Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of salivary duct carcinoma: Report of five cases

Abstract

Salivary duct carcinoma is a high grade malignancy which histologically strongly resembles ductal carcinoma of the breast. The findings from five cases of histologically proven salivary duct carcinoma sampled by preoperative fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cytology are presented. Characteristic cytomorphologic features include cohesive clusters and flat sheets of epithelial cells which display a cribriform pattern with eccentrically located, hyperchromatic nuclei, abundant finely granular cytoplasm, and necrosis in the smear background.