Korean J Cytopathol.  1997 Jun;8(1):93-97.

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Cervical Chordoma: A Case Report

• Yang KM
• Cho MY
• Jung SH
• Bong JP

Abstract

A case of cervical chordoma diagnosed by fine needle aspiration is discussed. A 41year-old male was admitted due to dyspnea on neck flexion. Radiologic image revealed a retrotracheal superior mediastinal solid mass. Aspiration cytology showed many clusters of oval or large polygonal cells having abundant eosinophilic or bubbly cytoplasm in an amorphous blue-gray mucoid background. The nuclei were round and showed size variation, coarse granular chromatin, and indistinct nucleoli. Some cells contained brown granular pigments in the cytoplasm. Mitoses were rarely found. The cytoplasm was strongly positive for PAS stain. Immunohistochemical stains using cell block revealed positive reaction for cytokerain, EMA, vimentin, and S-100 protein. The confirmative diagnosis was made by following excisional biopsy. Electron microscopic study revealed large pools of intracytoplasmic glycogen and microfilaments. This is the first case of cervical chordoma diagnosed by aspiration cytology to our knowledge in Korean literature.

Keyword

Chordoma; Cervical spine; Aspirational cytology

MeSH Terms

Actin Cytoskeleton
Biopsy
Biopsy, Fine-Needle*
Chordoma*
Chromatin
Coloring Agents
Cytoplasm
Diagnosis
Dyspnea
Eosinophils
Glycogen
Humans
Male
Mitosis
Neck
S100 Proteins
Vimentin
Chromatin
Coloring Agents
Glycogen
S100 Proteins
Vimentin