The immunocytochemistry is a valuable tool in the diagnosis of papillary thyroid cancer in FNA's using liquid-based cytology

Introduction. papillary thyroid carcinoma (ptc) is the most common malignancy of the thyroid. an accurate cytological diagnosis is based on distinctive cytological features in combination with immunocytochemistry. methods. a number of 83 fine needle aspirations,positive for papillary thyroid cancer (44 from thyroid nodules and 39 from cervical lymph nodes),were studied using thin layer cytology. a panel of the immunomarkers cytokeratin-19,galectin-3,hbme1,cd-44,cd-56,and e-cadherin was performed. results. positive expression of ck-19 was observed in 77 cases (92.7),of galectin-3 in 74 cases (89.1),of hbme1 in 65 (78.3),and of cd-44 in 72 cases (86.7). loss of expression of cd-56 was observed in 80 cases (96.4) and of e-cadherin in 78 (93.9). conclusions. our data suggest that thin layer cytology increases the diagnostic accuracy in papillary carcinoma and seems to be a promising technique for further investigation of thyroid lesions permitting the possibility to use archive material. positive immunoexpression of ck-19,galectin-3,hbme-1,and cd-44 improves the diagnostic accuracy of papillary thyroid cancer. furthermore,loss of e-cadherin and of cd-56 expression is a feature of malignancy. copyright 2010 kalliopi pazaitou-panayiotou et al.