PSEUDOMYXOMA PERITONEI (REPORT OF A CYTOLOGICALLY DIAGNOSED CASE

A case of pseudomyxoma peritonei was diagnosed with the cytological examination of the peritoneal fluid of a 47 year old male patient. His complaints were weight loss and abdominal enlargement during the last 5 months. The diagnosis was based on the presence of mucin secreting well-differentiated columnar cells present singly or in clusters in abundant mucus. It was a borderline case which showed characteristics between benign and malignant criteria, and due to this fact, it was differentiated from peritoneal carcinomatosis. Histological examination of the laparatomy specimen showed diffuse, multinodular, gelatinous omental and peritoneal infiltration. Thick tumoral infltration around the caecal area was accepted as the origin of the tumor. In our review of the litareture, we have found only one case, cytologically diagnosed as pseudomyxoma peritonei before. Besides the cytologic, histologic and clinical characteristics of our case, cytological evaluation and malignancy criteria of this rare entitiy have been discussed.