Diagnosis of recurrent uterine carcinosarcoma by fine-needle aspiration cytology: Report of a case

Uterine carcinosarcomas are uncommon, aggressive neoplasms usually afflicti ng postmenopausal women. Histologically, they are characterized by the pres ence of both malignant epithelial and stromal cells. The latter may be eith er homologous or heterologous in nature. The cytologic diagnosis of carcino sarcoma via fine-needle aspiration (FNA) was previously described for prima ry tumors arising in the parotid gland, breast, lung, and ovary. Although t he diagnosis of uterine carcinosarcoma via cervicovaginal, endometrial, and peritoneal fluid cytology has been described, the FNA cytology diagnosis o f recurrent uterine carcinosarcoma has only been rarely described. We prese nt a case of recurrent uterine carcinosarcoma in a 59-yr-old woman, diagnos ed by ultrasound-guided FNA cytology. Cytologic smears showed a biphasic ne oplasm consisting of both malignant columnar epithelial and spindle cells, in a background of turner diathesis. This case illustrates the diagnostic u tility of aspiration cytology in the investigation of recurrent carcinosarc oma in clinically suspicious lesions arising postsurgery. Diagn. Cytopathol . 2000;23:108-113. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.