Risk of malignancy in "atypia of undetermined significance" category of salivary gland fine-needle aspiration: A bi-institutional experience.

BACKGROUND: Many prior institutional and multi-institutional studies have applied the Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology (MSRSGC) retrospectively to their specimens to determine the risk of malignancy (ROM) of each category. Most of these studies focused on general assessment of the system and risk classification. However, there seems to be less focus on the category of atypia of undetermined significance (AUS) that could be attributed to the low number of cases that could fit into this category. Herein, we present a bi-institutional experience with this category. METHODS: A computerized search of the databases was performed to identify all salivary gland fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in two institutions over a period of 12 years. The final diagnosis of each case was reclassified based on MSRSGC, and histology follow-up was retrieved. RESULTS: Sixty AUS cases (out of 1560 salivary gland FNA) were identified with a rate of 3.8%. Forty cases (66%) had a subsequent tissue material. Correlation with histology revealed that the estimated ROM is 37.5% (15/40) and the overall ROM is 25% (15/60). Fifty percent of the cases had a prominent lymphoid component and most commonly represented lymphomas, reactive lymph node or sialadenitis. CONCLUSION: The AUS category is a heterogeneous group of lesions with predominant lymphoid-rich entities. Some variability exists between institutions with most having higher ROM than the suggested 20% by the MSRSGC atlas.

Application of the Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology: A Retrospective 12-Year Bi-institutional Study.

OBJECTIVES: Multi-institutional studies are required for the validation of the Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology (MSRSGC). METHODS: A total of 1,560 fine-needle aspirations of the salivary glands were retrieved from two institutions for a 12-year period. The diagnoses were reclassified based on the MSRSGC. Risk of malignancy (ROM) for each category was calculated based on 694 histologic follow-up cases. RESULTS: The ROM for each category was: 18.3% for nondiagnostic, 8.9% for nonneoplastic, 37.5% for atypia of undetermined significance (AUS), 2.9% for benign neoplasm, 40.7% for salivary gland neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential (SUMP), 100% for suspicious for malignancy, and 98.3% for malignant. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive rate, and negative predictive rates were 89%, 99%, 98%, and 96%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study are in keeping with the MSRSGC. The indeterminate categories of AUS and SUMP showed intermediate ROMs at 37.5% and 40.7%, respectively.

Subtyping salivary gland neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential based on cell type demonstrates differential risk of malignancy.

BACKGROUND: The newly unveiled Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology (MSRSGC) has proposed salivary gland neoplasm of uncertain malignant potential (SUMP) as an indeterminate category. The category is reserved for fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cases that are diagnostic of a salivary gland neoplasm but cannot be further designated as a specific tumor type. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the clinical utility of subtyping SUMP cases based on different cell types. METHODS: A retrospective search of cytology databases at 2 institutions for salivary gland FNAs from 2006 through 2017 was conducted. The cytologic diagnosis of each case was reclassified according to the MSRSGC. Histologic follow-up was retrieved for correlation. Cases reclassified as SUMP that had a follow-up pathologic diagnosis were subject to cytology review and subtyping into oncocytic/squamoid, basaloid, or myoepithelial subtypes based on cytomorphology. The risk of malignancy (ROM) for each subtype was analyzed. RESULTS: There were 92 SUMP cases, which comprised 5.9% of 1560 consecutive salivary gland FNAs within the 12-year study period. Histologic follow-up was available for 59 patients. After cytology review, there were 18 cases (30.5%) of oncocytic/squamoid subtype, 25 (42.4%) of basaloid subtype, and 16 (27.1%) of myoepithelial subtype. Pathologic correlation revealed an ROM of 61.1% (11 of 18 cases) for the oncocytic/squamoid subtype, 40.0% (10 of 25 cases) for the basaloid subtype, and 18.8% (3 of 16 cases) for the myoepithelial subtype. The differences in ROM among the 3 subtypes were statistically significant (P = .0476). CONCLUSIONS: Subtyping SUMP cases into categories based on cell type demonstrated differential ROMs for better clinical stratification. Future prospective studies are mandatory to confirm this finding.