blue cell tumour

blue cell tumour 

PATHOLOGY

H&E-stained slide of blue cell tumour (medulloblastoma)

A usually malignant tumour, the cells of which are arranged in nests and sheets of relatively monotonous, round to oval, 8-15 µm in diameter cells with poorly defined cytoplasmic borders and strongly basophilic–blue by H&E staining nuclei.

Determining the tumour’s embryonic origin often requires ancillary information provided by histologic pattern, immunohistochemistry, and rarely electron microscopy.

Differential diagnosis, blue cell tumours

• Children Neuroblastoma, Ewing sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma–NHL, embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma (see image)

• Adults Neuroendocrine tumour, mesenchymal chondrosarcoma, hemangiopericytoma, large cell lymphomas, Merkel cell tumour, small cell osteosarcoma, small/oat cell carcinoma, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma