Abstract
Papillary thyroid carcinomas are the most common thyroid cancers and constitute more than 70 % of thyroid malignancies. The most common variants are the conventional type. However, many other uncommon variants have been described; the classification of these variants is based on the architectural patterns, such as follicular, solid, and cribriform-morular variants; the cell types, such as oncocytic, tall cell, and columnar cell variants; and the stromal reaction such as diffuse sclerosing, Warthin-like, and those with nodular fasciitis-like stroma. The common denominator for all the variants is the presence of nuclear features of PTC. The cytology may not be representative of the major morphologic pattern because of sampling error. In addition, a definitive cytologic diagnosis of PTC can sometimes be challenging if the typical nuclear changes of PTC were subtle or not readily apparent. It is advantageous in recognizing certain variants, namely, those with more aggressive clinical course, preoperatively since it may help the clinicians to plan for more aggressive treatment.
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Adeniran, A.J., Chhieng, D. (2016). Variants of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma. In: Common Diagnostic Pitfalls in Thyroid Cytopathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31602-4_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31602-4_10
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