Intracellular lipid droplets in functioning transitional parathyroid oxyphil adenomas. A caveat
H. D. Alpern, S. I. Roth and J. E. Olson
Department of Pathology, Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, NY.
Histochemical demonstration of intracellular lipid droplets on frozen
section has been used to distinguish normal parathyroid tissue from that of
adenoma and chief cell hyperplasia. Differentiation is based on the
observation that the cells of adenoma and chief-cell hyperplasia largely
lack intracellular lipid, which is present in the suppressed chief cells of
normal glands in patients with adenoma. We present two functional
transitional oxyphil adenomas that contained abundant intracellular lipid.
Failure to recognize that transitional oxyphilic adenomas may contain focal
accumulation of intracellular lipid droplets could lead to confusion in
histologic interpretation.
