Flow cytometry of ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma of breast implant-associated effusion and capsular tissue: ALK-Negative ALCL of Breast Implant Tissues/Effusion

Role of flow cytometric immunophenotyping in the diagnosis of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma: A 6-year, single-institution experience

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is an uncommon mature T-cell neoplasm occurring in patients with textured breast implants, typically after 7-10 years of exposure. Although cytopathologic or histopathologic assessment is considered the gold standard diagnostic method for BIA-ALCL, flow cytometry (FC)-based immunophenotyping is recommended as an adjunct test. However, the diagnostic efficacy of FC is not well reported. We reviewed 290 FC tests from breast implant pericapsular fluid and capsule tissue from 182 patients, including 16 patients with BIA-ALCL over a 6-year period, calculating diagnostic rates and test efficacy. FC showed an overall sensitivity of 75.9%, specificity of 100%, and negative and positive predictive values of 95.4% and 100%, respectively. Blinded expert review of false-negative cases identified diagnostic pitfalls, improving sensitivity to 96.6%. Fluid samples had better rates of adequate samples for FC testing compared with tissue samples. Paired with FC testing of operating room (OR)-acquired fluid samples, capsulectomy FC specimens added no diagnostic value in patients with concurrent fluid samples; no cases had positive capsule FC with negative fluid FC. Fluid samples are adequate for FC testing more often than tissue. Capsule tissue FC specimens do not improve FC efficacy when paired with OR-acquired fluid FC samples and are often inadequate samples. FC is 100% specific for BIA-ALCL and can serve as a confirmatory test but should not be the sole diagnostic method. Awareness of sample-specific diagnostic pitfalls greatly improves the sensitivity of BIA-ALCL testing by FC.

Breast Implanted-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma: A Case of Advanced Disease with Flow Cytometric Findings

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (breast implant-associated ALCL) is a recently described, distinct clinicopathological entity associated with macrotextured breast implants. The diagnostic workup of a patient suspected to have breast implant-associated ALCL includes cytological assessment of effusions and tissue biopsies of any masses or enlarged lymph nodes, with morphologic and immunophenotypic evaluation and possible flow cytometric and molecular testing. We report the case of a woman found to have breast implant-associated ALCL on fine needle aspirate and core biopsy, who on surgical resection, had extensive local disease with involvement of the resection margins and lymph nodes, requiring systemic treatment. We focus on the flow cytometric findings that identified a population of large cells on the CD30/side scatter dot plot and whose immunophenotype was consistent with breast implant-associated ALCL, highlighting the value of flow cytometry as an adjunct to morphological and immunophenotypic evaluation.

Use of flow cytometry and cytology to differentiate breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma from reactive seromas in Brazilian patients

INTRODUCTION

The combination of cytology and multiparametric flow cytometry (MFC) may be useful in the diagnosis of breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) and may be a practical way to differentiate lymphoma from benign and reactive seromas. Although the Brazilian breast implant market is the second largest in the world, with several manufacturers and the almost exclusive use of textured implants, the occurrence of BIA-ALCL in Brazil is underreported.

METHODS

One hundred seventeen sequential collections of suspicious periprosthetic fluid (PF) from 105 Brazilian patients registered between March/2018 and March/2021 were evaluated by routine cytomorphology and flow cytometry. The combination of CD30, HLA-DR, and CD25 was used together with T and B lymphocyte and monocyte evaluation. The PF samples were divided into positive, acute reactive (neutrophilic exudate), or chronic reactive (macrophage or lymphocyte rich), and unavailable samples.

RESULTS

Nine BIA-ALCL positive cases (7.7%) were identified, with typical morphology and increased FSC/SSC dispersion, bright expression of CD30, CD25 and HLA-DR, and absence or weakness of T-cell antigens (CD3, CD8, CD4, CD5, and CD7). Reactive samples were acute (n = 18, 15.4%) and chronic (n = 70, 59.8%). Twenty samples were excluded. The mean age of BIA-ALCL patients was 50 years (31-57 years) and 35 years in reactive patients (20-69 years).

CONCLUSION

Use of MFC with a comprehensive antibody panel consisting of CD30 in conjunction with CD25 and HLA-DR can discriminate anaplastic cells of BIA-ALCL from lymphoid or neutrophilic reactive cells and should be considered in the initial evaluation of seroma.

