Application of new fine needle aspiration cell blocks in the diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma

WANG Yun-hong; YANG Yan; YU Xiao-meng

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1007-8096.2017.07.002

Abstract：Objective To study the diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) benefits for the choice of surgical procedures and treatments.In order to increase the preoperative definite diagnosis rate of medullary thyroid carcinoma,the sampling technique of fine needle aspiration was modified and a new cell block preparation method was applied.Methods By pen-holding aspiration sampling technique,sufficient material for cell block preparation was got through increasing the aspiration pass times or performing second aspiration for dilemma cases.If second aspiration was not available,the cells on the stained smears were scraped off for the cell block preparation.All the materials were used to make cell blocks according to the new protein-alcohol-coagulation method and then immunohistochemical or Congo red staining was performed to help making the pathologic diagnosis.Results The fine needle aspiration cell blocks were performed for 5 cases suspicious for MTC and 3 cases of uncertain tumors:two by imcreasing aspiration times,three by second aspiraton,and three by scraping stained smears.All 8 cases of MTC were confirmed by immunohistochemistry and histochemical staining through cell blocks,including TTF-1,calcitonin,chyroglobulin,chromogranin A,synaptophysin,Ki-67,CD56,CEA and Congo red staining.Conclusion Modified fine needle aspiration sampling technique and application of new cell block preparation method can efficiently improve the diagnostic accuracy of MTC.It is recommended to be applied in the diagnosis of MTC.