt of bloody material. The smears revealed high cellularity, papillary clus ters, isolated low-to-tall columnar cells, mild to moderate atypia, hemorrh agic background, foam and hemosiderin-laden macrophages, calcification, rar e mitoses, palisading row of cells and bipolar cytoplasmic eosinophilic gra nules. The smears were diagnosed as either suspicious or suggestive of papi llary carcinoma. The histologic examination revealed invasive papillary car cinoma. CONCLUSION: Papillary carcinoma of the breast can be diagnosed by using a p anel of cytologic findings that includes hypercellularity, papillary cluste rs, hemorrhagic background, palisading rows of all columnar cells, cellular atypia and calcification. The interesting finding in this study was the pr esence of eosinophilic bipolar cytoplasmic granules, which has not been rep orted before.