Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma: A case report with cytological features in a sixteen-year-old girl

Abstract

We report a case of a 16-yr-old girl with a liver tumor revealed by thrombophlebitis of the left leg. On physical examination the patient was found to have painless hepatomegaly. Ultrasound and CAT scan showed a large tumor of the left portion of the liver, measuring 14 cm in diameter. Cytological preparations were touch imprints of the biopsy fragments obtained under ultrasound guidance. Cytological examination using May-Grünwald Giemsa stain revealed highly cellular smears containing large tumor cells with a round nucleus, prominent nucleoli, and abundant granular basophilic cytoplasm. Cytological features were those of fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma, confirmed by histological examination of the biopsy sample as well as the surgical specimen obtained after wide excision of the lesion following ineffective neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2006;34:568–571. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.