Sarcomatoid variant of urothelial carcinoma: Cytological analysis of three cases
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- Published online on: October 24, 2012 https://doi.org/10.3892/ol.2012.990
- Pages: 49-52
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Abstract
Sarcomatoid variant of urothelial carcinoma (SV‑UC) is characterized by the presence of biphasic malignant neoplastic components exhibiting morphological and/or immunohistochemical evidence of epithelial and mesenchymal differentiation. SV‑UC is a rare variant of UC and the cytological features of this tumor have not been well described. In the present study, we analyzed the cytological features of a series of SV‑UC cases; 6 voided urine specimens from 3 patients with SV‑UC were reviewed. Several characteristic cytological features were revealed: i) tumor cells were abundant in a necrotic background and while single tumor cells were predominant, small clusters of cells were occasionally present; ii) tumor cells were large‑sized and round to polygonal in shape with ill‑defined cell borders; iii) tumor cells had a high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio and enlarged round to oval nuclei containing coarse chromatin and occasional nucleoli; and iv) spindle‑shaped atypical cells were rarely identified (1/6 specimens). The cytological features of i), ii) and iii) are indistinguishable from those of conventional invasive high‑grade UC. We hypothesize that these tumor cells originated from the conventional high‑grade UC component of SV‑UC as this component is usually present in this type of lesion, particularly on the surface of the tumor. Moreover, the sarcomatoid component of SV‑UC is usually present in the deeper portion of the tumor and therefore detection of this component in the voided cytological specimen is low. Although cytodiagnosis of SV‑UC is extremely difficult, cytodiagnosis of malignancy may prove possible due to the presence of a conventional UC component.
