Fine-needle aspiration cytology and immunocytochemistry of malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the oral cavity.

Fine-needle aspirates from 12 cases of malignant non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the oral cavity were cytologically classified according to the Kiel classification. Ten lymphomas were high-grade and two were classified as being low-grade malignancies. Immunocytologic characterization on cytospin material showed that all cases were B-cell derived with monoclonal expression of immunoglobulin light chains. Surgical biopsy material was available for histologic diagnosis in 8 of 12 cases. In 5 of these, the cytomorphologic and the histologic diagnoses were in agreement. With respect to the other 3, one case was histologically classified as an unspecified malignancy and one as a centroblastic/centrocytic lymphoma, and in one case no malignant lesion could be found. The three cases were cytologically classified as large-cell centrocytic, centroblastic, and lymphoblastic lymphoma, respectively. We conclude that fine-needle aspiration cytology in conjunction with immunocytochemistry is a rapid, feasible, and atraumatic technique that is useful for diagnosing malignant lymphoma in the oral cavity.