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL)

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) is a rare T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma characterized as CD30 positive and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) negative. In 2016, the World Health Organization declared BIA-ALCL as a new disease entity. The first case of BIA-ALCL was reported in 1997, and as of July 2019, the United States Food and Drug Administration had cited a total of 573 United States and global medical device reports of BIA-ALCL, including 33 deaths. In all clinical case reports, except for those with unknown clinical history, the patient had received at least one textured surface breast implant. Although the etiology is not yet clear, chronic inflammation has been proposed as a potential precursor to tumorigenesis. The most common presentation of BIA-ALCL is peri-implant fluid collection following aesthetic or reconstructive implantation with textured surface breast implants. It can be accompanied by breast swelling, asymmetry, pain, skin lesions, lymphadenopathy, and B-type symptoms. Most cases are detected on average 7 to 10 years after implantation. Diagnostic specimens can be obtained with fine-needle aspiration or biopsy. BIA-ALCL is CD30 positive, epithelial membrane antigen positive, and ALK negative. It can be cured with complete surgical excision at the T1–T3 stage.

Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large-Cell Lymphoma: Current Understanding and Recommendations for Management

Worldwide, millions of women live with breast implants. Therefore, it is important that physicians be aware of an uncommon but possibly serious complication arising from breast implants: breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma most commonly presents as a delayed fluid collection around a textured breast implant or as a mass in the capsule surrounding the implant. The exact pathogenesis of the disease remains unclear. The neoplastic cells of BIA-ALCL show strong uniform staining for CD30 and are consistently negative for activin receptor-like kinase 1. Patients with confirmed cases should be referred to a lymphoma specialist or breast medical oncologist for a complete oncologic evaluation before any surgical intervention. For disease confined to the fluid accumulation or capsule, or both, surgical removal of the implant and complete capsulectomy is the preferred treatment. Postoperative chemotherapy or radiation, or both, are not considered necessary for patients with limited-stage disease and are reserved for advanced disease stages. Generally, BIA-ALCL is a local disease that follows an indolent course and has an excellent prognosis. Although complete remission of disease has occurred in patients with BIA-ALCL, median overall survival is reduced. As of March 2018, approximately 529 unique, confirmed BIA-ALCL cases had been reported in 23 countries. To date, 16 patients have died from BIA-ALCL, and all had extracapsular involvement. The aim of this article is to summarize the diagnosis, evaluation, and management of BIA-ALCL, based on established guidelines, for all practitioners who may care for patients with breast implants.

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma

In patients with suspected breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma, cytologic evaluation of fine-needle aspirate specimens from the peri-implant seroma, together with flow cytometric immunophenotyping and immunohistochemistry, represents a suitable preoperative diagnostic approach when planning for surgical management.

A practical cytological approach to the diagnosis of breast-implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma

The role of cytopathology in malignant lymphoma is largely restricted to primary screening in patients with lymphadenopathy of unknown causes and evaluation of relapse and transformation during follow-up of patients with known and fully classified malignant lymphoma. Few lymphoma diagnoses fully rely on cytology, although breast-implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma is currently the centre of clinical attention. Due to the major attention both in the medical and lay media for the recently substantiated high lymphoma risk in women with breast implants, cytopathology departments now frequently receive seroma fluid aspirates with this specific differential diagnostic consideration. In this review, we discuss clinico-pathological aspects of breast-implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma from a cytological point of view and provide guidelines for the processing of aspirates in daily practice and strategies for diagnostic work-up of seroma fluids.

Cytological diagnostic features of late breast implant seromas: From reactive to anaplastic large cell lymphoma

Late breast implant seroma may be the presentation of a breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BI-ALCL), which claims for a prompt recognition. However, BI-ALCL diagnosis on fine-needle aspiration (FNA) might be challenging for pathologists lacking experience with peri-implant breast effusions. Sixty-seven late breast implant seromas collected by FNA from 50 patients were evaluated by Papanicolaou smear stain and immunocytochemistry on cell blocks. A diagnostic algorithm based on the cellular composition, cell morphology and percentage of CD30⁺ cells was developed. Histological evaluation of the corresponding peri-prosthetic capsules was also performed. Most of the effusions (91% of the samples) were classified as reactive and 9% as BI-ALCL. In the BI-ALCL cases, medium-to-large atypical cells expressing CD30 represented more than 70% of the cellularity, whereas in in the reactive effusions CD30⁺ elements were extremely rare (<5%) and consisted of non-atypical elements. The reactive effusions were categorized into three patterns: i) acute infiltrate with prominent neutrophilic component (33% of the samples); ii) mixed infiltrate characterized by a variable number of neutrophils, lymphocytes and macrophages (30% of the samples); iii) chronic infiltrate composed predominantly of T lymphocytes or macrophages with only sporadic granulocytes (37% of the samples). The inflammatory cytological patterns were consistent with the histology of the corresponding capsules. Our results indicate that cytological analysis of late breast implant effusions, supported by the knowledge of the heterogeneous cytomorphological spectrum of late seromas, is a valuable approach for the early recognition of BI-ALCL.

