Fine needle aspiration cytodiagnosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in cervical lymph nodes. A study of 40 cases

The cytologic features of fine needle aspiration (FNA) samples of 40 metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinomas in cervical lymph nodes were reviewed. FNA was performed with 21-gauge or 23-gauge needles; the FNA smears were stained with the Papanicolaou stain or with hematoxylin and eosin. Several typical cytologic features were noted. All cases showed the presence of clusters of cohesive tumor cells, most of which were undifferentiated. Medium-sized oval vesicular nuclei were present in 85% of the cases; all cases had prominent nucleoli. The cytoplasm was generally pale, with ill-defined boundaries in 87.5% of the cases. Mitoses were present in 75% of the cases. Mature lymphocytes were intermingled with tumor cells in all cases. The cytologic features correlated with the histologic features in surgical biopsies of the nasopharynx and lymph nodes. The results show that FNA of cervical lymph nodes can aid in the diagnosis of otherwise occult nasopharyngeal carcinoma and in detecting residual or recurrent nodal disease in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who had undergone treatment.