The Microscopic Minute 

a Pocket Pathologist Blog
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Would You Have Ever Guessed these are Mast Cells?

 This is an aspirate from an intestinal mass in a middle aged cat.



What in the world are those?

Well, believe it or not, they are mast cells!

Mast cells occasionally have this morphology,...

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Plasma cell tumors... in the GI tract?!

Did you know that plasma cell tumors can occur in the GI tract? Yep!

Feast your eyes on this gorg cytology sample from an intestinal mass in a middle aged dog.

Soooo many beautiful plasma cells with...

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Ultrasound Gel is a Cytologic Annoyance 😤

If you asked these cells what was on their nerves today, they'd say ultrasound gel.

Ultrasound gel looks like globby, magenta bits microscopically. If there's enough of it, it can really interfere...

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Constipated Plasma Cells 💩

Flame cells are super ramped up plasma cells that exhibit a pink cytoplasmic hue which represents immunoglobulin. They’re sometimes referred to as “constipated” plasma cells,...

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The good news about skin tumors

Did you know that 60-80% of skin tumors in dogs are benign?

That’s good news! But we can’t know if a tumor is benign or malignant without our microscope, so go ahead and poke...

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U-G-L-Y This Mast Cell Tumor ain't Got No Alibi

Nasty mast cell tumor alert



Isn’t it ugly?

Notice the purple cytoplasmic granules– even though there aren’t a ton, there are enough to know it’s a MCT. And the prominent...

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