Medullary carcinoma of thyroid: a re-evaluation of the cytological criteria of diagnosis.

We have reviewed the fine needle aspiration cytology appearances of a series of 31 consecutive and histologically confirmed medullary carcinomas of the thyroid. Despite the absence of a totally specific diagnostic feature, this retrospective re-evaluation indicates that a preoperative diagnosis of medullary carcinoma of the thyroid is possible in almost every case. The features occurring most commonly include a dispersed cell pattern in which round or spindle shaped cells with eccentric speckled nuclei were seen showing slight pleomorphism with inconspicuous nucleoli. In a third of cases fine red granularity was present in the cytoplasm in slides stained with Giemsa and by the Papanicolaou technique.