Diagnostic dilemmas and pitfalls in ThinPrep® cytology of breast fine needle aspiration biopsy:: Report of Six Cases with Histological Correlates

Fine needle aspirations (FNA) of the breast for primary diagnoses have become less popular in the USA and are usually performed for lesions with low or extremely high clinical suspicion. They are also performed for lesions in close proximity to a breast implant. Liquid-based cytological preparations, such as ThinPrep^® (TP), provide a practical alternative to clinicians who are performing FNA. Using a selection of cases that represent challenging diagnoses, we describe common diagnostic pitfalls of breast FNA that are specifically associated with this preparation. Well known breast cytology pitfalls, such as fibroadenoma, when solely examined using a TP slide can be even more challenging since the usual stripped bipolar cells seen in the background of smeared slides, can appear singly dispersed with preserved cytoplasm, resembling carcinoma. We describe that large fragments of solid papillary carcinoma are represented by mostly singly dispersed cells with plasmacytoid features that mimic those of a lobular carcinoma. Since nuclear features are more pronounced in TP, prominent nucleoli and cytological atypia can potentially be overcalled. TP processing might also lead to clumping of epithelioid histiocytes that appear atypical, which increases the suspicion of malignancy. The presence of atypical cells in a TP slide of a peri implant seroma should always undergo additional testing, especially in patients with a prior history of breast carcinoma, to determine if it represents recurrent carcinoma or an implant associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Familiarity with the aforementioned artifacts associated with TP is essential to avoid diagnostic misinterpretations. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2017;45:655-661. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Pretransplantation Minimal Residual Disease Predicts Survival in Patients with Mantle Cell Lymphoma Undergoing Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation in Complete Remission

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is standard therapy for mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) in remission after induction chemotherapy, with the best results for patients in complete remission (CR). We hypothesized that evaluation of minimal residual disease (MRD) before ASCT could further stratify outcomes for these patients. Patients with MCL who underwent ASCT in clinical CR between 1996 and 2011 with pretransplantation MRD testing were eligible. Presence of a clonal IgH rearrangement, t(11; 14) by PCR or positive flow cytometry from blood or bone marrow, was considered positive. An adjusted proportional hazards model for associations with progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was performed. Of 75 MCL patients in CR, 8 (11%) were MRD positive. MRD positivity was associated with shorter OS and PFS. The median OS for MRD-negative patients was not reached, with 82% survival at 5 years, whereas for the MRD-positive patients, median OS was 3.01 years (hazard ratio [HR], 4.04; P = .009), with a median follow-up of 5.1 years. The median PFS for MRD-negative patients was not reached with 75% PFS at 5 years, whereas for MRD-positive patients, it was 2.38 years (HR, 3.69; P = .002). MRD positivity is independently associated with poor outcomes after ASCT for MCL patients in CR.

Complete Surgical Excision Is Essential for the Management of Patients With Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large-Cell Lymphoma

PURPOSE

Breast implant-associated anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (BI-ALCL) is a rare type of T-cell lymphoma that arises around breast implants. The optimal management of this disease has not been established. The goal of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of different therapies used in patients with BI-ALCL to determine an optimal treatment approach.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In this study, we applied strict criteria to pathologic findings, assessed therapies used, and conducted a clinical follow-up of 87 patients with BI-ALCL, including 50 previously reported in the literature and 37 unreported. A Prentice, Williams, and Peterson model was used to assess the rate of events for each therapeutic intervention.

RESULTS

The median and mean follow-up times were 45 and 30 months, respectively (range, 3 to 217 months). The median overall survival (OS) time after diagnosis of BI-ALCL was 13 years, and the OS rate was 93% and 89% at 3 and 5 years, respectively. Patients with lymphoma confined by the fibrous capsule surrounding the implant had better event-free survival (EFS) and OS than did patients with lymphoma that had spread beyond the capsule (P = .03). Patients who underwent a complete surgical excision that consisted of total capsulectomy with breast implant removal had better OS (P = .022) and EFS (P = .014) than did patients who received partial capsulectomy, systemic chemotherapy, or radiation therapy.

CONCLUSION

Surgical management with complete surgical excision is essential to achieve optimal EFS in patients with BI-ALCL.