LAUSR

A 30yearold female presented to the ENT outpatient department with chief complaints of breathlessness and dysphagia for liquid foods for the past 4 months. On examination, she had a nodular swelling of around 2 cm among the multiple prominent circumvallate papillae of the posterior third of her tongue (Figure 1A). No signs of bleeding or ulceration of the mucosa were noted. There was no cervical lymphadenopathy. An intraoral fine needle aspiration (FNA) was performed after spraying xylocaine on the posterior part of tongue and pharynx. FNA cytology (FNAC) smears were prepared and stained with MayGrünwaldGiemsa and Papanicolaou stains on airdried smears and alcoholfixed smears, respectively (Figure 2A– D). These smears were moderately cellular and showed monolayered sheets and small aggregates of epithelial cells in a follicular pattern admixed with colloidlike material. Discrete strips of benign squamous epithelial cells were also seen in the background.