@article{7176, keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Biopsy, Fine-Needle, Bone Marrow, Child, Female, Humans, Leprosy, lepromatous, Liver, Lymph Nodes, Male, Middle Aged, Skin}, author = {Singh N and Bhatia A and Lakra A and Arora V K and Bhattacharya S N}, title = {Comparative cytomorphology of skin, lymph node, liver and bone marrow in patients with lepromatous leprosy.}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the cytological changes in skin, lymph nodes, liver and bone marrow in patients with lepromatous leprosy.

METHODS: Skin lesion, lymph node, liver and bone marrow aspirates were analysed. May-Grunwald-Giemsa (MGG) and Ziehl-Neelsen (Z-N) stains were employed. Comparative cytomorphology was studied.

RESULTS: Twenty patients with lepromatous leprosy were studied. Lepra cells (LC) predominated in the skin aspirates of 12 patients with lepromatous leprosy (LL), lymphocytes accompanied LC in eight patients with borderline-lepromatous (BL) leprosy. Three patients of LL leprosy and two of BL leprosy in type 2 reaction additionally had numerous neutrophils. Two patterns of lymph node aspirates were seen: partial replacement with few LC in a reactive lymphoid background (10), complete replacement with either only LC or LC in a background of degenerating neutrophils (10), the latter a feature of type 2 reaction. Liver aspiration was performed in seven patients and of bone marrow in eight patients. Occasional LC were present in five liver-aspirated patients, steatosis and Kupffer cell hyperplasia in four patients, and myelopoiesis in two patients. Bone marrow smears invariably had occasional LC and a relative increase in mature plasma cells; sea-blue histiocytes were seen in six patients.

CONCLUSION: Lepra cells predominated in skin and lymph node aspirates with complete replacement. In comparison, liver, bone marrow and lymph node aspirates with partial replacement were dominated by a preponderance of cells native to these organs with only few or occasional LC.

}, year = {2006}, journal = {Cytopathology : official journal of the British Society for Clinical Cytology}, volume = {17}, pages = {257-61}, month = {2006 Oct}, issn = {0956-5507}, doi = {10.1111/j.1365-2303.2006.00323.x}, language = {eng}, }