Korean J Cytopathol.  2007 Mar;18(1):74-80.

Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Parathyroid Neoplasms: A Review of Three Cases

• Kim L
• Han JY
• Park IS
• Choi SJ
• Kim JM
• Chu YC

Abstract

Parathyroid tumors may be difficult to distinguish from thyroid follicular lesions, especially when a tumor is nonfunctioning. We report here two cases of asymptomatic parathyroid carcinoma preoperatively misdiagnosed as thyroid follicular lesions, and one case of parathyroid adenoma showing hyperparathyroidism, and review the cytologic features favoring the diagnosis of parathyroid neoplasm. The cytologic findings that are characterized by clean background, monomorphic small cells, cohesive three-dimensional papillary clusters, small tight clusters with scattered naked nuclei, and well-defined clear cytoplasm favor a diagnosis for the parathyroid lesions. Cytologic findings such as macrofollicular structure, presence of colloid and macrophages, and presence of perivacuolar cytoplasmic granules on May-Grunwald-Giemsa stain support a diagnosis of a thyroid follicular lesion. The cytomorphology of parathyroid tumors is so variable that the distinction from a thyroid lesion cannot be based on the presence or absence of a single feature only but on the cytologic features as a whole.

Keyword

Parathyroid adenoma; Parathyroid carcinoma; Thyroid follicular neoplasm; Fine needle aspiration cytology

MeSH Terms

Biopsy, Fine-Needle*
Colloids
Cytoplasm
Cytoplasmic Granules
Diagnosis
Hyperparathyroidism
Macrophages
Parathyroid Neoplasms*
Thyroid Gland
Colloids