Low power view of an abdominal desmoid

Low power view of an abdominal desmoid •A medium power view of a desmoid tumor reveals that a typical field contains at least two types of nuclei. •The black arrows point to small, round nuclei that represent infiltrating inflammatory cells. •The green arrows point to vesicular, but elongated nuclei, typical of active fibroblasts. •It would be useful to contrast this image with that of normal resting dermal fibroblasts. •Normal resting fibroblasts will reveal elongated, small, darkly staining nuclei that lie along the course of the collagen bundles. •In addition, a high power field such as this, there would be far fewer fibroblast nuclei. •The increased cellularity, as well as the larger size and the vesicular appearance of the nuclei is reflective of the state of activity of this lesion. •There is some controversy whether desmoid tumor is a true neoplasm, or an over-reactive reparative response. (Description By:T.V.Rajan, M.D. ) (Image Contrib. by:T.V.Rajan, M.D. UCHC )