Fine-Needle Aspiration Biopsy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Related Hepatocellular Nodular Lesions in Cirrhosis: Controversies, Challenges, and Expectations
Figure 14
FNA of resected specimen of moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma: conventional smears versus liquid-based cytology. (a) Left panel: Conventional smear shows larger and flatter aggregate of malignant hepatocytes. Right panel: ThinPrep smear shows a tighter, 3-dimensional cluster of malignant hepatocytes with trabeculae. The background is devoid of cells. Crisp nuclear details are better appreciated in monolayered cells. (Papanicolaou, ×400) (b) Left panel: Conventional smear shows malignant hepatocytes with bile canaliculi forming a delicate network of criss-crossing tubules highlighted by immunostaining with polyclonal CEA. Right panel: The canalicular network is more difficult to discern in the ThinPrep smear. (pCEA immunostain, ×400).
