A case report of pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma: the usefulness of fine needle aspiration cytology in preoperative diagnosis

A case of pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma in a 75-year-old woman was diagnosed preoperatively by fine needle aspiration cytology. This patient was noted to have a coin lesion in the left upper lung. On cytological examination of the lesion, the clusters of tumor cells revealed several characteristic findings as follows: 1) Papillary or frondlike clusters were lined by cuboidal cells which formed a ribbon-like arrangement and showed a positive reaction for anti-surfactant apoprotein antibody. 2) Round-to-polygonal cells, which had pale cytoplasm and coarse nuclear chromatin, were arranged in close proximity. 3) Spindle-like nuclei were observed among papillary arrangements and sclerotic areas. 4) Many histiocytes, containing hemosiderin, were scattered among the tumor cell clusters. 5) Background with marked hemorrhage. Based on the above characteristic features, it was possible to make a preoperative diagnosis of pulmonary sclerosing hemangioma on cytological grounds. In conclusion, we believe that fine needle aspiration cytology is a suitable procedure for precise diagnosis of this tumor.