Keratinized Tadpole Cells in Human Oral Neoplasm: A Cytodiagnostic Approach

Background: Use of exfoliative cytology and cyto-analysis is a useful early diagnostic method for epithelial atypia and for human oral neoplasm. A rare occurrence of cytological atypia appeared to be anuran tadpole larva, named as keratinized tadpole cell (KTC) is analyzed cytomorphometrically with a cytodiagnostic approach. Materials and Methods: In a casecontrol study, exfoliated scraped cytosmears were collected from the affected sites of the clinically diagnosed 136 oral cancer patients over the pre-cleaned microslides and immediately fixed in acetoalcohol. Cytosmears were stained with routine Papanicolaou’s stain and counterstained with the Giemsa’s solution. One thousand cells were observed and the KTCs were scored from each stained sample following standard criteria. Findings were statistically analyzed, interpreted and correlated with the oral sites, sex and nature of addiction. Results: Keratinized tadpole cells (KTCs) exhibit both cytological and nuclear pleomorphism. Almost all KTCs are moderately differentiated with a well defined head and tail in each. Usually, nucleus is confined to the head part of the cell and tail contains cytoplasm only. Keratinized cytoplasm, nuclear pleomorphism, presence of nuclear haloes, micronucleation, multinucleation and increased nuclear-cytoplasmic ratios (N/C) in keratinized tadpole cells are the clear indication of malignancy so far as cytopathology is concerned. Conclusion: Appearance of KTCs in the epithelia of oral neoplasm has a practical utility in early detection and diagnosis of the oral cancer patients.