herringbone pattern 

herringbone cloth

IMAGING

A descriptive term for a pattern which may be seen on a plain abdominal film in patients with acute abdomen. Loops of small intestine are distended with air, contiguous with each other, and mesenteric fat is relatively dense, making the valvulae conniventes more prominent than normal, resulting in an appearance fancifully likened to that of herringbone cloth. 

medium power H&E stained section of fibrosarcoma with herringbone patttern

PATHOLOGY

A descriptive term for the arrangement of malignant fibroblasts when viewed by low-power light microscopy, in which elongated nuclei are positioned at sharp angles to each other in linear arrays and has been fancifully likened to herringbone cloth*. The pattern is characteristic of fibrosarcoma, but may also be seen in malignant schwannoma and in benign nodular fasciitis. 

*Herringbone cloth is composed of rows of parallel lines with adjacent rows slanting in reverse direction