Microfilariae in Fine Needle Aspirates From a Coastal District of India: An Experience With Brief Review of Literature

Abstract

Filariasis is a major public health problem in tropical countries like India. Conventional diagnosis is by demonstrating microfilariae (MF) in the peripheral blood smear. Nocturnal periodicity of the species endemic in India makes it difficult to find microfilariae in blood. Incidental detection of microfilariae (MF) in fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) smears of various sites in clinically unsuspected cases of filariasis without microfilariae in the peripheral blood has been rarely documented in Indian literature. We are reporting interesting detection of MF in 10 aspirates over a period of one year, form various sites as well as lesions ranging from inflammatory to malignancy. This article is intended to highlight that microfilaria can be a finding in clinically unsuspected cases and also without peripheral blood eosinophilia.

Role of Cytology in Detection of Unsuspected Carriers of Microfilariae: A Retrospective Study in National Capital Region (NCR), India

“…Apart from open and coiled sheathed larvae, numerous eggs were demonstrated in the right inguinal swelling. [4,6,8,9,12,13] However, unlike some reports, [4,6,[8][9][10]12] adult worms were not demonstrable in any cytological material in this study.…”

“…The detection rate of 0.03% detected in this study is similar to the value of 0.078% in other studies conducted in Delhi/NCR, [6] while it is low as compared to studies in endemic areas. [4,[8][9][10] Among the various nematodes which can cause filariasis, Wuchereria bancrofti is responsible for 90% cases worldwide and 99.4% cases in India, while Brugia malayi accounts for the remainder. [1,2] This is corroborated by the detection of microfilariae of W. bancrofti in all the cases in this study, similar to other Indian studies.…”

“…[1,2] This is corroborated by the detection of microfilariae of W. bancrofti in all the cases in this study, similar to other Indian studies. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Filariasis causes a spectrum of diseases including asymptomatic amicrofilaremia, asymptomatic microfilaremia, acute lymphangitis, lymphadenitis, lymphedema, chronic lymphadenitis, elephantiasis and tropical pulmonary eosinophilia.…”

“…[3] These are the cases detected in our study, similar to other studies, where detection of microfilariae in cytological material has been incidental. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] In our study, we have additionally retrieved the radiologic data in all cases, which was of no additional help, and was even misleading in two cases (1 thyroid, 1 breast swelling). Predominance in the third decade has been noted in other studies.…”

“…There have been reports of single or small number of cases of microfilariae in fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) various sites such as breast, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] lymph nodes, [4,6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] scrotum, [6,8,9,11] soft tissue swellings, [4][5][6]8,[10][11][12][13] thyroid, [6][7][8][10][11][12][13]15] ovary, [16] lung, [7,12] liver, [4] salivary gland, [5,7] gall bladder, [7] bone marrow, [4,10] spine, [7] pancreas [...…”