Cytodiagnosis of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor: A report of three cases in infants

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor is a tumor of intermediate grade with a low rate of metastasis. The tumor often mimics malignancy. There is sparse literature available describing the cytological findings of this rare condition. It often presents in infancy and childhood as an intra-abdominal mass. Here, we describe the cytological findings of three cases of inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor in infants aged 10 months, 4 months, and 15 months, respectively. While the first two cases are fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) smears, the third case is that of an intraoperative imprint cytology. All the three smears showed low cellularity with small clusters of bland spindle cells, along with sprinkling of inflammatory cells, suggestive of an inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor. The diagnosis was later confirmed on histopathology and positive immunostaining for ALK.