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Thirty-four cases of microcystic adenoma of the pancreas were studied. These benign tumors have traditionally been classified as cystadenomas, but have not been clearly distinguished from those cystic neoplasms of the pancreas that have a significant malignant potential. Microcystic adenomas are benign, usually large (mean diameter 10.8 cm), and are composed of many tiny cysts lined by small cuboidal cells containing glycogen but little or no mucin. The tumor may be found incidentally at autopsy or, more commonly, may manifest as an abdominal mass with some associated local pain or discomfort. There is no sex predilection. The patients are usually elderly, both mean and median ages being 68. A microcystic pattern is apparent both grossly and microscopically. Electron microscopy confirms the presence of intracytoplasmic glycogen and the epithelial character of the cells. Follow-up data (mean 6.4 years), available in all cases, indicate that when these tumors occur in the head of the pancreas, fatalities may result either from complications of radical surgery or from gastrointestinal or biliary obstruction. When the tumors occur in the body or tail of the pancreas, biopsy alone may be sufficient.

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Two hundred and forty-five cases of malignant lymphoma and other lymphoproliferative disorders involving the thyroid gland have been studied. The patients, predominantly elderly women, usually presented with a rapidly enlarging mass in the neck, often with symptoms of tracheal or laryngeal compression. Radioisotopic scanning of the thyroid usually demonstrated a "cold" or "cool" process, and tracheal deviation (as seen by chest roentgenogram) was common. Lymphoma and related processes were nearly always associated with an underlying lymphocytic thyroiditis. The mean length of follow-up was 45 months, and follow-up was obtained in 96% of the cases. An unfavorable prognosis was related to extension of tumor cells outside the capsule of the gland, necrosis of the tumor, blood vessel wall infiltration, diffuse architectural pattern, and cervical lymph node involvement, with or without disease outside the neck. Tumors composed entirely of plasma cells demonstrated little if any tendency toward systemic extension, and those lymphomas with some plasmacytoid differentiation also displayed a more favorable prognosis.

Crile and Hazard reported in 1953 a follicular pattern of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Little has been said about this pattern in the cytologic literature. From more than 8,000 thyroid aspirates in our files, we reviewed all those diagnosed as “follicular variant of papillary carcinoma,” “suspect follicular variant of papillary carcinoma,” and “follicular neoplasm vs. follicular variant of papillary carcinoma.” Also, we reviewed all aspirates in which a diagnosis of follicular variant of papillary carcinoma had been made on surgically excised glands, regardless of the cytologic diagnosis; 63 aspirates from 45 patients were collected. All smears were air‐dried and stained with Diff‐Quik. Most smears were very cellular (“tumor cellularity”), and the neoplastic follicular cells formed empty follicles, rosettes, tubules, and papillary structures. Nuclei were twice the size of red blood cells, had smooth contours, were hyperchromatic, and varied in shape but not much in size. Nuclear overlapping was common. Some nuclei had one small and almost pointed end, thereby resembling arrowheads. Intranuclear inclusions, multinucleated histiocytes, and psammoma bodies were uncommon. Pink‐stained colloid was frequent. Diagn. Cytopathol. 16:207–213, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.