Fine needle aspiration cytology of the spleen in visceral leishmaniasis.
We describe the fine needle aspiration cytologic study of 210 splenic aspirates from patients clinically diagnosed as having visceral leishmaniasis. Of these, 147 aspirates were found to be positive for Leishmania donovani bodies. We highlighted the cytomorphology of these positive smears. A majority of the cases showed an increase in the number and size of reticuloendothelial cells, with altered shapes, variations in the cytoplasm and decreased white pulp elements. In some of these cases (10%), immature erythroid cells were also found.
Biopsy, Needle↗