Fine needle aspiration and touch imprint cytology of a malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the spermatic cord - Case report

BACKGROUND: No cytologic reports on spermatic cord sarcomas have been publi shed. CASE: A 64-year-old man presented with a slowly growing, painless, left spe rmatic cord enlargement. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) obtained <1 mt of blo ody fluid consisting of solitary, markedly anaplastic and pleomorphic tumor giant cells occasionally arranged in small fragments. Rare atypical spindl e cells could be observed. Some reactive lymphocytes were observed intermin gled with tumor cells. Immunohistochemistry displayed vimentin reactivity a nd negativity for keratins and leukocytic common antigen. The specimen remo ved showed a well-circumscribed, 30-mm, yellowish solid tumor. Touch imprin ts displayed pleomorphic tumor cells showing intense anisonucleosis; a mode rate amount of clear, sometimes microvacuolated cytoplasm; and tissue fragm ents With a storiform pattern. Histologic examination revealed microscopic and immunohistochemical features of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) ar ising in soft tissues of the spermatic cord. CONCLUSION: FNA of It spermatic cord lesion may reveal a pleomorphic sarcom a. A pleomorphic appearance together with some spindle elements and compati ble immunocytochemistry could help diagnose spermatic cord MFH. This is one of the few reports dealing with FNA cytology of paratesticular tumors and the first report, to the best of our knowledge, showing the cytologic chara cteristics of a case of spermatic cord MFH.