Cutaneous endometriosis as a diagnostic pitfall of fine needle aspiration biopsy. A report of three cases
Case report
OA: closed
CC0
⤵ 22 in-corpus citations
AI-generated summary
Cutaneous endometriosis on fine needle aspiration biopsy can mimic metastatic carcinoma due to cellular morphology and background hemosiderin-laden macrophages, posing a diagnostic challenge.
One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works
Abstract
We describe the cytologic features of three cases of cutaneous endometriosis in young women (average age, 27 years); two cases presented as lower abdominal nodules associated with a previous cesarean section scar. The third case presented as a 5 x 4-cm inguinal mass. The smears were generally cellular, consisting of epithelial and stromal fragments. Epithelial cells showed large, hyperchromatic nuclei and moderate amounts of cytoplasm, with considerable nuclear overlapping. The stromal aggregates also showed crowded, overlapping nuclei and scant, admixed, hemosiderin-laden macrophages. These features, combined with isolated cells in the background, made differentiation from metastatic carcinoma extremely difficult. Cutaneous endometriosis can present a diagnostic pitfall on fine needle aspiration, especially in the absence of a previous history of abdominal surgery or established diagnosis of endometriosis.
My notes (saved in your browser only)
Condition tags
MeSH descriptors
Citation neighborhood (2-hop)
Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. Outer rings show 2-hop neighbours — papers reached through the immediate citers/citees. [ collapse to 1-hop ]
Cited by (21)
- Diagnostic evaluations and management of surgical scar endometriosis: a case series of 13 cases over 9 years 2024
- Endometriosis Mimicking Soft-Tissue Neoplasms: A Potential Diagnostic Pitfall 2017
- Fine-needle aspiration cytology of endometriosis 2017
- Umbilical endometriosis mistaken for a keloid in a premenopausal woman of Caribbean descent 2016
- Morphologic features of endometriosis in various types of cytologic specimens 2013
- Cytopathological features of scar endometriosis mimicking an adenocarcinoma: A diagnostic pitfall 2013
- Morphologic features of endometriosis in various types of cytologic specimens 2013
- Cesarean Section Scar Endometriosis: A Case Report and Review of Literature 2012
- Fine-needle aspiration cytology of abdominal wall endometriosis: a study of 10 cases 2011
- Cutaneous endometriosis 2010
- Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of endometriosis of the abdominal wall: a potential diagnostic pitfall 2010
- Cutaneous endometriosis: review of 15 cases diagnosed at a single institution 2010
- Decidualized endometrioma diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology: a case report with immunocytochemical confirmation 2009
- Fine-needle aspiration cytodiagnosis of endometriosis in cesarean section scar and rectus sheath mass lesions -- a study of seven cases 2008
- Inguinal endometriosis presenting as a multicystic mass on sonography 2007
- Scar endometriosis—a diagnostic dilemma 2006
- Cytomorphological spectrum in scar endometriosis: a study of eight cases 2005
- Pelvic endometriosis diagnosed on touch imprint cytology 2002
- Inguinal endometriosis or irreducible hernia? A difficult preoperative diagnosis 2001
- Myxoid change in nondecidualized cutaneous endometriosis resembling malignancy 1998
- Extrapelvic endometriosis 1997
Source provenance
- europepmc
- last seen: 2026-10-17T06:09:56.316927+00:00
- openalex
- last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
- pubmed
- last seen: 2026-10-08T21:59:14.651011+00:00
License: CC0
· commercial use OK