Ciliated cells in abdominal or pelvic fine needle aspirations: a case report and review of the literature.

Ciliated cells encountered outside of an expected anatomical location (e.g., the respiratory tract, fallopian tube, etc) can represent a diagnostic difficulty for the cytopathologist, especially during preliminary assessment of a fine needle aspiration (FNA) for adequacy or malignancy. We present the cytologic and histologic features of a FNA and needle core biopsy, respectively, of an abdominal mass, likely from a gastrointestinal duplication cyst, foregut cyst or a bronchogenic cyst. We also briefly review the differential diagnosis for ciliated cells encountered in abdominal or pelvic FNAs.