PMC3325745_01
Large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma of the cervix. a) Liquid-based Pap specimen showing clusters of tumor cells. Notice a mitotic figure in the bottom half of the cluster (Pap stain, original magnification x400). b) Tumor with a solid and trabecular architecture (hematoxylin and eosin, original magnification x100). c) Large tumor cells with a high nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, small nucleoli, finely granular chromatin and numerous mitotic figures, including atypical mitoses (arrow) (hematoxylin and eosin, original magnification x400). d) Tumor cells with diffuse and strong positive immunoreactivity for cytokeratin AE1/AE3 (immunostain for cytokeratin AE1/AE3, original magnification x100). e) Positive immunostaining of the tumor for chromogranin (immunostain for chromogranin, original magnification x200). f) Positive immunostaining of the tumor for synaptophysin (immunostain for synaptophysin, original magnification x200).
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F1
A liquid-based Pap specimen showed abundant clusters of overlapping tumor cells with scant cytoplasm, finely granular chromatin and conspicuous mitotic activity (Figure 1a). The specimen consisted entirely of tumor, a poorly differentiated carcinoma with a solid and trabecular architecture (Figure 1b). The tumor cells were large, with a high nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, small nucleoli, finely granular chromatin and numerous mitotic figures, including atypical mitoses (Figure 1c). On immunohistochemical staining, the tumor showed diffuse positive immunoreactivity for cytokeratin AE1/AE3 (Figure 1d) and neuroendocrine markers, including chromogranin (Figure 1e) and synaptophysin (Figure 1f) and CD56.