Malignant biphasic pleural mesothelioma metastatic to the liver diagnosed by fine-needle aspiration

Diagnostic Cytopathology. Volume 34, Issue 1 , Pages 33 – 36. Published Online: 14 Dec 2005. [Link]

David Cimbaluk, M.D., Deepa Kasuganti, M.D., Larry Kluskens, M.D., Ph.D., Vijaya Reddy, M.D., Paolo Gattuso, M.D. * Department of Pathology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois, email: Paolo Gattuso (Paolo_Gattuso@rush.edu)

*Correspondence to Paolo Gattuso, Director of Surgical Pathology, Rush University Medical Center, 1750 West Harrison Street, Chicago, IL 60612

Abstract

As malignant pleural mesotheliomas are most often rapidly fatal, distant metastases are rarely detected. Here, we report a unique case in which the diagnosis of metastatic pleural mesothelioma was made via cytologic examination of a fine-needle aspiration (FNA) of the liver. Recognition of the cytomorphologic features inherent to mesothelioma cells on FNA material may become important for proper patient management. To the best of our knowledge, the diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma metastatic to the liver made by FNA has not been previously documented.

Keywords: mesothelioma, liver, fine-needle aspiration, metastasis