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Alveolar soft part sarcoma. Report of a case diagnosed by needle aspiration cytology and electron microscopy
1Department of Laboratory Medicine, Sinai Hospital, Detroit, Michigan 48235, USA.
Background:
Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare tumor, accounting for less than 1% of all primary soft tissue malignant neoplasms. The tumor is a distinct clinicopathologic entity, but its histogenesis is controversial.
Case:
The needle aspirate from a soft tissue tumor in a 15-year-old girl was stained with Diff-Quik and periodic acid--Schiff (PAS) with and without prior digestion with diastase. Minute tumor tissue fragments were processed for transmission electron microscopic examination (EM). Clustered malignant cells with ill-defined, frothy or vacuolated cytoplasm showed a positive reaction with PAS and PAS with prior diastase digestion and oval nuclei containing macronucleoli. Intracytoplasmic, membrane-bound, rhomboid and rod-shaped crystals with a regular lattice pattern with 50-80 A periodicity were detected by EM study of aspirated tumor cells.
Conclusion:
Light and EM studies of aspirated tumor cells showed diagnostic features of the tumor.