Columnar cell variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma: Cytomorphological characteristics of 11 cases with histological correlation and literature review

Abstract

Although PTC-CCV may demonstrate features that overlap with those of the classic variant of PTC, hypercellular smears with papillary structures covered by cells with pseudostratified nuclei that show a paucity of nuclear pseudoinclusions and grooves should alert the cytopathologist to the possibility of this diagnosis. Cancer Cytopathol 2017;125:389-97. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Cytologic features of aggressive variants of follicular‐derived thyroid carcinoma

“…Patients with the CCV present with a high frequency of lymph node and distant metastases. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] Although infrequently described, the cytological features of CCV include columnar cells with hyperchromatic, oval, and pseudostratified nuclei with supranuclear or subnuclear cytoplasmic vacuoles. [44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53] Nuclei have dark stippled chromatin and indistinct nucleoli.…”

Rosettes in papillary carcinoma of thyroid: A rare cytomorphological indicator of aggressive variants

“…1 Although the cytomorphology of TCV and CCV is well described in the literature, 2,3 the former is commonly underdiagnosed as conventional PTC, while the latter is prone to misdiagnosis as metastatic adenocarcinoma. 3 We present a rare case of PTC that showed tall cells…”

“…The tumour cells showed diffuse nuclear immunopositivity for CDX2 (G, IHC, 9200), membranous staining pattern for b-catenin (H, IHC, 9200) and a MIB-1 labelling index of 5%-6% (I, IHC, 9200) CORRESPONDENCE | 561 nuclear features of PTC 2. While aspirates from CCV also display similar architectural patterns, they differ by the presence of columnar cells that show stratified oval to elongated nuclei with powdery dark chromatin and inconspicuous nucleoli typically lacking grooves and inclusions 3. Multilayered rosettes, as seen in our case, is a rare architectural finding, previously described in a single case of CCV 4.…”

Diagnostic clues indicating tall cell variants of papillary thyroid carcinoma in fine needle aspiration

“…However, it is not difficult to distinguish TCV‐PTC from the four carcinomas. Columnar cell variant PTC and metastatic colonic carcinoma are characterized by nuclear pseudostratification, a paucity of nuclear pseudoinclusions and grooves, and dark and granular chromatin pattern . Warthin tumor‐like PTC exhibits abundant lymphocytes on the background .…”