Brief history (BH): a 43-year-old female presented with a palpable mass in the right neck. US revealed a 20 mm × 15 mm hypoechogenic lymph node (LN) in the right cervical jugular region. During US-FNA, 3 cc of hemorrhagic cystic fluid was obtained. It was believed that the cystic LN could be associated with papillary thyroid carcinoma. US was performed on the thyroid, which had not previously undergone US. The radiologist detected an 8 mm × 6 mm microcalcified nodule in the right lobe. FNA was also performed on this nodule.\nCytologic findings: (i) LN: smears from cystic fluid showed clusters of atypical thyroid follicular cells on a cystic background with hemosiderin-laden macrophages. (ii) Thyroid nodule: the hypercellular samples revealed atypical papillary clusters with occasional intranuclear vacuoles and grooves []. Cytologic diagnosis: LN: Metastasis of cystic papillary thyroid carcinoma. Right thyroid nodule: Thyroid papillary carcinoma. The cytologic diagnosis was confirmed histopathologically.\nTHMs: After the fluid was obtained from the LN during the FNA, “metastasis of thyroid papillary carcinoma,” which comes to mind first in the differential diagnosis of lesions that form cystic degenerations at the LN, was considered.[] Other lesions included in the differential diagnosis were hemangioma, metastasis from malignity in the salivary gland, squamous cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma.[]
BH: A 41-year-old male presented with multiple LNs in the right neck; the largest ones were 32 mm × 20 mm in the right submandibular region and 35 mm × 15 mm and 25 mm × 20 mm in the right neck. A positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scan showed involvement with suspicions of malignancy in the stomach wall and the LNs. Clinical preliminary diagnosis: stomach cancer with metastasis to the neck LNs. Cytologic findings: US-FNA was used in the three LNs in the neck. Similar characteristics were observed in all LNs: Pleomorphic malignant cells represented individually in some areas and forming clusters in others were formed on a partially eosinophilic reactive lymphoid background. The nuclei of malignant cells were large, and the cytoplasm was wide and vacuolated. Enlarged nucleoli were observed in some cells []. Cytologic diagnosis: Undifferentiated malignant tumor cells. Comment: malignant cells with a pleomorphic nature were observed admixed with reactive lymphoid cells and eosinophilia. The cellular characteristics resembled adenocarcinoma, as suspected clinically. However, due to multiple large LNs that were identified during US, pleomorphic cells also resembled “lacunar cells” seen in “nodular sclerosing type Hodgkin's lymphoma.” Histopathology: Nodular sclerosing type Hodgkin's lymphoma.\nTHM: (1) Despite the suspicion of “gastric cancer” due to the PET-CT results, the radiologist warned about multiple LNs during the US-FNA. (2) Lacunar cells from Hodgkin's lymphoma obtained through FNA may be confused with carcinoma, melanoma, germ cell tumor, and sarcoma.[]